Open AccessBroadband continuously tunable microwave photonic delay line based on cascaded silicon microrings
Author(s) -
Wensheng Shan,
Liangjun Lu,
Xinyi Wang,
Gangqiang Zhou,
Yuanbin Liu,
Jianping Chen,
Linjie Zhou
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.416000
Subject(s) - true time delay , resonator , broadband , optics , group delay and phase delay , microwave , ripple , optoelectronics , materials science , band pass filter , bandwidth (computing) , photonics , optical filter , free spectral range , physics , phased array , telecommunications , computer science , antenna (radio) , quantum mechanics , voltage
We present a novel broadband continuously tunable microwave photonic delay line consisting of a modulator, a four-stage microring resonator delay line, a tunable optical bandpass filter, and a photodetector. Unlike the traditional microring delay lines working at the on-resonant wavelength, the microring resonators in our chip work at the anti-resonant wavelengths, leading to a large delay bandwidth and a small delay ripple. The experimental results show that relative group delay can be continuously tuned from 0 to 160 ps for microwave frequencies in the range of 0 to 16 GHz. The delay ripple is less than 6.2 ps. These results represent an important step towards the realization of integrated continuously tunable delay lines demanded in broadband microwave phased array antennas.