Microstructure fibre array for RF photonic signal processing applications

A novel microstructure fibre array (MFA), comprising multiple singlemode fibre waveguides reduced to an overall diameter of approximately 30 μm is reported. When used in conjunction with a single photodetector, the array facilitates the efficient and stable electrical summation of a number of RF-modulated optical signals with minimal optical interference effects. The reported MFA has optical insertion loss less than 0.1 dB. An RF filter based on the array exhibits less than 0.4 dB optical insertion loss and excellent temporal stability.