A broadband integrated microwave photonic mixer based on balanced photodetection

• Published in: Frontiers of Optoelectronics (Online) Vol. 16; no. 2; p. 11
• Main Authors: Xu, Zhenzhu, Mei, Li, Chong, Yuhua, Gao, Xudong, Han, Shoubao, Yang, Chengkun, Li, Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Higher Education Press 26-05-2023; Springer & Higher Education Press
• Subjects: Balanced detection; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Frequency conversion; Integrated photonics; Microwave photonics; Photonic mixer; Physics; Research Article; Frequency conversion; Integrated photonics; Microwave photonics; Photonic mixer; Balanced detection
• ISSN: 2095-2759; 2095-2767; 2095-2767
• DOI: 10.1007/s12200-023-00064-5

An integrated microwave photonic mixer based on silicon photonic platforms is proposed, which consist of a dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator and a balanced photodetector. The modulated optical signals from microwave photonic links can be directly demodulated and down-converted to intermediate frequency (IF) signals by the photonic mixer. The converted signal is obtained by conducting off-chip subtraction of the outputs from the balanced photodetector, and subsequent filtering of the high frequency items by an electrical low-pass filter. Benefiting from balanced detection, the conversion gain of the IF signal is improved by 6 dB, and radio frequency leakage and common-mode noise are suppressed significantly. System-level simulations show that the frequency mixing system has a spurious-free dynamic range of 89 dB·Hz 2/3, even with deteriorated linearity caused by the two cascaded modulators. The spur suppression ratio of the photonic mixer remains higher than 40 dB when the IF varies from 0.5 to 4 GHz. The electrical-electrical 3 dB bandwidth of frequency conversion is 11 GHz. The integrated frequency mixing approach is quite simple, requiring no extra optical filters or electrical 90° hybrid coupler, which makes the system more stable and with broader bandwidth so that it can meet the potential demand in practical applications.