Method and apparatus for optimized analog RF optical links

A method comprising:

• modulating a phase on an optical signal;
• compensating for quadratic distortion in one of a modulator or an optical filter;
• extracting upper and lower first order optical sidebands from the optical signal and suppressing residual carrier, using an optical filter;
• amplifying, by an optical phase sensitive amplifier, the extracted upper and lower first order optical sidebands;
• and
• sending the amplified extracted upper and lower first order optical sidebands to an array of photodetectors, each photodetector comprising a plurality of pairs of diodes.

A system comprising:

• a first optical signal used as a local oscillator for a coherent detection system;
• a distortion compensating circuit;
• and
• an optical phase sensitive amplifier, wherein the first optical signal is employed as a pump signal for the optical phase sensitive amplifier, and
• wherein the optical phase sensitive amplifier controls a phase relationship between the first optical signal employed as a pump signal and upper and lower first order optical sidebands extracted from a second optical signal, and
• wherein the distortion compensating circuit compensates for quadratic distortion in the optical phase sensitive amplifier.