Tunable and reconfigurable single passband filter using stimulated Brillouin scattering and intensity modulation

A tunable and reconfigurable single passband microwave photonic filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and intensity modulation is presented and theoretically analyzed. Three Brillouin pumps with equal intensity are generated by selecting appropriate bias voltages and modulation indices. Then a reconfigurable passband can be achieved by superposition of the three pumps. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed filter has a 22-GHz continuous tuning range with a high out-of-band rejection ratio above 40 dB. The − 3-dB bandwidth can be tuned from 12 to 95 MHz, and the flatness is less than 1.5 dB. This technique uses a low-frequency (0 to 35 MHz) modulation signal to realize passband reshaping, and has potential applications in communication and radar systems.