Distortion-free spectrum sliced microwave photonic signal processor: analysis, design and implementation.

A new switchable microwave photonic filter based on a novel spectrum slicing technique is presented. The processor enables programmable multi-tap generation with general transfer function characteristics and offers tunability, reconfigurabiliy, and switchability. It is based on connecting a dispersion controlled spectrum slicing filter after the modulated bipolar broadband light source, which consequently generates multiple spectrum slices with bipolarity, and compensates dispersion induced RF degradation simultaneously within a single device. A detailed theoretical model for this microwave photonic filter design is presented. Experimental results are presented which verify the model, and demonstrate a 33 bipolar-tap microwave filter with significant reduction of passband attenuations at high frequencies. The RF response improvement of the new microwave photonic filter is investigated, for both an ideal linear group delay line and for the experimental fiber delay line that has second order group delay and the results show that this new structure is effective for RF filters with various free spectral range values and spectrum slice bandwidths. Finally, a switchable bipolar filter that has a square-top bandpass filter response with more than 30 dB stopband attenuation that can be switched on/off via software control is demonstrated.