Switchable microwave photonic filter based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Microwave Engineering
• Optical Signal Processing

Background:

• Microwave photonic filters (MPFs) are crucial for modern signal processing.
• Existing MPFs often lack tunability and switchability, limiting their applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a switchable and tunable microwave photonic filter (MPF).
• To enable flexible control over filter responses for advanced signal processing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) as the core component.
• Integrated a tunable optical bandpass filter (TOBPF) for precise frequency and bandwidth control.
• Adjusted DPMZM bias voltage to switch between low-pass and bandpass filter responses.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a switchable MPF with distinct low-pass and bandpass characteristics.
• Achieved wide tunability of the filter's bandwidth and center frequency.
• The proposed MPF design offers significant flexibility in microwave signal filtering.

Conclusions:

• The presented DPMZM-based MPF provides a versatile solution for tunable and switchable filtering.
• This technology has potential applications in reconfigurable microwave systems and software-defined radio.