Integrated microwave photonic signal processors in TriPleXTM waveguide

Microwave photonics (MWP) merges optical components and subsystems with RF engineering. As an emerging technology, it enables realization of complex RF functionalities beyond the capability of the current all-electronics systems. In the investigations of the recent decades, the advantages of MWP systems such as large instantaneous bandwidth, RF frequency transparency, flexible tunability and reconfigurability, and less susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, have been harnessed to realize various RF functionalities. Among them, the well-known include signal generation, signal transmission and distribution, signal processing, control, signal measurement and analysis. This technology opens new perspectives for information and communication systems and networks, and it also creates possibilities for new RF applications in both niche and consumer markets. From the industrial perspective, however, the success of MWP solutions, with respect to the conventional all-electronics solutions, is believed to be determined by the progress of photonic integration, where the optical components and subsystems are incorporated in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) [1]. Compared to the MWP systems constructed using discrete optical components, the PIC-based MWP systems, or termed as integrated microwave photonics (IMWP), feature higher robustness and compactness, smaller SWaP, and most importantly, the potential of large reduction on system cost.