A technique is experimentally demonstrated to double the frequency of a microwave signal by synchronising and polarisation multiplexing the optical signals from a dual-output Mach-Zehnder modulator. The frequency-doubled tone at 4 GHz is 41.2 dB stronger than the residual fundamental-frequency tone. The strongest side tone is found at 12 GHz (sixth order) and is suppressed by 32.7 dB. The phase noise of the frequency-doubled signal is −104.1 dBc/Hz at an offset of 10 kHz, an increase of 6.7 dB over that of the initial signal. This technique does not rely on electronic or optical filters or amplifiers and is demonstrated using commercial off-the-shelf components.

We experimentally demonstrate the distribution of a bistable optical signal to two locations, and then independently and simultaneously control the hysteresis shape at each location using local sets of linear optical components.

A technique to selectively double or quadruple the frequency of a microwave signal is experimentally demonstrated based on a commercial single‐output Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM). Selectability is achieved by only a change in optical path length in a post‐MZM optical subsystem, without filtering and without changing the MZM drive voltage. This path length controls the synchronisation of two similarly shaped optical signals that are incoherently combined. Multiplication from 2 GHz (S‐band) to 4 GHz (C‐band, doubling) and to 8 GHz (X‐band, quadrupling) is demonstrated with side‐tone suppression greater than 24 dB. At a 10‐kHz offset from the quadrupled frequency, the phase‐noise degradation is only 7.9 dB, a 4.1‐dB improvement over traditional quadrupling techniques.