A flexibly frequency switchable active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator with supermode noise suppression

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a flexibly frequency switchable active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator (FSAML-OEO) in which a multi-passband microwave photonic filter (MPF) with two polarization-maintaining fibers (PMF) based Solc-Sagnac interferometer is used. Microwave frequency combs (MFCs) signals with four switchable central frequencies of 217 MHz, 453 MHz, 662 MHz and 1101 MHz are generated by controlling the polarization state of the Sagnac interferometer via rotating the polarization controller (PC). By cascading a dual-loop structure, MFCs signals with adjustable comb spacing of 1 MHz, 3 MHz, and 5 MHz are obtained with fundamental and harmonic FSAML-OEO, in which the supermode noise suppression ratios of the dominate modes and the super-modes are measured to be about 30 dB.