Photonic radio frequency synthesizer

Ron T. Logan Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.259019

22 November 1996 Photonic radio frequency synthesizer

Ron T. Logan Jr.

Proceedings Volume 2844, Photonics and Radio Frequency; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.259019
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

A photonic radio-frequency synthesizer is proposed in which two or more distributed-feedback laser diodes are injection- locked to different optical modes of an actively-mode-locked external-cavity laser diode. The injection-locked laser outputs are combined to produce a high-stability, low-phase- noise heterodyne optical signal with frequency separation in the 1 GHz through millimeter-wave frequency range that is a multiple of the active mode-locking reference oscillator frequency. Since the phase fluctuations of the individual longitudinal modes of the mode-locked laser are highly correlated, the phase fluctuations of the heterodyne output signal are minimized. This approach yields optical heterodyne signals with widely tunable millimeter-wave frequency separations and low phase noise, without the need for a wideband millimeter-wave electronic reference oscillator and frequency-locking control loop as required in previous heterodyne signal generation schemes.

Citation Download Citation

Ron T. Logan Jr. "Photonic radio frequency synthesizer", Proc. SPIE 2844, Photonics and Radio Frequency, (22 November 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.259019

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