Photonics-assisted frequency-coded signal receiver with ultra low minimum detectable power

A receiver for weak frequency-coded microwave signal reception based on microring resonators array is proposed. This setup uses the nonlinear interaction of a microwave signal and an optical pump to generate an up-conversion signal to achieve the wideband signal reception. The minimum detectable power of this method reaches -93.2 dBm, which is suitable for the detection of weak signals. The results demonstrate a huge power conversion efficiency with η = 4.37×104, a wide conversion bandwidth of 2π∑200 MHz, and a large 1-dB compressed dynamic range of 70.2 dB. The receiver can directly use the microwave signal received by the antenna that greatly reduces the volume and power consumption of the detection system. It is highly competitive in microwave photonics radar fields.