Acousto-optic frequency shifter-based microwave photonic channelized receiver using a single optical frequency comb

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Electrical Engineering
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Microwave photonic channelization receivers are crucial for broadband RF signal monitoring.
• Existing methods often require complex dual optical frequency comb generators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a simplified microwave photonic channelization receiver architecture.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using acousto-optic frequency shifters (AOFSs) for channelization.

Main Methods:

• Exploiting acousto-optic frequency shifters (AOFSs) to reduce the need for dual optical frequency comb (OFC) generators.
• Channelizing a 3.2 GHz broadband RF signal into eight 0.4 GHz narrowband RF signals.
• Investigating the impact of AOFS tuning error on signal quality using 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signals.

Main Results:

• Successfully reduced dual OFC generators to a single OFC generator.
• Demonstrated channelization of a 3.2 GHz RF signal into eight 0.4 GHz subchannels.
• Quantified the error vector magnitude (EVM) of subchannels affected by AOFS tuning errors.

Conclusions:

• The proposed microwave photonic channelization receiver offers a simplified and effective approach for broadband RF signal processing.
• AOFSs are a viable component for advanced photonic receiver designs.
• The system's performance is robust, with quantifiable impacts of tuning errors on signal fidelity.