Title :
Resonant Widely Tunable Opto-Electronic Oscillator
Author :
Eliyahu, Danny ; Wei Liang ; Dale, Elijah ; Savchenkov, Anatoliy A. ; Ilchenko, Vladimir S. ; Matsko, Andrey B. ; Seidel, David ; Maleki, Lute
Author_Institution :
OEwaves Inc., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
We experimentally demonstrate a widely tunable opto-electronic oscillator (TOEO) based on a tunable optical resonant filter and a wideband phase modulator. The oscillator can be tuned in the range of 2-15 GHz, limited by the bandwidth of the RF components utilized in the loop, with a tuning speed greater than 1 GHz/μs. The TOEO, with 220 m fiber link used as the high Q element, is characterized with phase noise less than -100 dBc measured at 10 kHz frequency offset. The agile tunable optical filter in the TOEO is a whispering gallery mode resonator made of lithium tantalate crystal. We develop a theoretical model for the TOEO and find a good agreement between the measurement results and the theoretical predictions.
Keywords :
Q-factor; laser cavity resonators; laser noise; lithium compounds; microwave photonics; optical communication equipment; optical fibre communication; optical fibre filters; optical links; optical modulation; optical tuning; oscillators; phase modulation; phase noise; whispering gallery modes; LiTaO3; RF component bandwidth; TOEO; agile tunable optical filter; distance 220 m; fiber link; frequency 10 kHz; frequency 2 GHz to 15 GHz; frequency offset; high Q element; lithium tantalate crystal; phase noise; resonant widely tunable opto-electronic oscillator; tunable optical resonant filter; tuning speed; whispering gallery mode resonator; wideband phase modulator; Opto-electronic oscillator; optical filter; optical resonator; quality factor; whispering gallery mode resonator;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LPT.2013.2270913