Abstract
Excess noise converted from the optical relative intensity noise (RIN)
has limited the noise performance in the microwave signal synthesis application
for mode-locked lasers. In this paper, a method for detailed characterization
of the excess noise conversion from the optical RIN to the electrical pulse
width jitter (PWJ), electrical relative amplitude noise (RAN) and electrical
phase noise in the photodetection of mode-locked lasers is proposed. With
the measured noise conversion ratios, one can predict the electrical RAN and
phase noise power spectral densities under different input optical powers.
The effect of the pulse width and peak power of the incident optical pulses
and the effect of the saturation power of the photodetectors are also investigated.
The results are used to suggest guidelines for achieving low-noise photodetection
for microwave signal synthesis application.
© 2011 IEEE
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