A novel approach to photonic generation of periodic triangular radio frequency waveforms

A novel approach to photonic generation of triangular radio frequency waveforms with a tunable repetition rate is proposed and analyzed. In the proposed system, a continuous-wave light is modulated by a reference microwave signal through a polarization modulator, and then its output optical sidebands are manipulated by a microwave photonic filter with a negative tap. By properly adjusting the system parameters, full-duty-cycle triangular radio frequency waveforms can be generated after optical-to-electrical conversion, and its repetition rate (frequency) can be tuned in a wide range. A model describing the proposed system is derived, which is verified via computer simulations.