ELECTROOPTIC PHASE TRACKING OF MICROWAVE SIGNALS BEYOND 18.5 GHZ USING AN INTEGRATED ELECTROOPTIC MODULATOR AS AN OPTOELECTRONIC HARMONIC MIXER IN A PHASE-LOCK LOOP

Abstract

We demonstrate electrooptic phase tracking of microwave signals beyond 18.5 GHz using a gain-switched laser diode as the optical clock. The key element of this system is a fiber-pigtailed integrated-optic Mach-Zehnder Modulator (IOM). The IOM functions as an optoelectronic harmonic mixer in a phase lock loop. The conversion loss of the OEHM is 66dB. The phase error and the single sideband phase noise density of the phase- locked 18.5 GHz signal is 5.6 x 10(-5) rad/square-root Hzand -54 dBc/Hz, respectively.