Ultra Wideband Signals and Systems in Communication Engineering

Resonance conditions for a substrate-superstrate printed antenna geometry which allow for large antenna gain are presented. Asymptotic formulas for gain, beamwidth, and bandwidth are given, and the bandwidth limitation of the method is discussed. The method is extended to produce narrow patterns about the horizon, and directive patterns at two different angles.

Gain enhancement methods for printed circuit antennas

Recent advances in photonic integration have propelled microwave photonic technologies to new heights. The ability to interface hybrid material platforms to enhance light–matter interactions has led to the development of ultra-small and high-bandwidth electro-optic modulators, low-noise frequency synthesizers and chip signal processors with orders-of-magnitude enhanced spectral resolution. On the other hand, the maturity of high-volume semiconductor processing has finally enabled the complete integration of light sources, modulators and detectors in a single microwave photonic processor chip and has ushered the creation of a complex signal processor with multifunctionality and reconfigurability similar to electronic devices. Here, we review these recent advances and discuss the impact of these new frontiers for short- and long-term applications in communications and information processing. We also take a look at the future perspectives at the intersection of integrated microwave photonics and other fields including quantum and neuromorphic photonics. This Review discusses recent advances of microwave photonic technologies and their applications in communications and information processing, as well as their potential implementations in quantum and neuromorphic photonics.

Integrated microwave photonics

A new class of planar optics has emerged using subwavelength gratings with a large refractive index contrast, herein referred to as high-contrast gratings (HCGs). This seemingly simple structure lends itself to extraordinary properties, which can be designed top-down based on intuitive guidelines. The HCG is a single layer of high-index material that can be as thin as 15% of one wavelength. It can be designed to reflect or transmit nearly completely and with specific optical phase over a broad spectral range and/or various incident beam angles. We present a simple theory providing an intuitive phase selection rule to explain the extraordinary features. Our analytical results agree well not only with numerical simulations but also experimental data. The HCG has made easy fabrication of surface-normal optical devices possible, including vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), tunable VCSELs, and tunable filters. HCGs can be designed to result in high-quality-factor (Q) resonators with surface-normal output, which is promising for wafer-scale lasers and optical sensors. Spatially chirped HCGs are shown to be excellent focusing reflectors and lenses with very high numerical apertures. This field has seen rapid advances in experimental demonstrations and theoretical results. We provide an overview of the underlying new physics and the latest results of devices.

/pdf/high-contrast-gratings-for-integrated-optoelectronics-3ykfc99oae.pdf

High-contrast gratings for integrated optoelectronics

A vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) was invented 30 years ago. A lot of unique features can be expected, such as low-power consumption, wafer-level testing, small packaging capability, and so on. The market of VCSELs has been growing up rapidly in recent years, and they are now key devices in local area networks using multimode optical fibers. Also, long wavelength VCSELs are currently attracting much interest for use in single-mode fiber metropolitan area and wide area network applications. In addition, a VCSEL-based disruptive technology enables various consumer applications such as a laser mouse and laser printers. In this paper, the recent advance of VCSEL photonics will be reviewed, which include the wavelength extension of single-mode VCSELs and their wavelength integration/control. Also, this paper explores the potential and challenges for new functions of VCSELs toward optical signal processing

https://cnst.nctu.edu.tw/mbe08/abstract/6-13.30-14.00-koyama.pdf

Recent Advances of VCSEL Photonics

We propose and demonstrate a bandwidth-efficient full-duplex millimeter-wave radio-over-fiber access link based on orthogonal phase-correlated modulation enabled by polarization maintaining fiber Bragg gating. In our scheme, backscattering noise is eliminated completely in the upstream link.

Efficient carrier-reuse for MMW-RoF access network architecture with orthogonal phase-correlated modulation

We present a switchable and tunable microwave photonic filter (MPF) based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) and a tunable optical bandpass filter (TOBPF). The MPF is switchable between low-pass and bandpass responses by simply tuning the bias voltage of the DPMZM. In addition, the MPF is widely tunable in terms of bandwidth and center frequency by adjusting the TOBPF.

Switchable microwave photonic filter based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator.

A novel method to extract the grating coupling coefficient of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers by comparing the theoretical and experimental values of the side mode spacing is demonstrated. Compared with the traditional method, the proposed method in this paper transforms the solution process of the lasing model with multiple unknown parameters into that with only the side mode spacing and coupling coefficient, which significantly reduces the computational workload. Furthermore, the bias current of the measured spectrum can be much higher than the threshold current, which makes the method less affected by noise. This paper theoretically analyzes the changing relationship between multiple parameters by calculating the lasing mode distribution, and the results show that the side mode spacing is only sensitive to the coupling coefficient. In addition, the grating coupling coefficients (57–61 cm−1) of the fabricated DFB laser diodes are experimentally extracted at 40-80 mA currents. The variation of the coupling coefficient with current is less than 2‰/mA, and the method exhibits pretty good stability. Meanwhile, the grating coupling coefficient extraction method for the complex grating types is also considered in this paper.

/pdf/a-novel-grating-coupling-coefficient-extraction-method-for-3p3x5mga.pdf

A Novel Grating Coupling Coefficient Extraction Method for DFB Laser Diodes Based on Side Mode Spacing

This paper presents measurement methods for determining the reflection coefficients and frequency responses of semiconductor laser diodes, photodiodes, and EA modulator chips. A novel method for determining the intrinsic frequency responses of laser diodes is also proposed, and applications of the developed measurement methods are discussed. We demonstrate the compensation of bonding wire on the capacitances of both the submount and the laser diode, and present a method for estimating the potential modulation bandwidth of TO packaging technique. Initial study on removing the effects of test fixture on large-signal performances of optoelectronic devices at high data rate is also given.

Small-signal and large-signal performance test of high-speed optoelectronics devices

We proposed a scheme for multi-band microwave sources generation based on dual optical frequency combs (OFCs) in this paper By optically channelizing the mixed OFCs, the heterodyned electrical signals in different bands can be obtained in different channels Multiple microwave sources at 25GHz, 5GHz, 75GHz, 10GHz and 125GHz were generated, whose signal to noise ratio (SNR) between 38dB to 49dB in 14GHz bandwidth were obtained The system has potential applications in satellite repeaters

Ninghua Zhu

Papers

Efficient carrier-reuse for MMW-RoF access network architecture with orthogonal phase-correlated modulation

Switchable microwave photonic filter based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator.

A Novel Grating Coupling Coefficient Extraction Method for DFB Laser Diodes Based on Side Mode Spacing

Small-signal and large-signal performance test of high-speed optoelectronics devices

Multi-microwave sources generation based on dual optical frequency combs