Microwave frequency sextupling generation based on modulator and brillouin-assisted sideband-filtering

A novel approach to generate continuously tunable microwave and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It is realized by on an optical intensity modulator and a brillouin-assisted sideband-filtering technique. The modulator is biased at minimum transmission bias point(MITP) to suppress the even sidebands, then the strong first order sideband of the modulated signal is deeply suppressed by using stimulated brillouin scattering (SBS) in a fiber ring while the third order sidebands keep unchanged. Therefore, only third-order optical signals exist at the input of the photodetector, frequency sextupling can be realized. As the SBS-assisted sideband-filter is narrow bandwidth and wavelength-independent, a wavelength-flexible way of optical generation mm-wave signals can be successfully realized.