The "effective" gains and noise figures of individual components in an analog photonic link

This paper defines "effective" gains and noise figures for each component in an analog photonic link which, when inserted into the equation for the noise figure of cascaded components, yield the established link noise figure equation. Whereas the square-law electro-optic devices (modulator and photodetector) have effective gains that are - not surprisingly - dependent on RF power levels, it is found that the effective noise figures of the components that dominate the link noise figure are independent of RF power over the link's range of useful RF input power levels.