Photonic-assisted Wideband Microwave Measurement

We report a novel wideband microwave detection and analysis system realized by utilizing photonic-assisted wavelength and time division multiplexing, in conjunction with an optical delay line. Deploying a coherent electro-optical dual comb and a gated recirculating optical frequency shifter with similar to 1.28 mu s round-rip delay, the proof-of-concept experimental system demonstrates the interrogation of both fast varying and continuous RF signals with similar to 1 mu s temporal duration and up to 8 GHz instantaneous bandwidth at 1 MHz resolution using a 80 MHz RF detection unit. The proposed system can be easily upgraded to higher bandwidths, finer resolution and longer measurement durations with suitable hardware.