Freely tunable phase-locked dual-frequency microwave signal generation from injection-locked broadband optoelectronic oscillator.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an injection-locked broadband optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) to generate freely tunable phase-locked dual-frequency microwave signals. When two single-tone signals inside and outside the passband of the electrical broadband bandpass filter (BPF) are, respectively, injected into the OEO, a phase-locked dual-frequency microwave signal with ultra-low near-end side-mode spurs can be generated from the OEO cavity. Therefore, one frequency of the output signal is equal to the frequency of the injected signal within the BPF, and the other frequency is equal to the sum frequency or the differential frequency of two injected signals. By changing the frequencies of two injected signals, two frequencies of the generated dual-frequency microwave signal can be arbitrarily tuned over the passband of the BPF. In our experiment, freelytu nable phase-locked dual-frequency microwave signals within the frequency range of 8∼12 GHz can be generated, where the side-mode suppression ratios (SMSRs) are more than 90 dB during the frequency tuning.