Super-Homogeneous Saturation of Microwave-Photonic Gain in Optoelectronic Oscillator Systems

We show that the saturation characteristic of microwave-photonic gain is “super-homogeneous” such that the gain of a weaker tone saturates more rapidly than that of a stronger tone when both signals are transmitted over an intensity-modulated optical link. Using this gain model, we simulate the effect of nonlinear gain saturation on the performance of a slab-coupled optical waveguide (SCOW)-based optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). We verify our simulations with experimental measurements and show that low sidemode levels (<; -110 dBc) can be achieved even when multiple modes can oscillate within the passband of the OEO loop filter.