Optics Communications 410 (2018) 240–247
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Optics Communications
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optcom
Linearly chirped waveform generation with large time-bandwidth product
using sweeping laser and dual-polarization modulator
Xuan Li
a,b
, Shanghong Zhao
a
, Yongjun Li
a,b,
*, Zihang Zhu
a
, Kun Qu
a
, Tao Li
a
, Dapeng Hu
a
a
Information and Navigation College, Air Force Engineering University, 710077, Xi’an, China
b
National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Space Microwave, 710000, Xi’an, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Keywords:
Linearly chirped waveform
Time-bandwidth product
Frequency sweeping laser
Dual-polarization modulator
a b s t r a c t
A method for photonic generation of a linearly chirped microwave waveform using a frequency-sweeping laser
and a dual-polarization modulator is proposed and investigated. A frequency-sweeping continuous-wave light is
generated from the laser and then sent to the modulator. In the modulator, one part of the light is modulated with
an RF signal to generate a frequency-shifting optical signal, while another part of the light is passed through a
polarization rotator to rotate the polarization to an orthogonal direction. At the output of the modulator, the two
optical signals are combined with orthogonal polarizations, and then injected into a polarization delay device to
introduce a time delay. After combining the two optical signals for heterodyning, a linearly chirped waveform can
be generated. The bandwidth, time duration, chirp rate and sign, central frequency of the generated waveform
can be tuned independently and flexibly, furthermore, frequency doubling for the central frequency can be
achieved in the waveform generation. A simulation is demonstrated to verify the proposed scheme, a linearly
chirped microwave pulse with up or down chirp, central frequency of 20 or 40 GHz, bandwidth of 20 GHz, time
duration of 500 ns, time-bandwidth product (TBWP) of 10000 is obtained.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Linearly chirped microwave waveforms have wide applications in
radar, seismology, sonar and underwater acoustics. To simultaneously
achieve a large detection range and a high range resolution, linearly
chirped signals with a large time-bandwidth product (TBWP) are highly
desired [1]. Conventionally, linearly chirped waveforms are usually
generated by using an electrical direct digital synthesizer. Due to digital-
to-analog convertor speed restrictions, state-of-the art electronic devices
are currently incapable of high-frequency and wideband waveform
generation beyond 20 GHz [2]. Compared with the electronic ones,
photonic methods are free from such limitations and capable of generat-
ing a linearly chirped waveform with high frequency, wide bandwidth
and large TBWP [3]. Up to now, a large number of photonics systems
were proposed to generate linearly chirped waveforms, which can be
generally divided into two categories according to the optical signals be
processed. One utilizes ultra-short optical pulse, and the other employs
continuous-wave (CW) light.
The most developed method in the first category is based on optical
spectral shaping followed by frequency-to-time mapping (FTM) [4–9].
The main underlying component in this method is an optical pulse
*
Correspondence to: Fenghao street No. 1, Xi’an, China.
E-mail address: tz_228@163.com (Y. Li).
shaper, which can be designed in many patterns. For example, spatial
light modulator-based pulse shaper can provide good flexibility for the
generated waveform, specially designed fiber Bragg grating-based pulse
shaper has light weight, and integrated chip-based pulse shaper can offer
high integration. However, the temporal pulsewidth of the generated
waveforms in this method is very limited (a few nanoseconds), resulting
in a small TBWP and a short detection distance. Recently, high-speed
phase and amplitude modulation is inserted in the spectral shaping and
FTM scheme to synthesize a linearly chirped waveform with long time
duration and large TBWP [10–12], but the system is complicated and the
stability is poor due to the use of multiple modulators and the spatially
separated structure.
The methods in the second category can directly generate a linearly
chirped microwave waveform with long time duration. For example, by
using external-phase-modulation in two phase-correlated wavelengths,
together with optical heterodyning in a photodetector (PD), a chirped
microwave signal with high frequency can be obtained [13,14]. How-
ever, the bandwidth of the generated waveform is small due to the
restriction of the phase modulation index, leading to a small TBWP
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2017.09.050
Received 15 June 2017; Received in revised form 31 August 2017; Accepted 13 September 2017
0030-4018/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.