Tunable Microwave Source Research Articles

Dual-frequency fundamental-mode NPRO laser for low-noise microwave generation.

Monolithic nonplanar ring oscillators (NPROs) have achieved great success in industry, scientific applications and space missions due to their excellent narrow-linewidth, low-noise, high beam-quality, lightweight and compact performances. Here, we show that stable dual-frequency or multi-frequency fundamental-mode (DFFM or MFFM) laser can be stimulated directly by tunning pump divergence-angle and beam-waist injected to NPRO. The DFFM laser has a frequency deviation of one free spectral range of the resonator and thus can be utilized for pure microwave generation by common-mode-rejection. To demonstrate the purity of the microwave signal, a theoretical phase noise model is established, and the phase noise and the frequency tunability of the microwave signal are experimentally studied. Single sideband phase noise for a 5.7 GHz carrier is measured as low as -112 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, and -150 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset in the free running condition of the laser, which outperforms its counterparts from dual-frequency Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes. The frequency of the microwave signal can be efficiently tunned through two channels, with frequency tunning coefficients of 15 Hz/V by piezo, and -60.5 kHz/K by temperature, respectively. We expect that such compact, tunable, low-cost and low-noise microwave sources can facilitate multiple applications including miniaturized atomic clocks, communication and radar, etc.

Phase Tunable Microwave Source With Chromatic-Dispersion-Induced Power Fading Suppression

A frequency and phase tunable microwave source based on a single sideband modulated optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and demonstrated. A dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DDMZM) is utilized to achieve single sideband modulation in the OEO loop. Phase reconfigurability is realized by phase shift element, which is composed of a phase modulator (PM) and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The phase of the generated signal can be tuned by adjusting the bias voltage of the PM. The single sideband modulated optical signal can overcome the chromatic-dispersion-induced power fading which can be used for long-distance transmission. In the experiment, the generated signal has a frequency range of 2–14 GHz and a phase range of 0–360°. The phase noise of the generated signal at an offset frequency of 10 kHz is −105 dBc/Hz.

Fourier domain mode-locked opto-electronic oscillator with a diode-tuned bandpass filter.

We report what we believe to be the first Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) without using a tunable signal source to implement, such as a tunable laser or a tunable microwave source as described in the previous reports. We designed and fabricated a tunable microwave filter with individually packaged microwave components, in which a low cost diode-tuned phase shifter was used to rapidly tune the filter center frequency. We successfully realized Fourier domain mode-locking of an OEO using the diode-tuned filter and obtained linearly chirped microwave signals around 9 GHz with a chirp rate of 36 MHz/µs and a frequency tuning range of 0.4 GHz, which can be extended to 142 MHz/µs and 1.56 GHz, respectively, with a filter circuit using chip sized components. We found, for the first time to the best of authors' knowledge, that the phase noise of FDML OEO's delayed self-heterodyne signal is an excellent indicator for mode-locking frequency optimization, which had a "U" shape dependence on the detuning of the mode-locking frequency with a locking range of over 40 Hz. We also investigated harmonic mode-locking of the FDML up to 5th harmonics and achieved a chirp rate of 180 MHz/µs using the tunable filter of individually packaged components. Compared with the previous FDML OEO's implemented with tunable signal sources, our diode tuned FDML OEO has the advantages of low cost, compact size, excellent frequency tuning linearity, easy implemention and immunity to laser frequency drift and noise for achieving better frequency repeatability and lower phase noise.

Frequency-Doubled Microwave Signal Generation and Phase Shifting With Arbitrary Signal Amplitude

A photonic-assisted frequency-doubled microwave signal generation and phase shifting approach with arbitrary signal amplitude is proposed. The key device in the proposed technique is a dual-polarization quadrature phase-shift keying modulator, whose two sub-dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators are both biased as a carrier-suppressed single-sideband modulator but generating two opposite first-order optical sidebands. The phase difference between the orthogonally polarized two first-order optical sidebands and the polarization state of the optical signal are tuned independently by a polarization controller. After the optical signal from the polarization controller is combined via a polarizer and detected at a photodetector, a frequency-doubled microwave signal is generated, whose phase and amplitude can be independently controlled by tuning the polarization controller. An experiment is performed. Frequency-doubled microwave signals with carrier frequencies from 10 to 40 GHz are generated and phase shifted over 360° phase range with arbitrary signal amplitude. The proposed technique can not only be operated as a phase and amplitude tunable frequency-doubled microwave source, but also find applications in phased array radar systems as a wideband frequency-doubled multichannel phase shifter.

