Instantaneous Bandwidth of Counter-Phase Optical Interference Cancellation for RF Communications

We describe an important second-order effect in the counter-phase optical interference cancellation system [also referred to as the opto-cancellation system (OCS)]. The uniformity of signal cancellation provided by the OCS, across a nonzero instantaneous bandwidth, is limited due to V
_π
mismatches in the electro-optic modulators comprising the system. The effect of these mismatches on the cancellation is examined quantitatively.