Simple and Flexible All-Optical Microwave Photonic Frequency Converter Based on Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Effect

We present a novel and simple scheme for all-optical microwave photonic frequency converter, free of electrical components, based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effect. An SBS-based frequency shifter is incorporated to generate Stokes wave whose frequency is down-shifted by ν
_b
, where ν
_b
is defined as the Brillouin frequency shift. With a tunable optical passband filter, the up/down frequency conversion can be realized through the same structure. In the proof-of-concept experiment, the microwave signal at 1 to 15 GHz can be up-converted while the microwave signal at 11 to 29 GHz can be down-converted by the microwave photonic frequency converter. Moreover, the frequency and power stability of the generated signals are also investigated in three hours. To vindicate flexibility, low cost and easy implementation of the proposed all-optical setup, an experiment is carried out, and it turns out that only the frequency-to-be-converted signal source is needed while providing the ultra-wideband up/down conversion.