摘要

A compact dual-loop optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) employing a dual-output Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator (DOMZM) and a balanced photodetector (BPD) is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The fundamental idea of the scheme is based on double loops formed by two complementary output ports of DOMZM and two input ports of BPD, which could be naturally combined without any additional optical coupler or polarization beam splitter devices. This simple structure makes it possible to enhance side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) and reduce phase noise of the OEO. Compared with the traditional dual-loop OEO (SO-OEO) based on single-output Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), optical coupler, and BPD, the advantages of our proposed dual-loop OEO (DO-OEO) with DOMZM and BPD are presented. Experimental results show that a 16-GHz single-mode OEO is obtained with measured SMSR of 72 dB and phase noise of -133.2 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz frequency offset.