Compressive sampling(CS) has attracted considerable attention in microwave and radio frequency(RF) fields in recent years. It enables the acquisition of high-frequency signals at a rate much smaller than their Nyquist rates.Combined with photonics technology, traditional CS systems can significantly enlarge their operating bandwidth, which offers great potential for spectrum sensing in cognitive radios. In this Letter, we review our recent work on photonic CS systems for wideband spectrum sensing. First, a proof-of-concept photonics-assisted CS system is demonstrated; it is capable of acquiring numerous radar pulses in an instantaneous bandwidth spanning from 500 MHz to 5 GHz with a 500-MHz analog-to-digital converter(ADC). To further reduce the acquisition bandwidth, multi-channel photonics-assisted CS systems are proposed for the first time, enabling the acquisition of multi-tone signals with frequencies up to 5 GHz by using 120-MHz ADCs. In addition, the system bandwidth is increased from 5 to 20 GHz by employing time-interleaved optical sampling.
A novel method to improve the phase coherence of optical pulse train with wavelength conversion based on cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing effects in high nonlinear fiber is proposed.The method is experimentally demonstrated and the phase coherence of the pulse train from the mode-locked fiber laser is greatly improved.The improvement of the pulse quality is characterized in time and frequency domain.
In this work,we analyze and demonstrate a novel photonic-assisted broadband and high-resolution radio frequency(RF) channelization scheme based on dual coherent optical frequency combs(OFCs),regular optical de-muxes,and polarization I/Q demodulators in theory and experiment.The use of two coherent combs avoids precise optical alignment,and a numerical filter in digital signal processor(DSP) enables an ideal rectangular frequency response in each channel without any ultra-narrow optical filters.Besides,due to the use of polarization I/Q demodulation,ambiguous frequency estimate in direct detection can be avoided and the amplitude,phase mismatch in traditional I/Q demodulation can be mitigated.In experiment,we use two coherent OFCs with the free spectrum range(FSR) of about 40 GHz to demonstrate the channelization scheme with seven channels,500 MHz channel spacing and frequency coverage from 3.75 GHz to 7.25 GHz.The input RF tones are accurately down-converted to an intermediate frequency(IF) with a maximum frequency error of 110 kHz.Meanwhile,crosstalk and spurious free dynamic range(SFDR) of the scheme are also discussed.
DAI YiTangXU KunXIE XiaoJunYAN LiWANG RuiXinLIN JinTong
We propose a third-order intermodulation distortion(IMD3) compensation scheme based on the bidirectional modulation of 2-Ch phase modulator(PM).We realize the destructive combination of IMD3 by using different modulation efficiencies and appropriately adjusting the input optical power ratio to satisfy a fixed relationship with modulation efficiency.The primary advantage of this scheme is that out-of-phase IMD3 is introduced using only one 2-Ch PM,thereby resulting in the cancellation of IMD3.Up to 27-dB suppression in IMD3 is experimentally demonstrated-a feature that will be useful in low-distortion analog optical transmission.
Microwave photonics(MWPs)uses the strength of photonic techniques to generate,process,control,and distribute microwave signals,combining the advantages of microwaves and photonics.As one of the main topics of MWP,radio-over-fiber(RoF)links can provide features that are very difficult or even impossible to achieve with traditional technologies.Meanwhile,a considerable number of signal-processing subsystems have been carried out in the field of MWP as they are instrumental for the implementation of many functionalities.However,there are still several challenges in strengthening the performance of the technology to support systems and applications with more complex structures,multiple functionality,larger bandwidth,and larger processing capability.In this paper,we identify some of the notable challenges in MWP and review our recent work.Applications and future direction of research are also discussed.
Kun XuRuixin WangYitang DaiFeifei YinJianqiang LiYuefeng JiJintong Lin
A novel photonic-assisted approach to microwave frequency measurement is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed scheme is based on the frequency-to-power mapping with different transmission responses. A polarizer is used in one output branch of a phase modulator to simultaneously implement phase modulation and intensity modulation. Owing to the complementary nature of the transmission responses and the Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs), this scheme theoretically provides high resolution and tunable measurement range. The measurement errors in the experimental results can be kept within 0.2 GHz over a frequency range from 0.1 to 5.3 GHz.
By optimizing the gain configuration and length of the loop,a 90-tone optical frequency comb(OFC) is successfully generated based on recirculating frequency shifter structure. The peak-to-peak power fluctuation of the 90-tone OFC is 4.26 dB and the tone-to-noise ratio is higher than 19.17 dB. To further analyze the noise accumulation feature of the tones when travelling around the loop,linewidth of the tones is measured by delayed self-heterodyne interferometer structure. The result shows the linewidth of the tones deteriorates little during the recirculating process,indicating that the generated OFC is an ideal multi-wavelength source for high-speed communication systems.
The effects of optical losses on a directly-modulated radio-over-fiber (RoF) system used for distributed antenna networks are determined. The results show that with a properly designed bidirectional amplifier, the RoF link can tolerate over 20 and 16 dB of optical losses for down- and up-links, respectively. Simulation results are also consistent with the experimental data. These findings can contribute to the design of RoF distributed antenna systems with different topologies.
