Vol. 46, Issue 3, pp. 399-408 (2016)

Abstract

A novel optical approach to generating a chirped microwave signal by using a nonuniformly spaced finite impulse response filter is proposed and demonstrated. In this scheme, a narrowband Gaussian pulse is used as the original chirped-free signal, which is easy to be acquired. To eliminate the need of a wideband chirped-free signal, a mixer and a radio frequency signal are used to up-convert the spectrum of the original Gaussian signal. Therefore, the required frequency response can be calculated and reconstructed by a finite impulse response filter with nonuniformly spaced taps. Besides, a dual drive Mach–Zehnder modulator is used to realize single sideband modulation of the chirped-free signal. Thus, the transfer function induced by the fiber dispersion is eliminated and the chirped microwave signal with any central frequency can be generated. In this paper, a design example of a filter with a central frequency of 10 GHz is provided, and generation of the target chirped microwave signal is also demonstrated by numerical simulations.