Microwave photonic bandpass filter based on spectrumslicing and phase modulator

A tunable microwave photonic bandpass filter with high mainlobe-to-sidelobe ratio (MSR) based on a phase modulator and a dispersive device is proposed. The multi-tap characteristics of the filter are realized by slicing a broadband source using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) which results in a high MSR of 25 dB. The tunability of the filter is realized by an optical variable delay line (OVDL) in one arm of the MZI, which changes the wavelength spacing of the sliced broadband source and results in a tunable free spectrum range (FSR) of the filter. The central frequency of the bandpass filter is tunable from 10.7 GHz to 27 GHz by changing the wavelength spacing from 0.145 nm to 0.054 nm. © 2011 Tianjin University of Technology and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.