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NLFM microwave waveform generation with increased time bandwidth product based on polarization modulation and phase coding

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Abstract

A photonic method for nonlinear frequency-modulated (NLFM) waveform generation with increased time bandwidth product (TBWP) is proposed based on polarization modulation and phase coding. A lightwave generated by a laser diode is firstly injected into a phase-coherent orthogonal lightwave generator (POLG). The POLG consists of a dual-polarization binary phase shift keying (DPBPSK) modulator and a polarization controller (PC). The DPBPSK modulator is driven by a radio frequency (RF) signal via a 90° hybrid coupler. After the POLG, a pair of phase-coherent orthogonally polarized optical carriers are generated and injected into a polarization modulator (PolM) which is driven by a specially designed phase modulation signal. After another PC and a polarizer, the optical signal is detected by a photodetector and an NLFM waveform can be generated. The central frequency and bandwidth of the generated NLFM waveform can be easily adjusted by tuning the frequency of the RF signal applied to the DPBPSK modulator and the phase modulation signal applied to the PolM. The TBWP of the generated NLFM waveform can be further increased by phase coding technique. A numerical simulation is conducted to verify the proposal. The generated NLFM waveforms have a great improvement in peak-to-sidelobe ratio of the compressed pulses compared with linear frequency-modulated waveforms with the same bandwidth, duration and phase coding.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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The relevant codes are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U2006217 and 61775015); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 2021JBZ103 and 2021YJS002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Lightwave Technology, Key Laboratory of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network, Ministry of Education, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Yuxiao Guo, Muguang Wang, Hongqian Mu & Jianyong Zhang

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  1. Yuxiao Guo
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  2. Muguang Wang
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  3. Hongqian Mu
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  4. Jianyong Zhang
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Contributions

Conceptualization: [Yuxiao Guo], Writing—original draft: [Yuxiao Guo], Funding acquisition: [Muguang Wang], Supervision: [Muguang Wang], Writing—review & editing: [Muguang Wang], Data Curation: [Hongqian Mu], Visualization: [Guofang Fan].

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Correspondence to Muguang Wang.

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Guo, Y., Wang, M., Mu, H. et al. NLFM microwave waveform generation with increased time bandwidth product based on polarization modulation and phase coding. Opt Quant Electron 54, 244 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-03574-2

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