Integrated microwave photonics

TL;DR

Integrated microwave photonics combines photonic and microwave technologies on integrated circuits to enable advanced RF signal processing with improved size, cost, and performance, representing a rapidly evolving research area.

Contribution

This paper reviews recent advances in integrated microwave photonics, highlighting key technologies and discussing future prospects in the field.

Findings

Significant progress in PIC-based microwave photonics technologies.

Enhanced functionalities and robustness achieved through integration.

Potential for reduced size, weight, and power consumption in RF systems.

Abstract

Microwave photonics (MWP) is an emerging field in which radio frequency (RF) signals are generated, distributed, processed and analyzed using the strength of photonic techniques. It is a technology that enables various functionalities which are not feasible to achieve only in the microwave domain. A particular aspect that recently gains significant interests is the use of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology in the MWP field for enhanced functionalities and robustness as well as the reduction of size, weight, cost and power consumption. This article reviews the recent advances in this emerging field which is dubbed as integrated microwave photonics. Key integrated MWP technologies are reviewed and the prospective of the field is discussed.