Spectrum-Sliced Microwave Photonic Filter With an Improved Dynamic Range Based on a ${\rm LiNbO}_{3}$ Phase Modulator and Balanced Detection

A spectrum-sliced microwave photonic filter with an improved spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The basic principle is based on the polarization-sensitive modulation in a phase modulator and the dispersion-induced linear/nonlinear phase-to-intensity conversion. A simultaneous noise and nonlinearity reduction is further achieved via polarization diversity and balanced detection, giving rise to an improved SFDR. In the experiments, the SFDR is measured to be 90 for the novel scheme, in contrast to 75 for the traditional configuration.