Improved Photonic Technique for Broadband Radio-Frequency Measurement

We propose a photonic technique for the measurement of frequency information in radar signal processing applications that has the potential to cover a frequency range of 40 GHz. This technique compares the radio-frequency power response functions generated within a low dispersion element of two complementary double sideband optical signals. The technique eliminates measurement ambiguities over the entire operating range along with reduced sensitivity to dispersion errors. The scheme is experimentally demonstrated over the frequency range of 4-19 GHz.