Phase noise of optical interference in photonic RF systems

Close-in optical interferometric noise spectrum and its conversion to RF close-in phase noise are theoretically and experimentally studied. The optical 1/f frequency noise is the dominant source of the close-in interferometric phase noise and is converted into the 1/f/sup v/ noise, where v is determined by the time delay scaled to the coherence time of the 1/f noise. The study also indicates that reflective type devices and optically amplified links exacerbate the interferometric phase noise degradation.