Ultra-broadband microwave frequency down-conversion based on optical frequency comb.

Based on optical frequency comb (OFC), a photonic-assisted ultra-broadband microwave signal down-converting method is proposed. In the proposed scheme, microwave signal at 2~20GHz can be down-converted to 0~1GHz intermediate frequency (IF) signals by an OFC of 2GHz frequency space at different order of comb lines. By slightly switching the frequency space of OFC, the frequency of the signal to be measured can be retrieved through the frequency shift of the down-converted IF signal. The validity of this proposed unknown signal detection method is verified by the experiments. The proposed method is proven to be flexible, low-cost and easily implemented, which requires only a low-frequency tunable microwave source while provides ultra-broadband down-converting frequency range.