Fiber Bragg gratings for microwave photonics subsystems

Microwave photonics (MWP) is an emerging filed in which photonic technologies are employed to enable and enhance functionalities in microwave systems which are usually very challenging to fulfill directly in the microwave domain. Various photonic devices have been used to achieve the functions. A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is one of the key components in microwave photonics systems due to its unique features such as flexible spectral characteristics, low loss, light weight, compact footprint, and inherent compatibility with other fiber-optic devices. In this paper, we discuss the recent development in employing FBGs for various microwave photonics subsystems, with an emphasis on subsystems for microwave photonic signal processing and microwave arbitrary waveform generation. The limitations and potential solutions are also discussed.