SBS in fiber for modulation depth enhancement of optically carried microwave signals

Summary form only given. For future radar systems based on photonic technologies, the implementation of highly linear optoelectronic links is necessary. Regarding characteristics of classical optoelectronic components used in optical links, the optical carrier is very weakly-modulated at RF frequencies. It then consist in low modulated part and a large DC component. This last one is mainly responsible for the possible saturation of components like photodetectors or optical amplifiers. Thus, there is a need to enhance the modulation depth of such signals. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is a nice way for depleting the strong carrier (which carries no information) and leaving the weak modulation sidebands (which carry information) unchanged. SBS is then used intentionally as a carrier filter, with an ultimate bandwidth as low as 15 MHz (in silica fibers).