Open AccessOptical frequency comb based multi-band microwave frequency conversion for satellite applications
Author(s) -
Xinwu Yang,
Kun Xu,
Jun Yin,
Yitang Dai,
Feifei Yin,
Jianqiang Li,
Haojian Lu,
Tao Liu,
Yuefeng Ji
Publication year - 2014
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.22.000869
Subject(s) - microwave , optics , physics , frequency band , q band , c band , signal (programming language) , repeater (horology) , multi band device , intermediate frequency , computer science , radio frequency , telecommunications , bandwidth (computing) , encoding (memory) , artificial intelligence , programming language , antenna (radio)
Based on optical frequency combs (OFC), we propose an efficient and flexible multi-band frequency conversion scheme for satellite repeater applications. The underlying principle is to mix dual coherent OFCs with one of which carrying the input signal. By optically channelizing the mixed OFCs, the converted signal in different bands can be obtained in different channels. Alternatively, the scheme can be configured to generate multi-band local oscillators (LO) for widely distribution. Moreover, the scheme realizes simultaneous inter- and intra-band frequency conversion just in a single structure and needs only three frequency-fixed microwave sources. We carry out a proof of concept experiment in which multiple LOs with 2 GHz, 10 GHz, 18 GHz, and 26 GHz are generated. A C-band signal of 6.1 GHz input to the proposed scheme is successfully converted to 4.1 GHz (C band), 3.9 GHz (C band) and 11.9 GHz (X band), etc. Compared with the back-to-back (B2B) case measured at 0 dBm input power, the proposed scheme shows a 9.3% error vector magnitude (EVM) degradation at each output channel. Furthermore, all channels satisfy the EVM limit in a very wide input power range.