Photonic Generation of Chirp-Rate-Tunable Microwave Waveforms Using Temporal Cavity Solitons with Agile Repetition Rate

Abstract

Chirp-rate-tunable microwave waveforms (CTMWs) with dynamically tunable parameters are of basic interest to many practical applications. Recently, photonic generation of microwave signals has made their bandwidths wider and more convenient for optical fiber transmission. An all-optical method for generation of multiband CTMWs is proposed and demonstrated on all-fiber architecture, relying on dual temporal cavity solitons with agile repetition rate. In the experiment, the triangular optical chirp microwave waveforms with bandwidth above 0.45 GHz (ranging from 1.45 GHz to 1.9 GHz) are obtained, and the chirp rate reaches 0.9 GHz/ms. The reconfigurability is also demonstrated by adjusting the control signal. This all-optical approach provides a technical basis for compact, multi-band reconfigurable microwave photonics transmission and reception systems.