39 GHz optoelectronic oscillator using an electrode-poled polymer modulator

Summary form only given. The optoelectronic-oscillator (OEO) was first demonstrated by Yao and Maleki (2000). It is a conventional photonic link closed on itself, setting up a hybrid cavity which supports oscillations where the open loop gain spectrum exceeds unity. Its primary advantage is the potential for generating high spectral purity oscillations. Analysis of the loop´s effect on the phase noise, assuming either white-noise or colored-noise, sources in the loop, shows that a mode´s PSD near its center has a dependence of /spl tau//sup -2/, where /spl tau/ is the loop delay. Using low-loss fiber, /spl tau/ can be very large, resulting in a high Q. An OEO´s operating frequency is limited only the frequency response of the components in the loop, most significantly that of the modulator and the photodetector. The state of the art in both is such that the modulator today presents the greater limit. High frequency OEO´s demonstrated to date have operated around 10 GHz, with one at 18 GHz.