Tunable optical carrier-to-sideband ratio filtering and down-converting coherent radio frequency (RF) photonic link

Abstract

A method includes generating first and second optical carrier signals having a specified frequency offset. The method also includes modulating an RF input signal onto a portion of the first optical carrier signal to generate modulated optical signals, where the modulated optical signals include the portion of the first optical carrier signal and sideband signals. The method further includes suppressing the portion of the first optical carrier signal in the modulated optical signals to generate carrier-suppressed single sideband signals. The method also includes optically filtering the carrier-suppressed single sideband signals to generate filtered carrier-suppressed single sideband signals. The method further includes combining the filtered carrier-suppressed single sideband signals with portions of the second optical carrier signal to generate frequency-converted optical signals. In addition, the method includes generating an output RF signal based on the frequency-converted optical signals. Each frequency-converted optical signal has an optical carrier-to-sideband ratio (OCSR) that is controllable.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.