Coherent resonant Ka-band photonic microwave receiver

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel coherent microwave photonic receiver operating at 35 GHz, demonstrating enhanced sensitivity and a high dynamic range, with experimental validation using whispering gallery mode resonators.

Contribution

The paper presents the first experimental demonstration of a coherent Ka-band microwave photonic receiver using whispering gallery mode resonators, achieving superior sensitivity over incoherent counterparts.

Findings

Sensitivity exceeds that of incoherent quadratic receivers.

Dynamic range surpasses 100 dB in a 5 MHz band.

Experimental validation confirms theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a coherent microwave photonic receiver operating at 35 GHz carrier frequency. The device is based on a lithium niobate or lithium tantalate optical whispering gallery mode resonator coupled to a microwave strip line resonator. Microwave local oscillator is fed into the microwave resonator along with the microwave signal. We show that the sensitivity of this receiver significantly exceeds the sensitivity of the incoherent quadratic receiver based on the same technology. The coherent receiver can possess a dynamic range in excess of 100 dB in 5 MHz band if a low noise laser is utilized.