On-chip multipurpose microwave frequency identification

TL;DR

This paper presents a photonic chip-based system capable of identifying various microwave signals across a wide frequency range with high resolution, enabling advanced integrated microwave signal analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel on-chip microwave identification method using a thermally-tunable silicon microring resonator for wideband, high-resolution signal detection.

Findings

Frequency range from 1 to 30 GHz achieved

Resolution of 375 MHz demonstrated

Low measurement error of 237.3 MHz reported

Abstract

We demonstrate a multipurpose microwave frequency identification solution that is implemented based on a photonic integrated chip and is able to identify different types of microwave signals, including single-frequency, multiple-frequency, chirped and frequency-hopping microwave signals. The key component is a thermally-tunable high-Q-factor silicon microring resonator which is used to implement the frequency-to-time mapping. The frequency measurement range is ultra-wide, from 1 to 30 GHz, with a high resolution of 375 MHz and a low measurement error of 237.3 MHz. This demonstration opens the door for future fully integrated solution for high speed, wideband and multipurpose signal identification with high resolution.