A tunable multi-frequency optoelectronic oscillator based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

A multi-frequency optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed for simultaneous generation of multiple frequency-tunable microwave signals. In the OEO, multiple laser sources are applied and a tunable single passband microwave photonic filter is implemented for each wavelength by phase modulation and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) based selective sideband amplification. Multi-frequency oscillation can be established and each oscillation frequency can be tuned independently by changing the corresponding pump wavelength. In a proof-of-concept experiment, two microwave signals with each frequency independently tunable from 14.5 to 26.2 GHz are generated with good phase noise properties.