Passive microwave fiber-optic links with gain and a very low noise figure

摘要

It is shown experimentally and theoretically that it is possible to construct a passive microwave fiber-optic link (defined as one without active electrical or optical amplification) exhibiting an RF throughput gain of up to 50 dB and a noise figure approaching 0 dB. The key ingredients are quantum well gain-lever laser transmitters and proper impedance matching. Disregarding the optical transmission aspect of the link, it can be regarded as an RF low-noise preamplifier with performances competitive with conventional microwave amplifiers.