Wideband microwave phase noise measurement based on photonic-assisted I/Q mixing and digital phase demodulation.

A wideband microwave phase noise measurement system is proposed based on quadrature phase demodulation of the mixing components of a signal under test (SUT) and its delayed replica. The time delay is introduced by a low-loss optical fiber, which can be sufficiently large to achieve a high phase noise measurement sensitivity, and the quadrature phase demodulation is achieved by photonic-assisted in-phase and quadrate (I/Q) mixing together with digital signal processing. Thanks to the optoelectronic hybrid quadrature phase demodulation, the use of feedback loops, which are usually required in conventional photonic-delay-line-based phase noise measurement systems, is avoided, and the measurable frequency range is expanded. An experiment is implemented. Accurate phase noise measurement of SUTs in a frequency range of 5-35 GHz is demonstrated. With a 2-km single-mode fiber serving as the photonic delay line, the phase noise floor is as low as -131 dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 10 kHz. The proposed scheme can be applied for evaluating the performance of microwave systems using low-phase-noise and wideband tunable microwave sources.

Ultralow-threshold cascaded Brillouin microlaser for tunable microwave generation.

We experimentally demonstrate an ultralow-threshold cascaded Brillouin microlaser for tunable microwave generation in a high-Q silica microsphere resonator. The threshold of the Brillouin microlaser is as low as 8 μW, which is close to the theoretical prediction. Moreover, the fifth-order Stokes line with a frequency shift up to 55 GHz is achieved with a coupled pump power of less than 0.6 mW. Benefiting from resonant wavelength shifts driven by thermal dynamics in the microsphere, we further realized tunable microwave signals with tuning ranges of 40 MHz at an 11 GHz band and 20 MHz at a 22 GHz band. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first attempt for tunable microwave source based on the whispering-gallery-mode Brillouin microlaser. Such a tunable microwave source from a cascaded Brillouin microlaser could find significant applications in aerospace, communication engineering, and metrology.

Ultra-broadband microwave frequency down-conversion based on optical frequency comb.

Based on optical frequency comb (OFC), a photonic-assisted ultra-broadband microwave signal down-converting method is proposed. In the proposed scheme, microwave signal at 2~20GHz can be down-converted to 0~1GHz intermediate frequency (IF) signals by an OFC of 2GHz frequency space at different order of comb lines. By slightly switching the frequency space of OFC, the frequency of the signal to be measured can be retrieved through the frequency shift of the down-converted IF signal. The validity of this proposed unknown signal detection method is verified by the experiments. The proposed method is proven to be flexible, low-cost and easily implemented, which requires only a low-frequency tunable microwave source while provides ultra-broadband down-converting frequency range.

Broadband Spectroscopic Thermoacoustic Characterization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes have attracted interest as contrast agents for biomedical imaging because they strongly absorb electromagnetic radiation in the optical and microwave regions. This study applies thermoacoustic (TA) imaging and spectroscopy to measure the frequency-dependent absorption profile of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) in the ranges of 2.7–3.1 GHz and 7–9 GHz using two tunable microwave sources. Between 7 and 9 GHz, the peak TA signal for solutions containing semiconducting and metallic SWNTs increased monotonically with a slope of 1.75 AU/GHz (R2=0.95) and 2.8 AU/GHz (R2=0.93), respectively, relative to a water baseline. However, after compensating for the background signal from water, it was revealed that the TA signal from metallic SWNTs increased exponentially within this frequency band. Results suggest that TA imaging and spectroscopy could be a powerful tool for quantifying the absorption properties of SWNTs and optimizing their performance as contrast agents for imaging or heat sources for thermal therapy.

