Statistical analysis of WDM photonic microwave filters with random errors

Several photonic microwave filters based on a set of optical carriers of different wavelength and a dispersive medium have been proposed to benefit from their flexibility and a variety of commercial wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices. However, practical implementations of such filters suffer random errors in the optical power and the wavelength of the optical sources. In this paper, the statistical analysis of the performance of photonic microwave filters based on multiple optical carriers (i.e., WDM) and a dispersive medium with random errors in amplitude and wavelength spacing between optical carriers is presented, showing that these errors translate in a residual sidelobe level dependent on the statistics of the random errors. An expression of the residual sidelobe level is derived. Finally, experimental results showing a good agreement with theory are provided.