Multi-octave analog photonic link with improved second- and third-order SFDRs

The second-and third-order spurious free dynamic ranges (SFDRs) are two key performance indicators for a multioctave analogy photonic link (APL). The linearization methods for either second-or third-order intermodulation distortion (IMD2 or IMD3) have been intensively studied, but the simultaneous suppression for the both were merely reported. In this paper, we propose an APL with improved second-and third-order SFDRs for multioctave applications based on two parallel DPMZM-based sub-APLs. The IMD3 in each sub-APL is suppressed by properly biasing the DPMZM, and the IMD2 is suppressed by balanced detecting the two sub-APLs. The experiment demonstrates significant suppression ratios for both the IMD2 and IMD3 after linearization in the proposed link, and the measured second-and third-order SFDRs with the operating frequency from 6 to 40 GHz are above 91dB.Hz(1/2) and 116dB.Hz(2/3), respectively. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.