Nonlinear Power Response in Heterodyne Photonic Radiometers for Microwave Remote Sensing

Published/Posted: May 5, 2023

Authors: Turner, Charles J.; Harris, Andrew I.; Murphy, Thomas E.; Stephen, Mark

DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2023.3273412

Abstract: Microwave photonic circuits are capable of processing large bandwidths of radiometric data ( > 100 GHz) in an unprecedented number of analog spectrometer channels ( > 100) at narrow spectral resolutions (< 100 MHz) and a small device footprint. However, simultaneously processing this entire bandwidth requires a large dynamic range. In this work, a heterodyne photonic radiometer is assembled and tested with a microwave thermal noise source. We model and demonstrate the 1 dB output power compression point occurs at approximately half of the average input power for a thermal noise signal compared to a continuous wave signal. These results have a significant impact on future photonic radiometer design considerations.

Citation:
C. J. Turner, A. I. Harris, T. E. Murphy and M. Stephen, "Nonlinear Power Response in Heterodyne Photonic Radiometers for Microwave Remote Sensing", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 35(13) 701-704 (2023)
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Manuscript: Turner_PTL_35_701_2023.pdf