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Optics Letters

Wideband versatile radio-frequency spectrum analyzer

V. Lavielle, I. Lorgeré, J.-L. Le Gouët, S. Tonda, Daniel Dolfi

Published Mar 15, 2003• 63 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Operation of a wideband, versatile optical spectrum analyzer for radio-frequency (RF) signals is demonstrated. The device is based on spectral hole burning (SHB). The demonstration features 2.3-GHz instantaneous bandwidth, 500-kHz resolution, and a 32-dB dynamic range. A true RF signal, transferred to the optical carrier with the help of a Mach-Zehnder modulator, is analyzed with optical carrier suppression and zooming capabilities. This is to the authors' knowledge the largest instantaneous bandwidth ever demonstrated for a SHB-based processor in rare-earth-doped crystals.

DOI
10.1364/ol.28.000384

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Operation of a wideband, versatile optical spectrum analyzer for radio-frequency (RF) signals is demonstrated. The device is based on spectral hole burning (SHB). The demonstration features 2.3-GHz instantaneous bandwidth, 500-kHz resolution, and a 32-dB dynamic range. A true RF signal, transferred to the optical carrier with the help of a Mach-Zehnder modulator, is analyzed with optical carrier suppression and zooming capabilities. This is to the authors' knowledge the largest instantaneous bandwidth ever demonstrated for a SHB-based processor in rare-earth-doped crystals.
We propose a novel, wideband spectrum analyzer based on spectral hole burning (SHB) technology. SHB crystals contain rare earth ions doped into a host lattice, and are cooled to cryogenic temperatures to allow sub-MHz hole burning linewidths. The signal spectrum is recorded in an SHB crystal by illuminating the crystal with an optical beam modulated by the RF signal of interest. The signal's spectral components excite those rare earth ions whose resonance frequencies coincide with the spectral component frequencies, engraving the RF spectrum into the crystal's absorption profile. Probing this altered absorption profile with a low power, chirped laser while measuring the transmitted intensity results in a time-domain readout of the accumulated RF signal spectrum. The resolution of the spectrum analyzer is limited only by the homogeneous linewidth of the rare earth ions (< 1 MHz when the SHB crystal is cooled to cryogenic temperatures). The spectrum analyzer bandwidth is limited by the inhomogeneous linewidth and by the electro-optic modulator bandwidth, both of which can be > 20 GHz.
We present experimental results for what is to our knowledge the first spectral-hole-burning based rf spectrum analyzer to cover 10 GHz of rf analysis bandwidth. The rf signal of interest is modulated onto an optical carrier, and the resultant optical sidebands are burned into the inhomogeneously broadened absorption band of a Tm3+:YAG crystal. At the same time a second, frequency-swept laser reads out the absorption profile, which is a double-sideband replica of the rf spectrum, and thus the rf spectrum can be deduced after spectral calibration of the nonlinear readout chirp. This initial demonstration shows spectral analysis covering 10 GHz of bandwidth with >5500 spectral channels and provides 43 dB of dynamic range.
We demonstrate application of spectral hole burning to the spectral analysis of broad-band rf signals. In quite the same way as an acousto-optic spectrometer, the device operates on an optically carried rf signal and achieves angular separation of the signal spectral components. An instantaneous bandwidth of 2.5 GHz has been achieved, with a power dynamic range of 35 dB, limited by the detector. Extension to greater than 10 GHz instantaneous bandwidth with greater than 1000 channels is consistent with the active material capabilities.
Summary form only given. We recently demonstrated the principle of radio frequency spectrum analysis based on the engraving of multiple monochromatic gratings in a Spectral Hole Burning (SHB) material. This device is considered for applications in radar and sub-millimeter wave astronomy. In the first experiment, the frequency scanning procedure limited the bandwidth to 35 MHz. With a new broadband setup we have achieved an instantaneous bandwidth of 2.5 GHz and demonstrated the spectral zooming capability of the analyzer.
Spectral hole-burning (SHB) technology is considered for >10-GHz instantaneous bandwidth signal-processing applications. In this context we report on what is believed to be the first demonstration of a SHB microwave spectrometer. A set of gratings engraved in a SHB crystal is used to filter one sideband of the optically carried microwave signal. The setup is confined to narrow-bandwidth operation, over a 35-MHz-wide interval. The first findings confirm the validity of the architecture in terms of spectral resolution, angular channel separation, and simultaneous detection of multiple spectral lines.