Photonic approach to flexible multi-band linearly frequency modulated microwave signals generation

In this paper, a flexible multi-band linearly frequency modulated (LFM) signal generator based on a dual-polarization binary phase-shift keying (DP-BPSK) modulator is proposed and demonstrated by experiment. Two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators of the DP-BPSK modulator are driven by a local oscillator (LO) signal and an LFM signal, respectively. By appropriately changing the phase difference introduced by a polarization controller, flexible multi-band LFM signals can be obtained after photoelectric conversion. The LO signal is phase modulated to eliminate self-heterodyne, which will affect the quality of the resulting signal.