Gigahertz single source IIR microwave photonic filter based on coherence managed multi-longitudinal-mode fiber laser

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to use a multi-longitudinal-mode (MLM) laser as the source of an infinite-impulse response (IIR) microwave photonic filter (MPF) to obtain GHz level free spectral range (FSR). The response function of such an IIR-MPF and the degree of coherence of the laser are discussed theoretically. The degree of coherence of the MLM laser shows a periodic structure which is significantly different to that of single mode lasers. By engineering the degree of coherence of the MLM laser, we are able to control the stability of the IIR-MPFs with different Q factors. It is found that stable IIR-MPF with GHz level FSR can be realized with an MLM laser and its stability can be enhanced if the coherence of the laser is managed. Based on the theoretical analysis, we fabricate an IIR-MPF based on an MLM erbium doped fiber laser. The impacts of the mode spacing Δν and the bandwidth to the stability are investigated experimentally. A stable IIR-MPF with an FSR of 0.59 GHz is realized and the relative fluctuation of the response curve is optimized to be less than 2%. Besides stable response, the IIR-MPF is reconfigurable by tuning the central wavelength of the laser in a range of 20 nm.