Frequency-definable linearly chirped microwave waveform generation by a Fourier domain mode locking optoelectronic oscillator based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

Abstract

A Fourier domain mode locking (FDML) optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) scheme based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is proposed to generate linearly chirped microwave waveforms (LCMWs) with excellent frequency sweep linearity and a precisely controllable frequency sweep range. The kernel of the proposed scheme is a center-frequency-definable SBS-based fast-tunable microwave photonic bandpass filter based on frequency-selective phase-to-intensity conversion, which is realized by using a single laser source to generate a fast frequency-swept probe light and a tunable pump light via electro-optic frequency shifting. A proof-of-concept experiment is carried out to demonstrate the proposed scheme, where LCMWs with flexibly-tunable center frequency and bandwidth are generated. In the experiment, the maximum time-bandwidth product and chirp rate are 82000 and 0.195 GHz/µs, respectively. Most importantly, the frequency deviation is less than 1 MHz and the frequency sweep linearity is smaller than 1.7%, which indicate that the proposed SBS-based FDML OEO can generate frequency-definable LCMWs with excellent frequency sweep linearity.