On the Phase Noise Performance of Nonlinear Double-Loop Optoelectronic Microwave Oscillators

We consider an optoelectronic oscillator for ultra-pure microwave generation with two nonlinearly-coupled delay loops in which the output of one of the loops modulates the other. We introduce a suitable dynamical model and study the phase noise performance. Tuning the parameters of the second loop allows us to reduce the detrimental effect of the multiplicative phase noise and damp delay-induced spurious peaks. Also, nonlinear dynamics allows for stable microwave emission with larger amplitude than a single loop system.