Detection of RF signal real-time phase based on spectral hole-burning material

The detection of broadband signal power spectrum based on spectral hole-burning (SHB) material has been investigated a lot, but the detection of phase is not reported yet. In this paper, a method of RF signal real-time phase detection is proposed by applying the SHB material. Phase measurement is performed through the in-phase and in-quadrature components of emitted field generated by the macro polarization at steady state. The time range of reaching steady state is determined by numerical solution of Bloch equation solved by Runge-Kutta method. Furthermore, the effect of phase change rate on the accuracy of real-time phase measurement is also given. The typical RF signals are performed in the simulation to demonstrate the feasibility of the method and agreeable results are obtained in the phase value. Through the analysis of the effect of noise on the phase accuracy, When SNR is greater than 24 dB, phase error is less than 0.83%, and the phase error does not accumulate with time.