A novel approach to perform optical vector analysis (OVA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated with carrier-shifted optical double-sideband (ODSB) modulation based on a dual-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DD-DPMZM). The proposed method has a doubled measurement range as compared with the conventional OVA based on optical single sideband modulation (OSSB), and a much simpler and more robust configuration as compared with the previously-reported ODSB-based OVA. In addition, the proposed scheme does not generate any undesirable spikes in the measurement results. The transmission response of a sampled fiber Bragg grating in a range of 80 GHz is measured with a resolution of less than 667 kHz by using 40-GHz microwave components. The influence of the unideal frequency-shifted optical carrier generation in the DD-DPMZM on the measurement error is also investigated.

A high-resolution and high-accuracy optical vector analysis based on optical double-sideband modulation and stimulated Brillouin scattering is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Different from the conventional OVA based on optical single-sideband modulation, in which the measurement range is limited by the bandwidth of the microwave and optoelectronic components, and the measurement accuracy is restricted by the high-order sidebands, the proposed technique measures the magnitude and phase responses by making use of both ±1st-order sidebands without spectrum response aliasing. As a result, the measurement range is doubled, and the high-order, sideband-induced errors only appear at specific frequencies that are predictable and removable. A proof-of-concept experiment is carried out. The transmission response of a fiber Bragg grating, in a range of 80 GHz, is measured with a resolution of less than 667 kHz by using 40 GHz microwave components.

A novel approach to perform high-resolution optical magnitude response measurements, using optical double-sideband (ODSB) modulation, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. As compared with a conventional optical single-sideband modulation-based optical magnitude response measurement, the proposed method based on ODSB modulation features not only simple configuration and doubled measurement range, but also immunity to modulation nonlinearity. A proof-of-concept experiment is carried out. The magnitude response of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), in the range of 40 GHz, was measured with a resolution of 10 MHz, by using a 20 GHz microwave signal source.

No abstract

Optical vector analysis (OVA) capable of achieving magnitude and phase responses is essential for the fabrication and application of emerging optical devices. Conventional OVA often has to make compromises among resolution, dynamic range, and bandwidth. Here we show an original method to meet the measurement requirements for ultra-wide bandwidth, ultra-high resolution, and ultra-large dynamic range simultaneously, based on an asymmetric optical probe signal generator (ASG) and receiver (ASR). The ASG and ASR remove the measurement errors introduced by the modulation nonlinearity and enable an ultra-large dynamic range. Thanks to the wavelength-independence of the ASG and ASR, the measurement range can increase by 2 N times by applying an N-tone optical frequency comb without complicated operation. In an experiment, OVA with a resolution of 334 Hz (2.67 attometer in the 1550-nm band), a dynamic range of > 90 dB and a measurement range of 1.075 THz is demonstrated.