%0 Journal Article
%T A Review of Optoelectronic Oscillators for High Speed Signal Processing Applications
%A Paul Devgan
%J ISRN Electronics
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/401969
%X The Optoelectronic Oscillator (OEO) was first demonstrated in 1996 as a low phase noise RF source. Low phase noise RF sources have uses for multiple applications, ranging from analog to digital converters to radar to metrology. In the past sixteen years, the OEO has been shown to be useful for other signal processing applications. This paper will provide a background of the OEO¡¯s principles of operation, as well as multiple examples of signal processing applications where the OEO can be used. The OEO can be applied to both analog and digital problems, providing new techniques to solve these challenges. 1. Introduction As the demand for high speed signal processing increases, methods utilizing photonics have grown in popularity to address this need. High speed signal processing is a general term that incorporates techniques and technologies to address many different applications. Examples of these applications cover a broad range, from analog RF systems such as radars and medical ultrasound imaging, to digital systems covering all the way from long distance communication networks to on-chip interconnects in computers. Photonic signal processing has been shown to address the needs of these systems due to the large instantaneous bandwidth (>40£¿GHz), low loss (0.2£¿dB/km in optical fiber) and immunity to electromagnetic interference. One of the common signal processing requirements these varied applications share is the need for very precise timing. Doppler radars require very low phase noise clock sources in order to minimize uncertainty of objects that are being tracked [1]. As optical digital networks have been shown to transmit an aggregate of 10£¿Tb/s of data [2], they require low phase noise clocks for multiplexing the data streams on the entire network. Other applications requiring low phase noise clocks include sampling for analog to digital converters [3, 4], clock recovery [5], and pulse sources [6]. The Optoelectronic Oscillator, heretofore referred to as the OEO, is a photonic system that can provide very low phase noise clock signals. In this paper, I will provide some background for the needs for a low phase noise oscillators and present the basic operation of the OEO for low noise signal generation. I will then highlight different demonstrations of the OEO, with an emphasis on different applications to high speed signal processing. 2. Need for Low Phase Noise Oscillators As mentioned above, the need for photonic low phase noise oscillators covers many different applications from very small scales to very large. In computers, on-chip optical
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.electronics/2013/401969/