Large amplitude spin torque vortex oscillations at zero external field using a perpendicular spin polarizer

We investigate the microwave response of a spin transfer vortex based oscillator in a magnetic tunnel junction with an in-plane reference layer combined with a spin valve with an out-of-plane magnetization spin polarizing layer. The main advantage of this perpendicular spin polarizer is to induce a large spin transfer force even at zero magnetic field, thus leading to a record emitted power (up to 0.6 μW) associated to a very narrow spectral linewidth of a few hundreds of kHz. The characteristics of this hybrid vortex based spin transfer nano-oscillator obtained at zero field and room temperature are of great importance for applications based on rf spintronic devices as integrated and tunable microwave source and/or microwave detector.

Broadband Transmission EPR Spectroscopy

EPR spectroscopy employs a resonator operating at a single microwave frequency and phase-sensitive detection using modulation of the magnetic field. The X-band spectrometer is the general standard with a frequency in the 9–10 GHz range. Most (bio)molecular EPR spectra are determined by a combination of the frequency-dependent electronic Zeeman interaction and a number of frequency-independent interactions, notably, electron spin – nuclear spin interactions and electron spin – electron spin interactions, and unambiguous analysis requires data collection at different frequencies. Extant and long-standing practice is to use a different spectrometer for each frequency. We explore the alternative of replacing the narrow-band source plus single-mode resonator with a continuously tunable microwave source plus a non-resonant coaxial transmission cell in an unmodulated external field. Our source is an arbitrary wave digital signal generator producing an amplitude-modulated sinusoidal microwave in combination with a broadband amplifier for 0.8–2.7 GHz. Theory is developed for coaxial transmission with EPR detection as a function of cell dimensions and materials. We explore examples of a doublet system, a high-spin system, and an integer-spin system. Long, straigth, helical, and helico-toroidal cells are developed and tested with dilute aqueous solutions of spin label hydroxy-tempo. A detection limit of circa 5 µM HO-tempo in water at 800 MHz is obtained for the present setup, and possibilities for future improvement are discussed.

Direct observation of electro-optic modulation in a single split-ring resonator

We study experimentally and numerically the electro-optic (EO) effect in a single metamaterial cell incorporating a nonlinear crystal. A metal split-ring fabricated on a ZnTe substrate resonating at 3 GHz was excited with a tunable microwave source. A linearly polarized laser beam probed the EO effect. Enhanced EO modulation was observed in the split-gap at the resonant frequency proportional to Q-factor. The electric field surrounding the metamaterial element in the ZnTe was mapped by the EO effect and agrees well with simulation. We show that high-Q metamaterials incorporating an EO crystal in the split-gap could lead to improved EO devices.

Analytic Model of Spin-Torque Oscillators (STO) for Circuit-Level Simulation

Spin-torque oscillators (STO) is a new device that can be used as a tunable microwave source in various wireless devices. Spin-transfer torque effect in magnetic multilayered nanostructure can induce precession of magnetization when bias current and external magnetic field are properly applied, and a microwave signal is generated from that precession. We proposed a semi-empirical circuit-level model of an STO in previous work. In this paper, we present a refined STO model which gives more accuracy by considering physical phenomena in the calculation of effective field. Characteristics of the STO are expressed as functions of external magnetic field and bias current in Verilog-A HDL such that they can be simulated with circuit-level simulators such as Hspice. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Fast tunable and broadband microwave sweep-frequency source based on photonic technology

A high-speed broadband tunable microwave source utilizing the wavelength tunable characteristics of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser is proposed and demonstrated. The wavelength tuning of the laser is achieved instantaneously by controlling the voltage of the phase section of the DBR laser. By means of optical delay self-heterodyne technology, the microwave signal with the property of frequency broadband tuning is generated. Sweep speeds of 5 and 40 μs of the sweep-frequency source prototype were achieved and the maximum tuning range was up to 38.45 GHz.

Electro-optically tunable microwave source based on composite-cavity microchip laser

A compact and electric tuning microwave source based on a diode-pumped composite Nd:YAG-LiNbO(3) cavity microchip laser is demonstrated. The electro-optical element introduces an electric tuning intra-cavity birefringence which causes a tunable frequency difference between two spilt orthogonal polarization states of a longitude mode. Thus a continuously tunable microwave signal with frequency up to 14.12 GHz can be easily generated by beating the two polarization modes on a high speed photodetector.

