Experimental realization of a universal RF photonic integrated circuit

TL;DR

This paper presents the experimental realization of a universal RF photonic integrated circuit capable of multiple modulation and frequency conversion functions, verified through simulation and silicon photonics technology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel RF photonic circuit architecture with a NxN DFT network, enabling versatile RF signal processing functions.

Findings

Successful experimental demonstration using silicon photonics.

Theoretical predictions match simulation results.

Versatile RF processing functions demonstrated.

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the operation of a universal RF photonic circuit that consists of a generalized Mach Zehnder Interferometer architecture with its Nx1 combiner replaced by a NxN optical DFT network. The proposed circuit architecture can be used for SSB modulation, frequency up-conversion/down-conversion, frequency multiplication and phase correlated subcarrier generation based on the choice of output ports and dimension (N) of the circuit. An alternative representation of the circuit is also reported with the aim of a systematic demultiplexing. A transfer matrix approach is used to develop the theoretical predictions which are verified by simulation using industry standard software tool. An integrated circuit based on silicon photonics technology readily available in the laboratory is used for experimental confirmation.