Tunable and broadband microwave frequency combs based on a semiconductor laser with incoherent optical feedback**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61178011, 11204248, 61475127, and 61275116), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing City, China (Grant Nos. 2012jjB40011 and 2012jjA40012), and the Open Fund of the State Key Lab of Millimeter Waves of China (Grant No.

Abstract

Based on a semiconductor laser (SL) with incoherent optical feedback, a novel all-optical scheme for generating tunable and broadband microwave frequency combs (MFCs) is proposed and investigated numerically. The results show that, under suitable operation parameters, the SL with incoherent optical feedback can be driven to operate at a regular pulsing state, and the generated MFCs have bandwidths broader than 40 GHz within a 10 dB amplitude variation. For a fixed bias current, the line spacing (or repetition frequency) of the MFCs can be easily tuned by varying the feedback delay time and the feedback strength, and the tuning range of the line spacing increases with the increase in the bias current. The linewidth of the MFCs is sensitive to the variation of the feedback delay time and the feedback strength, and a linewidth of tens of KHz can be achieved through finely adjusting the feedback delay time and the feedback strength. In addition, mappings of amplitude variation, repetition frequency, and linewidth of MFCs in the parameter space of the feedback delay time and the feedback strength are presented.