Low phase noise and frequency tunable 95–115 GHz photonic LO based upon DSB-SC modulation in an MZM and FWM in an UL-SOA

We demonstrate a low-phase noise frequency-tunable photonic source for generating 100 GHz W-band signals. The source offers up to twelve times optical multiplication by exploiting nonlinearities in MZM and FWM in UL-SOA. Wide frequency tuning (95–115 GHz) with average output power of −24 dBm @ 4.18 mA photocurrent and output power variations <0.5 dB is demonstrated. The absolute phase noise of the W-band signals is measured to be <-91 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz. By using an optical reference LO, the residual phase noise from the photonic source is confirmed to be even <-103 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset.