Optical interference cancellation of radio frequency signals

Tiffany Ko, Maddie Lu, John Suarez, Paul Prucnal

Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University

Introduction Experimental Design & Setup

A+B
Components Signal A Signal B
Military communications require the ability to detect weak radio frequency signals amidst • Two lasers emitting at ~λ = 1550nm with a power of
more powerful signals. approximately 10.5 dBm Laser #1
Signal
• Two identical Mach-Zehnder interferometers optical attenuator Analyzer
• Effective cancellation systems have been realized using electronic circuitry [2]. • “True” time delay device Laser #2 T
true‐time delay device
• Optical attenuator Mach‐Zehnder optical interferometers
• With the advent of optical technologies, we aim to improve the performance of such • Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) Figure 2: Experimental Setup Design
cancellation systems [1].

• Specific advantages of using optical circuits include increased precision in identifying the
small signal due to less system vulnerability to electrical noise, and the frequency-
independence of optical gain and delay. Mach-Zehnder interferometers
• Introduce phase shifts by simply splitting a signal and altering its path length
Our objective is to design a robust optical cancellation system which eliminates the • Can be used in “counter-phase modulation,” where the signals are modulated in
detrimental effects of strong signal transmission in the presence of weak signal reception. the linear regimes with both positive and negative slope [3]
Figure 1: Transmittance transfer curve of the  • Signal “A” is split and sent to the Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Mach‐Zehnder electro‐optic modulator

Results Conclusion
Signal Self-Cancellation Small Signal Extraction
• Biasing the interferometers on quadrature points of the positive and • A broadband Signal “A” (100 Mhz wide, centered at 3 Ghz) is combined with
We have demonstrated RF filtering using optical signal processing by
negative slopes of the transmittance curve allows for Signal “A” to be effectively a small Signal “B”, initially buried along the noise level
cancelled • Using counter-phase modulation, we can now extract Signal “B” transferring the problem into the optical domain and utilizing its
1 0
• λ = 1550nm, peak power at 2 13 dBm, minimum power at -62.39
2.13 62 39 dBm, advantages
distinct advantages.
giving ~65 dB of cancellation
Additionally, current work is underway to more efficiently analyze
signals through experimental automation using LabVIEW©.

In the future, we hope to further investigate the extent of signal

extraction with respect to signal-to-noise ratio, small signal to large
signal ratio, and the consequences of various types of noise.

References
R f
• [1]: W. Chang, RF Photonic Technology in Optical Fiber Links, Cambridge University Press: 2002.
• [2]: J. Cai, D. Upp, R. Dehmubed, H. Opper, G. Taylor, and J. Foshee, “Photonic Applications for Time Delay Interference
Cancellation Systems,” SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 4998, 2003, pg 122-132
• [3]: J. Capmany, D. Pastor, B. Ortega, J. Mora, and M. Andrés, “Photonic processing of microwave signals,” IEE Optoelectronic
Proceedings, Vol. 152 No. 6, December 2005, pg 299-320