Microwave photonic injection locking frequency divider based on a tunable optoelectronic oscillator.

Abstract

We present a novel broadband divide-by-2 microwave photonic injection locking frequency divider (ILFD) based on a dual-loop optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). In the proposed scheme, a tunable microwave photonic filter is used to replace the traditional electrical filter, which makes sure a large tuning range of the ILFD. The microwave photonic ILFD whose center frequency tracks the tunable frequency of the free-running OEO, links up with every single locking range together. Thus the frequency range is only determined by the tunable OEO. In the experiment, a wide operating frequency range from 4.51 GHz to 34.88 GHz is realized. Furthermore, a divide-by-3 ILFD is experimentally demonstrated with the help of a frequency mixer.