Open AccessInstantaneous microwave frequency measurement using optical carrier suppression based DC power monitoring
Author(s) -
Songnian Fu,
Ming Tang,
Perry Ping Shum
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.19.024712
Subject(s) - optics , microwave , optical power , dispersion (optics) , transmission (telecommunications) , physics , observational error , power (physics) , measurement uncertainty , materials science , dc bias , telecommunications , computer science , voltage , laser , statistics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
A novel photonic-assisted technique for instantaneous microwave frequency measurement is proposed using two cascaded Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) biased at the transmission null point. Then, the microwave frequency can be estimated by monitoring direct current (DC) optical power. Moreover, the measurement range and the measurement resolution can be optimized by setting the time delay between optical and electrical link and optical dispersion, respectively. The approach is theoretically investigated and experimentally verified with a measurement range of 8 GHz and a measurement error of less than ± 0.15 GHz.