Photonic Circuits for Broadband, High Dynamic Range Analog RF Applications

This proposal describes a linear modulation/demodulation architecture to impart analog photonic links with high dynamic range in wide instantaneous bandwidths, making them suitable for insertion into the RF systems on naval aircraft. This revolutionary architecture is projected to impart a fiber-optic link with an SFDR of > 125 dB·Hz2/3 for instantaneous bandwidths of up to 1 GHz and over an operational bandwidth of 100 MHz - 20 GHz after the completion of technology developments in Phase II of the program. In the 7-month base portion of Phase I, PSI will assemble a benchtop low-frequency version of the link using COTS components and compare its measured SFDR to that predicted by the PSI/UCSD analytical model, and UCSD will complete a design of two InGaAsP/InP integrated circuits that monolithically incorporate all of the optical and electro-optic components in the link's optical transmitter and optical receiver modules. In a subsequent 3-month Option, PSI/UCSD will use the results of the benchtop link measurements to update our analytical model, and use this improved model to design a prototype 100 MHz - 20 GHz link-including the InGaAsP/InP optical transmitter and optical receiver chips in addition to an integrated electronic feedback circuit-for manufacture in Phase II.