Integrated RF-photonic Filters via Photonic-Phononic Emit-Receive Operations

Abstract

The creation of high-performance narrowband filters is of great interest for many RF-signal processing applications. To this end, numerous schemes for electronic, MEMS-based, and microwave photonic filters have been demonstrated. Filtering schemes based on microwave photonic systems offer superior flexibility and tunability to traditional RF filters. However, these optical-based filters are typically limited to GHz-widths and often have large RF insertion losses, posing challenges for integration into high-fidelity radiofrequency circuits. In this article, we demonstrate a novel type of microwave filter that combines the attractive features of microwave photonic filters with high-Q phononic signal processing using a photonic-phononic emit-receive process. Through this process, a RF signal encoded on a guided optical wave is transduced onto a GHz-frequency acoustic wave, where it may be filtered through shaping of acoustic transfer functions before being re-encoded onto a spatially separate optical probe. This emit-receive functionality, realized in an integrated silicon waveguide, produces MHz-bandwidth band-pass filtering while supporting low RF insertion losses necessary for high dynamic range in a microwave photonic link. We also demonstrate record-high internal efficiency for emit-receive operations of this type, and show that the emit-receive operation is uniquely suitable for the creation of serial filter banks with minimal loss of fidelity. This photonic-phononic emitter-receiver represents a new method for low-distortion signal-processing in an integrated all-silicon device.

References in corpus (6)

• Non-Reciprocal Brillouin Scattering Induced Transparency
• Brillouin scattering induced transparency and non-reciprocal light storage
• Interaction between light and highly confined hypersound in a silicon photonic nanowire
• Control of coherent information via on chip photonic-phononic emitter-receivers
• On-chip Inter-modal Brillouin Scattering
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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Controlling phonons and photons at the wavelength-scale: silicon photonics meets silicon phononics
• Surface acoustic wave photonic devices in silicon on insulator
• Tunable RF-photonic filtering with high out-of-band rejection in silicon
• Optomechanical cooling in a continuous system
• Electrical driving of X-band mechanical waves in a silicon photonic circuit
• Microwave filtering using forward Brillouin scattering in photonic-phononic emit-receive devices
• Shaping nonlinear optical response using nonlocal forward Brillouin interactions
• Designing of strongly confined short-wave Brillouin phonons in silicon waveguide periodic lattices
• Multiplexing Guided Optical and Acoustic Waves for Efficient Acousto-Optic Devices
• Stimulated Forward Brillouin Scattering in Subwavelength Silicon Membranes