Passive and temporally continuous optical spectral analyzer of RF signals via wavelength coding

A novel approach realizing an optical spectrum analyzer for photonic detection of an unknown RF carrier signals is presented. The described module may be part of an electronic warfare system in which detection of a narrow band RF signal is required. Moreover, The RF signal is characterized by an unknown time varying carrier frequency embedded in wide band noise. The system uses a passive, fiber based photonic configuration. It allows the spectrum mapping of an incoming electronic RF signal modulated on an optical carrier. The spectral analyzer configuration uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter that is realized by two different optical paths of parallel fibers which generate a spectral notch filter. Hence, a wavelength coding is realized by chromatic dispersion such that each wavelength is filtered by a different FIR filter. Therefore, the energy at a WDM demux output channels is actually proportional to the spectrum of the input RF signal. This spectral mapping is obtained without lose of temporal RF information.