Laser Phase Noise to Electronic Phase Noise Conversion in Optical Links Comprising Optical Resonators

This article investigates the mechanism of electronic signal phase noise degradation induced by laser phase noise in optical links comprising optical resonators. Through theoretical derivation, we find that the phase noise of the output electronic signal has the same spectral shape of optical intensity noise as the output of the optical resonator. We propose that the optical resonator transfers laser phase noise to light intensity fluctuation and then the intensity fluctuation is converted to electric phase noise through AM-PM conversion mechanism in the photodiode. An optical link comprising a Fabry-Perot resonator was constructed to verify the proposed mechanism. The experimental results agree with our theoretical prediction verifying that the supposition is correct.