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Optical Transfer Functions

Alexander N. Sharp* , Bevan D. Bates*†

Introduction
PHOTONICS FOR RF SYSTEMS
Photonic systems can provide advantages for radar deployment, such as lightweight remoting of Antenna systems and high bandwidth.
Current optical technology is focussed upon the commercial markets in Radio over Fibre and long distance broadband communications.
To operate in the radar domain, photonic systems need to achieve high SFDR (Spurious Free Dynamic Range) and SNR (Signal to Noise
Ratio). This requires a different solution to high power commercial systems. The relative cost of photonic systems has been dropping
considerably, enabling COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) implementations, but an architecture that can provide the high quality systems
is not available.

MIXING ARCHITECTURES FOR RF SYSTEMS Figure 2: MZIM Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) with 3 rd & 5th Harmonics. Figure 5: Sagnac Loop Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) of a signal optimized for the transfer function.
Traditional microwave mixing architectures for radio frequency systems use the non linear properties of electronic devices to mix signals.
These systems are mature and the broad parameters are well known. The disadvantage of traditional mixing is the generation of spurious
signals caused by the non linear properties of the electronic devices. These spurious signals cause intermodulation distortion, when two
signals are mixed. Additionally the signals feed through in the reverse direction, due to insufficient isolation of microwave devices. [3]
Photonic systems require gain (or at least zero loss) to achieve high SNR. This can be achieved using low V OIMs (optical intensity
modulators). This alone is not enough to enable photonic platforms. Photonic mixing replaces the entire microwave chain. A key
disadvantage of photonic mixing is that the system SFDR is halved if two OIMs are used in series, due to the double cosine transfer
function.

A Typical Photonic Architecture Figure 3: MZIM Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) of a signal optimized for the MZ
transfer function.
Figure 15 The author with a test antenna in the anechoic chamber.
Figure 1 shows an architecture for an optical link for radar. The link uses wavelength division multiplexing to combine four laser channels
Figure 6: Sagnac Loop Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) of a signal 10 dB below Figure 3
and modulate a signal onto the combined channels. To prevent frequency fading the incoming RF signal is split into quadrature. The fibre
grating is used to delay each waveform by a fixed amount to enable the electronically steered phased array. The link is limited to
transferring the mixed RF signal to the antenna. The RF signal is mixed electronically.

Figure 4: MZIM Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) of a signal 10 dB below Figure 3 Figure 7: Sagnac Loop Spectrum (LHS) and Output Waveform (RHS) of a signal 20 dB below Figure 3

Solutions
Phase Modulation Architecture.
Summary
The SFDR of an optical link using OMs is limited by the transfer function of the OM. The upper limit is the area of linear transmission
Phase modulation (PM) of a light source using an electric field is entirely linear as opposed to the intensity modulation (IM) transfer
which rolls off at the minimum and maximum bias points [4]. Because the Hilbert transform of a signal produces a signal spectrum in the transfer function. The lower limitation is the noise floor of the system, which includes the fabrication tolerances of the
where the sidebands are inverted, phase modulation of light when detected by a photodetector (PD) produces no output. components. The light in a Sagnac Loop travels the same distance in both directions. The output is not limited by phase noise, which is
the varying in the light path through an MZ IM as the bias varies. Figure 8 shows a receiver based upon a Sagnac Loop topology.
A Sagnac Loop can be used to transfer PM into IM. In this implementation performance is limited by the noise floor of the system
and not the intensity roll off. This is due to the lack of phase noise interference in the Sagnac Loop. A Sagnac Loop is illustrated in A point of equal importance is the relative power output of the received signal. Figures 3 & 5 show the detected spectrum of an IM and
Figure 8. a Sagnac Loop. The output from the Sagnac Loop is 20 dB higher than the IM output for the same input waveform.

Architecture Constraints The transfer function of an intensity modulator is :

j (t   [ Sin ( m t )])

A single link doesn’t provide enough incentive to move to optical radio over fibre deployment. It is lightweight and suitable for ultralite
aircraft. It provides a phased array. The cost of laser systems in a larger scale deployment quickly reduce the incentive for
Eout  Ae Vm
implementation. The link doesn’t reduce the complexity of the system, and if at all increases it. SFDR of 120 dB can be achieved. 
Achieving a high SNR requires eliminating RIN noise to have a shot noise limited system. A shot noise limited system can be obtained by v
minimum biasing or by balanced detection. Minimum biasing is bandwidth limited to a single octave. Balanced detection increases the
complexity by adding optical amplifiers, splitters and multiple photo detectors 
is the modulation index .
The transfer function of an intensity modulator is : A Bessel Function expansion of the second term is :

  ASin( m t )  Vb  
Pout t m P0 1  Cos 
  V


 
e  j ( [ Sin(mt )])
 ( j n
)J n ( )e  jnmt

n 
This transfer function can be expanded to form a Fourier Series:

1  Cos Vb / V J 0 (m)  2Sin Vb / V J 1 (m) Sin ( m t ) For a phase modulator outside the Sagnac loop, the output power of the OPM at the output of the Sagnac loop is:
Pout t m P0  
 2Cos Vb / V J 2 (m) Sin (2 m t   / 2)
I 1  V 
  1  Cos Cos (t   ) Sin(   )  
Ii 2   V  Figure 8: An experimental optical beamformer based upon a Sagnac Loop Interferometer.
where J(n) is the Bessel function of the n th order. This transfer function leads to the result that each Bessel function term becomes a

References
harmonic of the original signal. Figure 2 shows a typical mach zehnder(MZ) IM output when driven highly. Fabrication of intensity
modulators is an imperfect process and as a result, noise appears in the transfer function which are a result of the fabrication process.  
MZIM s are biased at quadrature to achieve a linear transfer across the signal input. This limits the SFDR of the transfer function. In where is the phase difference created by the non-reciprocal bias unit and is the phase chirp on the optical carrier caused [1] Stephen A. Pappert,Roger Helkey, Ronald T. Logan Jr, “Photonic link techniques for microwave frequency conversion”,
addition the input signal must be adjusted to fit within the linear region of the transfer function. Figure 3 shows a detected waveform from by the same . If is 90 then the last term reduces to 1 and the output is exactly the same as IM operating at quadrature resulting in RF Photonic Technology in Optical Fiber Links, Cambridge Press, Chapter 10, pp 319,(2006).
an MZIM. The input wave is within the linear region of the MZIM. The detected waveform seems relatively linear, but close inspection suppressed second order terms. Figure 5 shows the output of a PM Sagnac Loop (see Figure 3). The detected waveform is clearer *School of EEE, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005 Australia
reveals noise affecting the minima and maxima of the curve. Figure 4 shows the exact same setup with an input wave that is 10 dB below than in the IM case. Figure 6 shows the output 10 dB below. The output waveform is clearly limited only by the noise floor of the †Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Edinburgh SA 5111, Australia
the linear region. system and not the transfer function of the modulator. Figure 7 shows the output of waveform 20 dB below, without thermal noise Email: {alexander.sharp, bevan.bates}@adelaide.edu.au
of the electrical receive circuit.

Life Impact The University of Adelaide