Photonic-assisted microwave phase shifter using a DMZM and an optical bandpass filter

We propose and demonstrate a photonic-assisted wideband 360 degrees microwave phase shifter based on a conventional dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DMZM) and an optical bandpass filter (OBPF). The two arms of the DMZM are driven by the fundamental microwave signal to be phase shifted and its frequency doubled component, respectively. The OBPF followed after the DMZM is used to remove the optical carrier and the sidebands at either side of the optical carrier. As a result, only two sidebands corresponding to the fundamental microwave signal and its frequency doubled component, respectively, are left. Moreover, the phase shift between the two sidebands can be continuously tunable by adjusting the bias voltage of the DMZM. This phase shift is mapped to the fundamental microwave signal which is recovered by beating the two sidebands in a photodetector (PD). The proposed approach is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America