Photonic generation of a microwave signal by incorporating a delay interferometer and a saturable absorber

A novel approach to generate microwave signals is presented by employing a dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser. By using a delay interferometer as a comb filter cascaded with a tunable bandpass filter and a saturable absorber formed by an unpumped polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber, a stable wavelength-tunable dual-wavelength single longitudinal-mode laser is achieved. A microwave signal at 20.07 GHz with a linewidth of <25 kHz is demonstrated by beating the two wavelengths at a photodetector.