Period-One Microwave Photonic Sensing by a Laser Diode With Optical Feedback

Abstract

With external optical feedback (EOF), a laser diode (LD) can operate at different dynamic states. In this work, an LD with EOF is set at period-one (P1) oscillation state to generate microwave photonic (MWP) signal for sensing. Firstly, the P1 state boundary of the LD is determined and then the influence of the LD controllable parameters on the boundary is studied by solving the well-known Lang-Kobayashi equations. A set of parameters selection rule for designing an LD based MWP sensing system is obtained. In addition, a measurement algorithm for recovering the displacement from an MWP sensing signal is developed. By making full use of the sensing information carried in both amplitude and frequency of the MWP signal, displacement sensing with high resolution and large range can be achieved. Both simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the proposed method and show it is capable of realizing wide measurable range, high measurement sensitivity, and high resolution sensing.

Microwave Photonic Signal Generation in an Optically Injected Discrete Mode Semiconductor Laser

“…In the fast-developing information society, radio and microwave signals play significant roles in the field of communication, radar, and sensing systems [1][2][3]. To implement high-speed transmission in wireless networks as well as high-resolution detection in radar and sensing systems, high-frequency microwave signals with salient features such as ultralow phase noise and broad tunable range are highly required.…”

State boundary of period-one dynamics in a semiconductor laser with dual external optical feedback

“…We reconstruct the work in [2] about POO-SOF boundaries by solving the classic Lang-Kobayashi equations and present it in Figure 4. As we can see, the POO-DOF system occupies a larger POO region than the POO-SOF system.…”

“…On the one hand, the boundary between the POO and steady (S) states determines the stable operation region of an SL with optical feedback. On the other hand, emerging applications using POO have been proposed, such as photonic microwave generation and self-mixing interferometry sensing [1][2][3], due to its unique properties of eliminating high-speed electronics, nearly single-sideband spectrum, and wideband microwave frequency tunability [4]. For these applications, it needs to determine the operating range of POO.…”

“…For these applications, it needs to determine the operating range of POO. The state boundary of POO in SLs with single feedback has been studied [2]. Recently, many applications have been developed based on SLs with dual optical feedback (DOF) [5][6][7][8].…”

Achieving Long Distance Sensing Using Semiconductor Laser with Optical Feedback by Operating at Switching Status

“…Under certain external settings (e.g., increasing the OF strength), the system leaves the stable state, then period-one oscillation can be invoked through the Hopf-bifurcation and accompanied by an undamped relaxation oscillation [5]. The period-one oscillation produces an intensity-modulated optical wave and gives regular pulsation at microwave frequencies [6][7][8][9]. Period-one oscillation has been found in many significant applications, such as the generation of microwave/millimeter-waves [10], photonic microwave sensing/radar [11,12], radio-over-fiber systems [13,14], and other optical signal processing applications [15,16].…”