Ultrahigh-resolution and wideband optical vector analysis for arbitrary responses

An ultrahigh-resolution and wideband optical vector analyzer (OVA) with the simplest architecture, to the best of our knowledge, is proposed and demonstrated based on chirped optical double-sideband (ODSB) modulation in a single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM). To distinguish the magnitude and phase information carried by the two sidebands in the ODSB signal, a two-step measurement, in which biasing, respectively, the MZM at two different points is applied. Because no optical filtering is required in the scheme, the optical carrier can be located at any wavelength that is suitable for accurate measurement, e.g., close to the notch of a notch response or within the passband of a bandpass response, so the proposed OVA has the capability to measure an arbitrary response. An experiment is carried out, which achieves the magnitude and phase responses of a programmable optical processor with bandpass, notch, or falling-edge responses. The measurement bandwidth is 134 GHz, and the measurement resolution is 1.12 MHz. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America