Optoelectronic oscillator for photonic systems

TLDR

Other OEO applications include high‑frequency reference regeneration and distribution, high‑gain frequency multiplication, comb frequency and pulse generation, carrier recovery, and clock recovery. The authors present a novel photonic oscillator that converts continuous‑light energy into stable, spectrally pure microwave signals. The OEO consists of a pump laser, intensity modulator, optical‑fiber delay line, photodetector, amplifier, and filter, and its behavior is described by a quasi‑linear theory that has been experimentally verified. The OEO generates ultrastable, spectrally pure microwave signals up to 75 GHz with phase noise below –140 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz, operates as a voltage‑controlled oscillator with an optical output, and can be synchronized via optical or electrical injection locking and a phase‑locked loop.

Abstract

We describe a novel photonic oscillator that converts continuous-light energy into stable and spectrally pure microwave signals. This optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) consists of a pump laser and a feedback circuit including an intensity modulator, an optical-fiber delay line, a photodetector an amplifier, and a filter. We present the results of a quasi-linear theory for describing the properties of the oscillator and their experimental verifications. Our findings indicate that the OEO can generate ultrastable, spectrally pure microwave-reference signals up to 75 GHz with a phase noise lower than -140 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz. We show that the OEO is a special voltage-controlled oscillator with an optical-output port and can be synchronized to a reference source by means of optical injection locking, electrical injection locking, and a phase-locked loop. Other OEO applications include high-frequency reference regeneration and distribution, high-gain frequency multiplication, comb frequency and pulse generation, carrier recovery, and clock recovery.