Comparison of series and parallel optical modulators for microwave down-conversion

Author

Gallo, J.T. ; Godshall, J.K.

Author_Institution

Tracor Aerosp. Electron. Syst. Inc., Lansdale, PA, USA

Volume

10

Issue

11

fYear

1998

Firstpage

1623

Lastpage

1625

Abstract

Photonic down-conversion of microwave signals using a pair of broad-band optical modulators is investigated theoretically and experimentally for cascaded and parallel modulator topologies. Improvement of 14 dB, roughly equal to the composite modulator insertion loss, was measured. Low-biasing and balanced detection in parallel links allows a further improvement of over 20 dB through increased laser power without detector saturation.

Keywords

broadband networks; electro-optical modulation; optical communication equipment; optical fibre losses; optical frequency conversion; balanced detection; broad-band optical modulators; composite modulator insertion loss; detector saturation; increased laser power; low-biasing; microwave down-conversion; microwave signals; parallel links; parallel modulator topologies; parallel optical modulators; photonic down-conversion; series optical modulators; Amplitude modulation; Fiber lasers; Frequency conversion; Optical distortion; Optical fiber losses; Optical modulation; Optical saturation; Photodetectors; Quantum cascade lasers; Topology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.726770

Filename

726770