A novel photonic approach to realizing frequency division of broadband microwave signal based on a Fourier domain mode-locked optoelectronic oscillator (FDML-OEO) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Thanks to the mechanism of Fourier domain mode-locking, a conventional OEO system with the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) biased at null point can be used to achieve frequency division, which is implemented by precisely matching the delay of the OEO loop with the period of the injected signal. The conditions to achieve frequency division of broadband microwave signal are theoretically analyzed, and experimental demonstration is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system. In the experiment, a linear frequency modulation (LFM) signal is injected for verification. By tuning the delay of the OEO loop, the frequency, the bandwidth and the chirp rate of the injected LFM signal are all half-divided. Frequency divisions of LFM signals with different central frequencies and bandwidths are demonstrated. The phase noise of the divided signal is improved by 4.43 dB as compared to that of the injected signal. The results demonstrate, for the first time, a frequency divider for broadband microwave signal division based on an OEO.

提出并实验证明了一种基于傅里叶域锁模光电振荡器 (FDML-OEO) 实现宽带微波信号分频的新型光子方法。由于采用傅里叶域锁模机制，可以使用具有零点偏置的马赫-曾德调制器 (MZM) 的传统 OEO 系统实现分频，该分频是通过将 OEO 环路的延迟与注入信号的周期。从理论上分析了实现宽带微波信号分频的条件，并通过实验论证验证了所提出系统的有效性。在实验中，注入线性频率调制 (LFM) 信号进行验证。通过调整 OEO 回路的延迟，频率，注入的 LFM 信号的带宽和啁啾率都是二分之一。展示了具有不同中心频率和带宽的 LFM 信号的分频。与注入信号相比，分频信号的相位噪声改善了 4.43 dB。结果首次展示了基于 OEO 的宽带微波信号分频器。