Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for generating a low-phase-noise optical terahertz signal, which have the advantages of simple structure, fast response speed, large phase compensation range, etc.
In order to achieve the above object, an aspect of the present invention provides a method for generating a terahertz signal, including:
carrying out two-channel filtering on coherent light comb teeth generated by the optical frequency comb generator; the upper channel obtains a first signal light comb and a second signal light comb, the lower channel obtains a first local oscillator light comb and a second local oscillator light comb, and the frequency of the second signal light comb is the same as that of the first local oscillator light comb;
performing single-sideband modulation on the first and second signal light comb teeth to generate first and second signal light sidebands and retain the first and second signal light comb teeth; simultaneously, frequency shifting is carried out on the first local oscillation optical comb teeth and the second local oscillation optical comb teeth through a frequency shifter to obtain third local oscillation optical comb teeth and fourth local oscillation optical comb teeth;
coupling the first and second signal light sidebands, the first and second signal light comb teeth and the third and fourth local oscillator light comb teeth, and performing second dual-channel filtering on the coupled signals, wherein the upper channel obtains the first signal light sideband, the first signal light comb tooth and the fourth local oscillator light comb tooth; the lower channel obtains a second signal light comb and a third local oscillation light comb;
and inputting the second signal light comb teeth and the third local oscillation light comb teeth into a closed-loop feedback compensation device to perform closed-loop feedback control on the frequency shifter.
Optionally, the second signal light comb and the third local oscillator light comb are utilized to perform closed-loop feedback control on the frequency shifter, and the method further includes:
heterodyne beat frequency is carried out on the second signal light comb teeth and the third local oscillation light comb teeth to obtain low-frequency feedback photocurrent;
sequentially carrying out frequency division, phase discrimination, low-pass filtering and integral operation on the low-frequency feedback photocurrent to obtain a driving voltage for controlling a voltage-controlled oscillator;
and controlling the output frequency and the phase of the voltage-controlled oscillator by using the driving voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator, and further controlling the frequency and the phase of the third and fourth local oscillation optical comb teeth by using the frequency shifter.
Optionally, the first signal light comb is modulated by a single sideband of an input intermediate frequency data signal in the photoelectric modulator to generate a first signal light sideband and retain the first signal light comb; and the second signal light comb is modulated by the input intermediate frequency data signal single sideband in the photoelectric modulator to generate a second signal light sideband and reserve the second signal light comb.
Optionally, the first signal light sideband, the first signal light comb and the fourth local oscillator light comb are injected into a single-row carrier photoelectric detector for photoelectric conversion, so as to generate terahertz waves carrying data information, and the terahertz waves are transmitted through a high-gain terahertz antenna.
In another aspect, the present invention further provides a terahertz signal generating apparatus, including: the output end of the optical frequency comb generator is connected with the first optical filter; the upper channel of the first optical filter is connected with the photoelectric modulator, and the lower channel of the first optical filter is connected with the frequency shifter; the output end of the photoelectric modulator and the output end of the frequency shifter are respectively connected with a second optical filter; the upper channel of the second optical filter is connected with a terahertz signal transmitting device; and the lower channel of the second optical filter is connected with the frequency shifter through a closed-loop feedback compensation device.
In the above generation apparatus, optionally, the closed-loop feedback compensation apparatus includes a low-speed photodetector, an input end of the low-speed photodetector is connected to a lower channel of the second optical filter, an output end of the low-speed photodetector is sequentially connected to a frequency divider, a phase frequency detector, a loop filter, and a voltage controlled oscillator, and an output end of the voltage controlled oscillator is connected to the frequency shifter.
In the above generation apparatus, optionally, the input end of the phase frequency detector is further connected to a high-stability reference clock source.
In the above generation device, optionally, the terahertz signal transmitting device includes a single-row carrier oscillator, an input end of the single-row carrier oscillator is connected to the upper channel of the second optical filter, and an output end of the single-row carrier oscillator is connected to the transmitting antenna.
In the above generating device, optionally, a first erbium-doped fiber amplifier is further disposed between the optical frequency comb generator and the first optical filter, an input end of the first erbium-doped fiber amplifier is connected to the optical frequency comb generator, and an output end of the first erbium-doped fiber amplifier is connected to the first optical filter.
