Ultra-fast Photonics-enabled RF Arbitrary Waveform Generation Utilizing Highly Linear, High Power Photodiodes

We propose to demonstrate a photonic radio-frequency (RF) arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) having (1) 3 dB bandwidth = 10 GHz, (2) time aperture > 2 ns (time-bandwidth product > 20), and (3) maximum RF output amplitude > 3 V. This performance will be facilitated by our proposed highly linear, high-power 10 GHz bandwidth photodiodes which will deliver > 3 V peak RF amplitude, thereby enabling a 6-fold improvement over the state-of-the-art in photonic AWGs. Additionally, the photodiode will provide high amplitude linearity (> 50 dBm OIP3) and high phase linearity ( 1 hour without any polarization adjustments. During the Phase I Option period, the 3 dB bandwidth of the proposed photodiode and the photonic AWG will be extended to 20 GHz, while maintaining the other specifications.