A Novel Photonic Oscillator

We report a novel oscillator for photonic RF systems. This oscillator is capable of generating high-frequency signals up to 70 GHz in both electrical and optical f domains and is a special voltage-controlled oscillator with an optical output port. It can be used to make a phase-locked loop (PLL) and perform all functions that a PLL is capable of for photonic systems. It can be synchronized to a reference source by : means of optical injection locking, electrical injection locking, and PLL. It can also be self-phase locked and self-injection locked to generate a high-stability photonic '< RF reference. Its applications include high-frequency reference regeneration and \ distribution, high-gain frequency multiplication, comb-frequency and square-wave i generation, carrier recovery, and clock recovery. We anticipate that such photonic H voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) will be as important to photonic RF systems \ as electrical VCOs are to electrical RF systems.