In the above generation apparatus, optionally, the output ends of the electro-optical modulator and the frequency shifter are respectively connected to the input end of an optical coupler, the output end of the optical coupler is connected to the input end of a second erbium-doped fiber amplifier, and the output end of the second erbium-doped fiber amplifier is connected to the input end of a second optical filter.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that: according to the terahertz signal generation method, only one low-frequency heterodyne detection operation is performed in the extraction process of the phase error introduced by physical optical path separation, so that the complexity, the link loss and the cost of a system are greatly reduced; the frequency and the phase of the local oscillation optical comb teeth are fed back and compensated through low-frequency phase error extraction, terahertz phase stabilization is realized, the receiving end does not need to perform phase compensation on the received terahertz waves by using a DSP algorithm, error-free demodulation can be realized, and time delay and power loss of the system are greatly reduced. In addition, the voltage-controlled oscillator and the acousto-optic frequency shifter are used for carrying out optical signal phase compensation, and the acousto-optic frequency shifter has the advantages of high response speed and infinite phase compensation range.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment provides a terahertz signal generation apparatus including: the output end OF the optical frequency comb generator OFCG is connected with the input end OF a first erbium-doped fiber amplifier EDFA1, the output end OF a first erbium-doped fiber amplifier EDFA1 is connected with a first optical filter OF1, the first optical filter OF1 is a dual-channel optical filter, the upper channel is connected with a double-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator DMZM, and the lower channel OF the first optical filter OF1 is connected with an acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS.
It should be noted that although the present embodiment employs a dual-drive mach-zehnder modulator, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be implemented as long as single-sideband modulation is achieved, for example, a modulator plus a filter or a dual-parallel mach-zehnder modulator.
Furthermore, the output ends OF the double-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator DMZM and the acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS are respectively connected with the input end OF an optical coupler OC, the output end OF the optical coupler OC is connected with the input end OF a second erbium-doped fiber amplifier EDFA2, the output end OF a second erbium-doped fiber amplifier EDFA2 is connected with the input end OF a second optical filter OF2, similarly, the second optical filter OF2 is also a dual-channel optical filter, and the upper channel OF the second optical filter OF2 is connected with a terahertz signal transmitting device; the lower channel OF the second optical filter OF2 is connected to an acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS via a closed loop feedback compensation device.
It should be noted that although an acousto-optic frequency shifter is used in the present embodiment, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and other types of frequency shifters, such as electro-optic frequency shifters, are also within the scope of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the closed-loop feedback compensation device includes a low-speed photodetector LS-PD, an input end OF the low-speed photodetector LS-PD is connected to a lower channel OF the second optical filter OF2, an output end OF the low-speed photodetector LS-PD is sequentially connected to a frequency divider FD, a phase frequency detector PFD, a loop filter LPF, and a voltage controlled oscillator VCO, and an output end OF the voltage controlled oscillator VCO is connected to an acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS.
In addition, the input end of the phase frequency detector PFD is also connected with a high-stability reference Clock source Clock.
In this embodiment, the terahertz signal transmitting apparatus includes a single-row carrier oscillator UTC-PD, an input end OF the single-row carrier oscillator UTC-PD is connected to the upper channel OF the second optical filter OF2, and an output end OF the single-row carrier oscillator UTC-PD is connected to the transmitting antenna HA.
In addition, this embodiment further provides a method for generating a terahertz signal, which first performs two-channel filtering on a coherent light comb generated by an optical frequency comb generator OFCG: the upper channel obtains a pair of signal light comb teeth, and the lower channel obtains a pair of local oscillator light comb teeth. Secondly, performing single-sideband modulation on the two signal light comb teeth by using a double-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DMZM), generating signal sidebands and reserving the signal light comb teeth; and simultaneously, performing up-conversion or down-conversion on the two local oscillator optical comb teeth by using an acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS. Then, the signals of the two channels are coupled, and then the second two-channel filtering is carried out: the upper channel obtains a pair of single-sideband signal light (including signal light comb teeth and signal light sideband) and local oscillation light comb teeth with terahertz frequency interval, and the pair of single-sideband signal light and the local oscillation light comb teeth are used for generating terahertz waves; the lower channel obtains a pair of signal light comb teeth and local oscillation light comb teeth with MHz frequency interval, and the signal light comb teeth and the local oscillation light comb teeth are used for generating MHz signals and further feeding back and compensating phase noise caused by physical optical path separation. And then, the generated low-frequency feedback signal is subjected to frequency division, phase discrimination, low-pass filtering, integration and the like to obtain a driving voltage for controlling the VCO. And finally, controlling the output frequency and the phase of the voltage-controlled oscillator VCO by using the driving voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator VCO, and further controlling the frequency and the phase of the local oscillator optical comb teeth by using an acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS. Therefore, phase noise caused by physical optical path separation is effectively compensated, high-phase-stability terahertz waves carrying data signals are generated, the communication quality of a link is improved, and complexity and time delay of a DSP algorithm of a receiving end are reduced.
