Simultaneous Multi-Frequency Phase-Coded Microwave Signal Generation at Six Different Frequencies Using a DP-BPSK Modulator

An approach to the generation of a multi-frequency phase-coded microwave signal at six different microwave carrier frequencies using a laser diode and a dual-polarization binary phase-shift keying (DP-BPSK) modulator is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The key component in the proposed system is the DP-BPSK modulator, which consists of two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DD-MZMs) that are driven by a binary coding signal and a microwave reference signal. By controlling the bias points of the DD-MZMs, and the power of the coding signal and the microwave reference signal, phase-coded microwave signals at six different frequencies are generated at the output of a photodetector. An experiment is performed. A multi-frequency phase-coded microwave signal at six different carrier frequencies in a frequency range from 1 to 19.5 GHz is generated. The performance in terms of phase recovery accuracy and pulse compression capability is evaluated. The interferences between different channels are also evaluated and no significant interferences are observed.