High link performance of Brillouin-loss based microwave bandpass photonic filters

Abstract

We present a high link-performance multi-band microwave photonic filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) loss responses. The bandpass filter response is formed by suppressing the out-of-band signal using multiple broadened SBS loss responses, which avoids introducing additional noise in the passband. The low-noise SBS bandpass filter is implemented in an optimized high-performance MWP link, which enabled the demonstration of filter functionalities with a low noise figure, reconfigurability, and high resolution. A noise figure of 18.9 dB is achieved in the passband with a filter bandwidth of 0.3 GHz at a central frequency of 14 GHz, with a link gain of −13.9 dB and a spurious free dynamic range of 106 dB.Hz2/3. Bandwidth reconfiguration from 0.1 GHz to 1 GHz and multi-bandpass responses are also demonstrated.