Active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator based on carrier recovery and single-sideband modulation

Abstract An active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator based on carrier recovery and single-sideband (SSB) modulation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The SSB modulation for the injection signal in upper branch and carrier-suppressed double-sideband modulation for the feedback signal in lower branch are combined to achieve the mode locking, and microwave frequency comb signals with adjustable mode spacing can be generated. The experimental results show that the suppression ratio of the generated single-frequency signal is achieved up to 47 dB. In addition to the fundamental mode-locking signal, the 2nd-, 3rd-, 5th-, and 10 th-order harmonic mode-locking signals are experimentally implemented by varying the frequency of the injection signal, and the maximum mode spacing is up to 4.49 MHz.