We propose a technique to simultaneously realize microwave frequency conversion and idler filtering by polarization manipulating of an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source. By simply adjusting the tunable differential group delay (DGD) introduced by a polarization division multiplexed (PDM) emulator, switchable and idler-free frequency conversion can be implemented. Thanks to the intrinsic frequency selection of the dispersive delay structure, no electrical filter is involved to remove the mixing idlers, which ensures a broad operation bandwidth and flexible tunability. In addition, the dispersion-induced mixing power fading and the environmental vibration sensitivity that exist in previous approaches are both avoided owing to the PDM optical paths. The proposed method is theoretically and experimentally verified.

我们提出了一种技术，该技术通过对放大的自发发射（ASE）源进行极化操作来同时实现微波频率转换和惰轮滤波。通过简单地调整由偏振分复用（PDM）仿真器引入的可调差分群时延（DGD），可以实现可切换的无空闲频率转换。由于采用了分散延迟结构的固有频率选择，因此无需使用电滤波器即可去除混频惰轮，从而确保了宽的工作带宽和灵活的可调性。另外，由于PDM光路，也避免了先前方法中存在的色散引起的混合功率衰减和环境振动敏感性。该方法在理论上和实验上得到了验证。