Image rejecting microwave photonic downconverter

An image rejecting microwave photonic downconverter comprising:

• a first and second laser, each laser producing a respective first and second optical signal;
• a first and second electro-optic modulator associated respectively with the first and second optical signal;
• a first and second local oscillator associated respectively with the first and second electro-optic modulator producing a first and second sinusoidal electrical signal applied through the first and second electro-optic modulators superimposed on the first and second optical signal;
• means for transmitting said first and second optical signals with the superimposed first and second sinusoidal electrical signal to a distant point;
• means for converting the first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal from the optical domain to an electrical domain;
• means for mixing said converted first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal with an ultra-broadband radio frequency signal from an antenna receive array so as to upconvert the entire radio frequency band to a higher frequency band equal to the original radio frequency plus the frequency of the first local oscillator;
• means for amplifying the up-converted signal;
• means for band-pass filtering the upconverted signal to attenuate frequencies outside of the up-converted pass-band;
• means for mixing the second optically modulated signal with the up-converted signal to down-convert the filtered signal to a lower intermediate frequency;
• and
• means for converting the mixed optical signal to an output electrical signal.

An image rejecting microwave photonic downconverter comprising:

• a first and second laser, each laser producing an optical signal;
• a first and second electro-optic modulator associated respectively with the first and second optical signal;
• a first and second local oscillator associated respectively with the first and second electro-optic modulator producing a first and second sinusoidal electrical signal applied through the first and second electro-optic modulators superimposed on the first and second optical signal;
• means for converting the first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal from the optical domain to an electrical domain;
• means for transmitting said first and second optical signals with the superimposed first and second sinusoidal electrical signal to a distant point;
• means for mixing said converted first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal with an ultra-broadband radio frequency signal from an antenna receive array so as to upconvert the entire radio frequency band to a higher frequency band equal to the original radio frequency plus the frequency of the first local oscillator;
• means for amplifying the up-converted signal;
• means for band-pass filtering the upconverted signal to attenuate frequencies outside of the up-converted pass-band;
• means for mixing the second optically modulated signal with the up-converted signal to down-convert the filtered signal to a lower intermediate frequency;
• and
• means for converting the mixed optical signal to an output electrical signal.

A method for image rejection in a microwave photonic downconverter comprising the steps of:

• producing a first and second optical signal having different frequencies;
• producing a first and second sinusoidal electrical signal superimposed respectively on the first and second optical signal;
• transmitting said first and second optical signals with the superimposed respectively first and second sinusoidal electrical signal to a distant point;
• converting the first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal from the optical domain to an electrical domain;
• mixing said converted first optical signal modulated with the first sinusoidal electrical signal with an ultra-broadband radio frequency signal from an antenna receive array so as to upconvert the entire radio frequency band to a higher frequency band equal to the original radio frequency plus the frequency of a first local oscillator;
• amplifying the up-converted signal;
• filtering the upconverted signal to attenuate frequencies outside of the up-converted pass-band;
• mixing the second optically modulated signal with the up-converted electrical signal to produce a mixed optical signal;
• and
• converting said mixed optical signal to an output electrical signal at a lower intermediate frequency.