Title :
Photonic techniques for use on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array
Author :
Payne, John ; Shillue, Bill ; Vaccari, Andrea
Author_Institution :
Nat. Radio Astron. Obs., Tucson, AZ, USA
Abstract :
Progress on a photonic local oscillator that may be suitable for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is described. The proposed system is based on the coherent heterodyne of 1550 nm infrared signals generated at a central location and then distributed over optical fiber to each antenna. The length of each fiber is held constant by a servo system which uses an optical interferometer to measure the fiber path length. The difference between the two laser frequencies is converted at the receivers to a radio frequency (RF) signal by a high-speed photomixer
Keywords :
laser beam applications; microwave photonics; optical fibre communication; optical frequency conversion; radiotelescopes; radiowave interferometers; Atacama Large Millimeter Array; RF signal; coherent heterodyne; high-speed photomixer; infrared signals; laser frequencies difference; optical fiber distribution; optical interferometer; photonic LO; photonic local oscillator; photonic techniques; servo system; High speed optical techniques; Local oscillators; Optical fibers; Optical interferometry; Optical mixing; Optical receivers; Radio frequency; Radio interferometry; Servomechanisms; Signal generators;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Photonics, 1999. MWP '99. International Topical Meeting on
Conference_Location :
Melbourne, Vic.
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5558-X
DOI :
10.1109/MWP.1999.819662
