All-Optical Approach to Microwave Frequency Measurement With Large Spectral Range and High Accuracy

Author

Ye, Chenhui ; Fu, Hongyan ; Zhu, Kun ; He, Sailing

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Modern Opt. Instrum., Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou, China

Volume

24

Issue

7

fYear

2012

fDate

4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

614

Lastpage

616

Abstract

An all-optical approach for microwave frequency (MWF) measurement with a low-speed oscilloscope is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In this scheme, an optical Alter with a single and ultranarrow passband, together with a tunable laser and a low-speed photodiode is utilized to calculate the MWF by measuring the time delay between the sweeping optical carrier and its upper/lower sideband passing through the filter. Single-frequency and multifrequency measurements are experimentally demonstrated. The measurement recognition, accuracy, and resolution are below 0.1, 0.09, and 0.2 GHz, respectively. This proposed scheme can be easily upgraded to higher frequencies using a modulator with higher bandwidth proportional to the desired measurement range.

Keywords

Bragg gratings; frequency measurement; microwave measurement; optical fibres; optical variables measurement; oscilloscopes; photodiodes; all optical approach; large spectral range; low speed oscilloscope; low speed photodiode; microwave frequency measurement; multifrequency measurements; single frequency measurements; single ultranarrow passband tunable laser; sweeping optical carrier; Bandwidth; Fiber gratings; Frequency measurement; Microwave measurements; Optical variables measurement; Wavelength measurement; Fiber Bragg grating Fabry–Pérot (FBG-FP); large measurement range; microwave frequency measurement; microwave photonics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2012.2185688

Filename

6138290