Frequency and wavelength tunable optical microwave source based on a distributed Bragg reflector self-pulsation laser

A frequency and wavelength tunable self-pulsation laser based on DBR laser devices is reported for the first time. This laser generates continuous tunable optical microwave in the range of 1.87–21.81 GHz with 3-dB linewidth about 10 MHz by tuning the injection currents on the front and back gain sections, and exhibits wavelength tuning range from 1536.28 to 1538.73 nm by tuning the injection currents on the grating section.

Photonic generation of tunable multi-frequency microwave source

A flexibly tunable multi-frequency microwave source is presented based on optical heterodyning between the intensity-modulated optical carrier (incorporated four-wave mixing equalisation and stabilisation) and the frequency-shifted Stokes light generated by fibre stimulated Brillouin scattering. About 20 microwave frequencies centred at 10.77 or 21.62 GHz are experimentally observed. The central frequency and the frequency spacing of the multi-frequency microwave source can be freely tuned by changing the frequency shift of the beating optical waves and the driving frequency on the modulator.

Prospects for sub-micron solid state nuclear magnetic resonance imaging with low-temperature dynamic nuclear polarization.

We evaluate the feasibility of (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging with sub-micron voxel dimensions using a combination of low temperatures and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). Experiments are performed on nitroxide-doped glycerol-water at 9.4 T and temperatures below 40 K, using a 30 mW tunable microwave source for DNP. With DNP at 7 K, a 0.5 microL sample yields a (1)H NMR signal-to-noise ratio of 770 in two scans with pulsed spin-lock detection and after 80 db signal attenuation. With reasonable extrapolations, we infer that (1)H NMR signals from 1 microm(3) voxel volumes should be readily detectable, and voxels as small as 0.03 microm(3) may eventually be detectable. Through homonuclear decoupling with a frequency-switched Lee-Goldburg spin echo technique, we obtain 830 Hz (1)H NMR linewidths at low temperatures, implying that pulsed field gradients equal to 0.4 G/d or less would be required during spatial encoding dimensions of an imaging sequence, where d is the resolution in each dimension.

Microwave generation in an electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser subject to optical injection

This paper presents a new technique to generate microwave signal using an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) integrated with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser subject to optical injection. Experiments show that the frequency of the generated microwave can be tuned by changing the wavelength of the external laser or adjusting the bias voltage of the EAM. The frequency response of the EAM is studied and found to be unsmooth due to packaging parasitic effects and four-wave mixing effect occurring in the active layer of the DFB laser. It is also demonstrated that an EA modulator integrated in between two DFB lasers can be used instead of the EML under optical injection. This integrated chip can be used to realize a monolithically integrated tunable microwave source.

Stable Dual-Wavelength DFB Fiber Laser With Separate Resonant Cavities and Its Application in Tunable Microwave Generation

A single-longitudinal-mode dual-wavelength distributed feedback fiber laser with a wavelength spacing of 0.312 nm is proposed and demonstrated. Based on two spatially separated resonant cavities in a single fiber Bragg grating made by a simple method, stable dual-wavelength lasing is established. Then, a 38.67-GHz microwave signal generated by beating the two lasing wavelengths is obtained with a 3-dB bandwidth of ~6 kHz and a frequency drift <5 MHz without any feedback mechanism. As a potential application of this device, a tunable microwave source ranging from 18.67 to 58.67 GHz (with a small discontinuity) is proposed and partially demonstrated

Instrumentation for millimeter-wave magnetoelectrodynamic investigations of low-dimensional conductors and superconductors

We describe instrumentation for conducting high sensitivity millimeter-wave cavity perturbation measurements over a broad frequency range (40–200 GHz) and in the presence of strong magnetic fields (up to 33 T). A millimeter-wave vector network analyzer (MVNA) acts as a continuously tunable microwave source and phase sensitive detector (8–350 GHz), enabling simultaneous measurements of the complex cavity parameters (resonance frequency and Q value) at a rapid repetition rate (∼10 kHz). We discuss the principle of operation of the MVNA and the construction of a probe for coupling the MVNA to various cylindrical resonator configurations which can easily be inserted into a high field magnet cryostat. We also present several experimental results which demonstrate the potential of the instrument for studies of low-dimensional conducting systems.