Radio-frequency arbitrary waveform generation based on dispersion compensated tunable optoelectronic oscillator with ultra-wide tunability

Abstract

Photonic generation of radio-frequency (RF) arbitrary microwave waveform with ultra-wide frequency tunable range based on a dispersion compensated optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Dispersion compensation scheme and specially designed fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based Fabry–Perot (F-P) filters are employed in the OEO loop to realize a frequency tunable range of 3.5–45.4 GHz. An optimization process provided by the combination of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and FBG is employed to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of final RF signals. The generation of linear-frequency and phase-coded microwave waveforms, with a tunable carrier frequency ranging from 4 to 45 GHz and tuned chirping bandwidths or code rates, is experimentally demonstrated.