All-optical filter for simultaneous implementation of microwave bandpass and notch responses based on semiconductor optical amplifier

Abstract

An all-optical filter structure to simultaneously implement microwave bandpass and notch filter is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The structure is based on a recirculating delay line (RDL) loop consisting of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) followed by a tunable narrowband optical filter and a 10∶90 coupler. The converted signal is generated in a wavelength conversion process based on cross-gain modulation of amplified spontaneous emission in the SOA. The converted signal circulating in RDL loop realizes a negative bandpass response. The negative bandpass filter and a broadband allpass filter are synthesized to achieve a notch filter with flat passband which can excise interference with minimal impact on the wanted signal.

Keywords

microwave photonic / microwave filters / optical signal processing / semiconductor optical amplifier / cross-gain modulation / amplified spontaneous emission

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2006CB302805) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Ministry of Education of China (No. NCET-04-0715).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg