A novel photonics-assisted method for frequency up/down conversion with tunable optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) and phase shift is presented based on an integrated dual-polarization dual-parallel MachZehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM). The local oscillator (LO) signal with high spectral purity and low phase noise is generated by an OEO loop in one of the sub-DPMZMs. The frequency can be adjusted by an electrical band-pass filter (EBPF). The radio frequency (RF) signal is injected into another sub-DPMZM. The carrier-suppressed single-sideband (CS-SSB) modulation of both LO and RF signals is achieved. The phase of converted signal can be tuned by an integrated dual-channel phase modulator (DPM). The frequency up/down conversion can be switched by tuning a single bias voltage of the DP-DPMZM. Multiple functions including tunable LO, up/down conversion and phase shift can be realized. Meanwhile the dispersion-induced power fading is well compensated due to the CS-SSB modulation. In experiments, the tunable LO signal from 5 to 18 GHz, with the sidemode suppression ratio as high as 46.1 dB and the phase noise of 104.5 dBc/Hz@10 kHz at 10 GHz is generated successfully. The spur suppression ratios of the up/down converted signals are 32.6 dB and 35.6 dB respectively. The up/down conversion performance for RF carrying 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signal is also investigated. The phase shifting of dual-channel converted signals can be varied continuously and independently in the range of 360 and the phase deviation is 1.8. The proposed compact link is characterized by function multiplexing and inherent dispersion compensation.

A photonics-assisted frequency conversion and self-interference cancellation approach is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for in-band full-duplex (IBFD) communication. Carrier suppressed single sidebands (CS-SSB) of the intermediate frequency (IF) signal and the local oscillator (LO) signal are simultaneously obtained through the X-DPMZM in a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder (DP-DPMZM) modulator. A transmit signal with high purity is produced, and a shared LO optical sideband is also provided for the subsequent downconversion. The carrier suppressed double sideband (CS-DSB) modulation for the signal of interest (SOI) is achieved via the Y-DPMZM. The self-interference signal is suppressed by adjusting the bias voltage of its main MZM. An optical bandpass filter (OBPF) is combined to realize frequency downconversion. The experimental results show that the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR ₃ ) is 102.6 dB/Hz ^2/3 for frequency upconversion, a cancellation depth of more than 50 dB for single-frequency self-interference cancellation (SIC), and more than 22 dB for wideband SIC. The proposed link has superiority in multifunctionality, including in-band transmission, reception, and self-interference cancellation, with a shared LO.

A photonic-assisted reconfigurable LO harmonic downconverter with simultaneous image-rejection and RF self-interference cancellation (SIC) for in-band full-duplex communication is proposed and experimentally investigated based on a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM). The received signal from the antenna, which includes the radio frequency (RF) signal, image signal (IM) and self-interference (SI) signal, is input into one sub-MZM of the X-DPMZM. The self-reference (SR) signal is input into the other. The Y-DPMZM is used to load the LO signal and is properly biased to obtain the high-order sideband of the LO signal, which was then set as the LO signal of the reconfigurable harmonic frequency downconverter. By matching the power and delay of the SR signal and changing the main bias of the X-DPMZM, the SI signal can be eliminated directly in optical domain. With power splitting after the output of the DP-DPMZM, the quadrature IF signals can be obtained by a photonics-based continuously adjustable phase shifter. Then, photonics image-rejection down-conversion based on phase cancellation is realized after a low-frequency electrical 90° hybrid coupler (HC) combines the quadrature IF signals. Both theoretical and experimental investigations are performed. The results show that the SIC has a cancellation depth more than 32 dB for the 10-MHz bandwidth and greater than 19 dB for the 500-MHz bandwidth, the image-rejection has an image-rejection ratio larger than 31 dB for 10-MHz bandwidth and larger than 22 dB for the 100-MHz bandwidth, both in 2 ^nd - and 3 ^rd -order harmonic down-conversion mode. Experiments are also carried out on the reconfigurable LO harmonic downconverter with simultaneous SIC and image-rejection. A 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) -modulated RF signal is successfully down-converted to a 1-GHz intermediate frequency (IF) signal with self-interference and image frequency cancelled. It is verified that the RF signal can be well recovered from SI and IM signals by the proposed system.

Photonics-assisted frequency conversion based on cascaded modulators is an effective way to satisfy the requirements of distributed antenna array applications. A filter-free photonic image-rejection down-converter with immunity to dispersion-induced power fading is proposed and demonstrated. The radio frequency (RF) signal from the distributed antenna unit is injected into a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DDMZM) through an electrical 90° hybrid coupler (HC), and a single-sideband (SSB) signal is realized. It is then transmitted to the center office by an optical fiber link. At the center office, the modulated RF signal is injected into a dual-polarization dual-parallel MZM (DP-DPMZM) after a polarization controller (PC). Afterwards, an LO signal remodulates it through the Y-DPMZM, and carrier-suppressed SSB modulation is fulfilled via another electrical 90° HC. After the power splitting, quadrature I and Q IF signals can be obtained by a photonics-based continuously adjustable phase shifter. Through a combination of the I/Q IF signals with a low-frequency electrical 90° HC, a photonics image-rejection down-converter based on phase cancellation is realized. Moreover, no optical filter is required; thus, the image-rejection down-converter can work with a large bandwidth. The proposed filter-free photonic image-rejection down-converter is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified.

Focusing on distributed antenna systems, we propose a photonics-assisted self-interference cancellation and down-conversion method based on a Sagnac loop structure. Two inversely cascaded modulators form a Sagnac loop through polarization multiplexing. To support in-band full duplex (IBFD) communication, a double parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) operated in a clockwise direction is used as a self-interference canceller (SIC) to achieve the phase conversion in the optical domain. Another MZM modulator working in the counterclockwise direction is used to modulate the local oscillation (LO) signal for frequency down-conversion. The adjustment of bias voltage is analyzed to optimize the conversion efficiency of the system. The power fading effect generated by fiber dispersion is compensated by a polarization-sensitive phase modulator (PS-PM). The experimental results show that the average cancellation depth is 56.4 dB at a single frequency in the operating frequency range of 6–22 GHz, and 29.1 dB and 23.7 dB for 20 MHz and 100 MHz bandwidth signals, respectively. In addition, the error vector map is improved from 16.50% to 6.26% after dispersion compensation. The self-interference cancellation, down-conversion and dispersion compensation are integrated in a microwave photonics link. Two cascaded modulators are equivalent to a parallel structure by the Sagnac loop, simultaneously ensuring high LO isolation and conversion efficiency. The proposed method provides an alternative for IBFD-based distributed antenna communication applications.

We propose and fabricate an ultrafast and high extinction ratio 1×4 optical switch based on a cascade, dual-output Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) on the lithium niobate platform. The optical switch consists of cascaded, identical, dual-output MZI structures, and each of them includes a Y-branch waveguide, two parallel interference arms (electrode action area), and a 3 dB directional coupler. Four output optical paths can be switched through three groups of electrode hierarchical modulation. The test results of the fabricated device show that the insertion loss of each port is less than 7.1 dB and that the maximum extinction ratio is higher than 39.3 dB. The optical switch can achieve a high extinction ratio greater than 20 dB within the 50 nm wavelength range. The measured half-wave voltage is less than 4.13 V, and the minimum switching rise and fall times reach 125 ps and 250 ps, respectively. This result shows that the proposed and fabricated 1×4 integrated optical switch on a lithium niobate platform has the advantages of a fast response rate, high extinction ratio, and low switching voltage.