An ultra-low phase noise and spurs injection locked 10 GHz dual-loop optoelectronic oscillator

Abstract

Low phase noise microwave oscillator is a key device for many applications, including radar, remote sensing, communication and test instrumentation. Photonics based optoelectronic microwave oscillator can overcome the limitation of the phase noise of the electrical microwave oscillators. However, there are some scaling issues for the optoelectronic oscillator, including frequency control and spurs. In this paper, we propose an injection-locked dual-loop optoelectronic oscillator to attain a frequency stable 10 GHz microwave signal with low phase noise and low spurs, simultaneously. Experimentally, single-sideband (SSB) phase noise of -140 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset and spurs below -130 dBc are achieved.