Low noise wideband optical mixing and optical up-conversion architecture

Radar requirements differ from commercial Radio-Over-Fibre (ROF) systems. High signal to noise ratio (SNR) and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) in a photonic beam forming architecture are paramount. The architecture described in this paper uses phase modulation to overcome previous limitations. It provides high SNR, low-distortion mixing, enabling optical systems to be used in radar, beamforming and similar applications.