The working principle and beneficial effects of the terahertz signal generation method and the terahertz signal generation device provided by the above embodiments are specifically described below with reference to fig. 2.
As shown in fig. 2(a), first, a series of coherent optical comb teeth are generated by the optical-frequency comb generator OFCG, and the frequency interval between adjacent optical comb teeth is f. As shown in fig. 2(b), the optical comb generated by the optical comb generator OFCG is amplified by the EDFA1, and then wavelength-selected by the first optical filter OF 1. The upper channel OF the first optical filter OF1 screens out the first signal light comb 101 (frequency f)c) And a second signal light comb 102 (frequency f)m) The frequency interval between the first signal light comb 101 and the second signal light comb 102 is mf (m is a positive integer). Electric field E of the two optical comb teeth1Can be expressed as:
wherein j represents a complex number.
Meanwhile, as shown in fig. 2(c), the lower channel OF the first optical filter OF1 screens out two frequencies as the first local oscillation optical comb 301 (frequency f)m) And a second local oscillator optical comb 302 (frequency f)n) The frequency interval between the first local oscillation optical comb 301 and the second local oscillation optical comb 302 is (n-m) f (n is a positive integer). Electric field E of the two optical comb teeth2Can be expressed as:
as shown in fig. 2(d), the two signal optical combs separated by the channels in the first optical filter OF1 are modulated by the input intermediate frequency Data signal (Data) in the double-drive mach-zehnder modulator DMZM. The double-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator DMZM is biased at an orthogonal transmission point to realize single-sideband modulation, so that a first signal light sideband 201 and a second signal light sideband 202 are obtained, and a first signal light comb 101 and a second signal light comb 102 are reserved. Single sideband modulation has higher spectral efficiency than double sideband modulation. Under the condition of small signal modulation, the output electric field E of the double-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator DMZM is expanded according to the Jacobian formula3Can be expressed as:
wherein, tau1Is the time delay caused by the length change OF the channel optical fiber on the first optical filter OF1, a is the modulation factor OF the upper and lower arms OF the dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator DMZM, s (t) is the input data signal, fIFIs the intermediate frequency of the data signal, Jk(·) denotes a bessel function of order k (k ═ 0 or 1).
As shown by the dotted line in fig. 2(e), the two local oscillator optical combs screened out by the channels OF the first optical filter OF1 are injected into the AOFS. The acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS is driven by a low-frequency oscillation signal (of MHz magnitude) output by the voltage controlled oscillator VCO, and performs up-conversion on the two input optical comb teeth to obtain a third local oscillation optical comb tooth 303 and a fourth local oscillation optical comb tooth 304. Electric field E of two optical comb teeth subjected to up-conversion4Can be expressed as:
wherein f is
AOAnd
respectively representing the frequency and the transient phase, tau, of the output oscillating signal of a voltage-controlled oscillator VCO
2Is the delay caused by the change OF the length OF the lower channel fiber OF the first optical filter OF 1.
Then, the optical signals output by the double-drive mach-zehnder modulator DMZM and the acoustic-optical frequency shifter AOFS are coupled together by the 1 × 2 optical coupler OC, and the corresponding optical spectrum schematic diagram is shown in fig. 2 (f). The optical signal output from the optical coupler OC is amplified by EDFA2, and then wavelength-selected by a second optical filter OF 2. The upper channel OF the second optical filter OF2 screens out two sets OF optical signals with terahertz frequency interval, as shown in fig. 2(g), including the upper channel from the first optical filter OF1 with frequency fcFirst signal light comb 101 of frequency fc-fIFAnd a channel frequency f from the first optical filter OF1n+fAOAnd a fourth local oscillator optical comb 304. Electric field E of the two sets of optical signals5Can be expressed as:
as can be seen from equation (6), the optical signal output from the channel on the second optical filter OF2 has phase noise due to the physical optical path separation OF the first optical filter OF 1.
