Reconfigurable photonic microwave convolver for pulse compression of a phase-coded microwave waveform.

A reconfigurable photonic microwave convolver is proposed. The scheme simply consists of the evenly spaced optical carriers (ESOCs), an optical dispersion module (ODM), a wavelength selector (WS), and a balanced photodetector. By adjusting the ESOCs, the dispersion value of the ODM, and the setup of the WS, the proposed convolver is reconfigurable. With the convolver, pulse compressions of the phase-coded microwave waveforms (PCMWs) are realized. Compressions of two PCMWs with different code patterns and respective coding rates of 1.8 and 3.6 Gbit/s are experimentally demonstrated. Full widths at half-maximum (FWHMs) of the main lobe are 0.56 and 0.28 ns, and the peak-to-side lobe ratios are 11.1 and 10.8 dB, respectively. The results are in agreement with the theoretical values. Besides, due to the flexible reconfigurability, it can adapt to various PCMWs by simple operation.