Highly linear downconverting microwave photonic link based on digital post-processing

In this paper, we investigate the linearization in frequency down-converting microwave photonic link incorporating digital signal processing (DSP) technique. By acquiring the output intercept point directly from the system hardware, this proposed DSP technique is capable of suppressing both the third-order and the fifth-order inter-modulation distortion. Experiment results show a spurious-free dynamic range of 129.6 dB in 1 Hz bandwidth. Moreover, a noise figure of 6.4 dB is achieved.