Then, an optical signal output by a channel on the second optical filter OF2 is injected into the single-row carrier photodetector UCT-PD for photoelectric conversion, and a terahertz wave carrying data information is generated and emitted through the high-gain terahertz antenna. Due to the frequency selective nature of the single-row carrier photodetector UCT-PD, the resulting low frequency and DC components are negligible. Correspondingly, the single-row carrier photoelectric detector UCT-PD outputs a terahertz photocurrent i (t)THzCan be expressed as:
wherein, the first term of the above formula is the generated terahertz carrier wave, and the second term is the generated terahertz signal. Phase of terahertz carrier wave
And phase of terahertz signal
Respectively as follows:
as can be seen from equation (6), the input intermediate frequency data signal is shifted to the terahertz frequency band. As can be seen from equations (7) and (8), after single-row carrier photodetector UCT-PD photodetection, phase noise caused by physical optical path separation OF first optical filter OF1 is transferred to the generated terahertz carrier wave and terahertz signal. When the length of the optical fiber varies within a small range, s (t-tau) is present1) S (t); furthermore, since the frequency of the optical carrier is much higher than that of the terahertz wave, -2 π fc(τ2-τ1) Is the dominant phase noise term. Phase noise degrades the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal and introduces severe bit errors.
Meanwhile, the lower channel OF the second optical filter OF2 screens out two optical combs at MHz frequency interval: as shown in FIG. 2(h), the channel frequency f is included from the first optical filter OF1mAnd a channel frequency f from the first optical filter OF1m+fAOAnd a third local oscillator optical comb 303. Electric field E of the two optical comb teeth6Can be expressed as:
as can be seen from equation (9), the frequency is fmAnd fm+fAOThe two optical combs OF (2) also respectively contain phase information introduced by the change OF the lengths OF the upper and lower channels OF the first optical filter OF 1.
Then, two optical combs screened out by the channels under the second optical filter OF2 are injected into the low-speed photodetector LS-PD for heterodyne beat frequency. Neglecting the direct current term, the low frequency feedback photocurrent i (t) generated by the low speed photoelectric detector LS-PDFBCan be expressed as:
wherein the phase error of the feedback photocurrent
Comprises the following steps:
as can be seen from the formula (11), the low-frequency feedback photocurrent is consistent with the main phase noise contained in the terahertz carrier wave and the terahertz signal generated by the single-row carrier photodetector UCT-PD, and is-2 pi fc(τ2-τ1). Therefore, the phase noise of the terahertz carrier wave and the terahertz signal can be indirectly detected by detecting the phase information of the low-frequency feedback photocurrent, the complexity and the cost of the system are reduced, and the performance of the link is improved.
Finally, the feedback photocurrent generated by the low-speed photodetector LS-PD is firstly subjected to frequency division by a frequency divider, then phase discrimination is carried out on the feedback photocurrent and a high-stability reference Clock signal generated by a high-stability Clock source Clock in a phase frequency detector PFD, and phase error caused by separation OF a first optical filter OF1 physical optical path is extracted
PFD extraction of phase frequency detectorAfter low-pass filtering and integrating the phase error of the loop filter LPF, a voltage for controlling the voltage-controlled oscillator VCO is generated for controlling the phase of the oscillation signal output by the voltage-controlled oscillator VCO
And then compensating the phase noise of the terahertz carrier wave and the terahertz signal generated by the single-row carrier photoelectric detector UCT-PD. When the low-frequency feedback loop enters a phase locking state, the VCO outputs the phase of the oscillation signal
And the phase of the high-stability clock signal
Satisfies the following conditions:
substituting the formula (12) into the formulas (7) and (8) can obtain the phase theta of the terahertz carrier wave after feedback compensationCarrierAnd phase theta of terahertz signalTHz:
As can be seen from equations (13) and (14), the primary phase noise term-2 π f resulting from the physical optical path separation OF the first optical filter OF1 after closed-loop feedback compensationc(τ2-τ1) Is suppressed. Therefore, the generated terahertz carrier wave and the terahertz signal have good phase stability and can be received without error codes.
Therefore, based on the single heterodyne closed loop feedback technology, terahertz phase stabilization is realized, phase compensation is not required to be performed at a receiving end by using a DSP algorithm, and the time delay and the power loss of a system are greatly reduced. In the extraction process of phase errors introduced by physical optical path separation, only one time of low-frequency heterodyne detection operation is performed, so that the complexity, link loss and cost of the system are greatly reduced. In addition, the optical signal phase compensation is carried out by utilizing the voltage controlled oscillator VCO and the acousto-optic frequency shifter AOFS, and the optical signal phase compensation method has the advantages of high response speed and infinite phase compensation range.
In addition, the above E1—E6Corresponds to ((r) -sixth) in fig. 1.
Having described embodiments of the present invention, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or improvements made to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.