A photonic-assisted microwave frequency divider that is able to perform frequency division with a tunable division factor is presented. It is realized based on the regenerative approach in which frequency mixing and filtering operations are implemented using a dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) and an optical filter in an optoelectronic oscillator loop. The frequency division factor can be tuned by controlling the optical filter passband, the round-trip gain, and the time delay of the optoelectronic oscillator loop. The proposed approach is analyzed theoretically and verified experimentally. The phase conditions to achieve frequency division for a given division factor are analyzed. Experimental results demonstrate, for the first time, a photonic-assisted regenerative microwave frequency divider with a tunable frequency division factor of 2 to 6. One key application of a microwave frequency divider is to improve the phase noise performance of a microwave signal. In our experiment, the phase noise is reduced by 16.2 dB when a microwave signal is frequency divided by 6 times.

中文翻译：

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具有可调分频因子的光子辅助再生微波分频器

提出了一种光子辅助微波分频器，该分频器能够以可调分频因子进行分频。它是基于再生方法实现的，其中混频和滤波操作是使用双并行马赫-曾德调制器 (DPMZM) 和光电振荡器环路中的光学滤波器实现的。分频因子可以通过控制光滤波器通带、往返增益和光电振荡器环路的时间延迟来调整。对所提出的方法进行了理论分析和实验验证。分析了对给定分频因子实现分频的相位条件。实验结果首次证明，一种光子辅助再生微波分频器，分频因子可调，分频因子为 2 到 6。微波分频器的一个关键应用是改善微波信号的相位噪声性能。在我们的实验中，当微波信号频率除以 6 倍时，相位噪声降低了 16.2 dB。