Microwave photonic link with improved phase noise using a balanced detection scheme

•We present a microwave photonic link with improved phase noise based on balanced detection.•An improvement in phase noise of 11 dB@10 MHz frequency offset is achieved.•Theoretical analysis shows a good agreement with the experiment.

A microwave photonic link (MPL) with improved phase noise performance using a dual output Mach–Zehnder modulator (DP-MZM) and balanced detection is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The fundamental concept of the approach is based on the two complementary outputs of DP-MZM and the destructive combination of the photocurrent in balanced photodetector (BPD). Theoretical analysis is performed to numerical evaluate the additive phase noise performance and shows a good agreement with the experiment. Experimental results are presented for 4 GHz, 8 GHz and 12 GHz transmission link and an 11 dB improvement of phase noise performance at 10 MHz offset is achieved compared to the conventional intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IMDD) MPL.