Photonic measurement of microwave frequency using a silicon microdisk resonator

A simple photonic approach to the measurement of microwave signal frequency with adjustable measurement range and resolution is proposed and demonstrated. In this approach, the unknown microwave signal is converted to an optical signal with single sideband modulation. Subsequently, a notch microwave photonic filter (MPF) is implemented by employing a high-Q silicon microdisk resonator (MDR). The MPF is tunable by changing the frequency interval between the optical carrier and the MDR notch so as to obtain different amplitude responses. A fixed frequency-to-power mapping is established by obtaining an amplitude comparison function (ACF) of the microwave power ratio and the microwave frequency. A proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates a frequency measurement range of 10 GHz, with measurement error of ±0.1 GHz. Different frequency measurement ranges and resolutions are also discussed.