An Indium-phosphide-based monolithically integrated photonic chip comprising of an amplified feedback laser (AFL) and a photodetector was designed and fabricated for on-chip photonic and microwave generation. Various waveforms including single tone, multi-tone, and chaotic signal generation were demonstrated by simply adjusting the injection currents applied to the controlling electrodes. The evolution dynamics of the photonic chip was characterized. Photonic microwave with frequency separation tunable from 26.3 GHz to 34 GHz, chaotic signal with standard bandwidth of 12 GHz were obtained. An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) based on the integrated photonic chip was demonstrated without using any external electrical filter and photodetector. Tunable microwave outputs ranging from 25.5 to 26.4 GHz with single sideband (SSB) phase noise less than −90 dBc/Hz at a 10-kHz offset from the carrier frequency were realized.

A low-phase-noise O-band regenerative mode locked laser is demonstrated. Optical pulses with a repetition rate of 25-GHz, pulse width of 7.3 ps and RF phase noise of -133 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz offset is realized.

A low-phase-noise frequency tunable coupled optoelectronic oscillator is demonstrated. Microwave signal tunable from 8 GHz to 21 GHz with signal-sideband phase noise below -123 dBc/Hz at a 10-kHz offset from the carrier frequency is demonstrated.