Sampled analog links

Abstract

Demand for broadband radio-frequency (RF) analog signal distribution and processing is ever increasing for airborne, as well as terrestrial, applications. Analog optical links provide a number of desirable features for these applications including inherent bandwidth, immunity to electromagnetic interference, as well as reduced size weight and power. As the number of analog channels grows and link length increases new techniques that provide high-fidelity analog signal transmission are required. Sampled analog optical links — which employ a pulsed optical carrier in lieu of the conventional continuous-wave laser — offer several unique capabilities. In particular, these links offer time-division (as opposed to wavelength-division) multiplexing capability and immunity to stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) as a result of the broadband nature of the optical carrier. This talk will focus on sampled link operation and will discuss their use in long-haul analog photonic applications such as analog delay-line signal processing where SBS typically limits conventional link performance.