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A tutorial on microwave photonic filters

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JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
A Tutorial on Microwave Photonic Filters
José Capmany, Senior Member, IEEE, Fellow, OSA, Beatriz Ortega, Member, IEEE, and
Daniel Pastor, Associate Member, IEEE
Tutorial
Abstract—Microwave photonic filters are photonic subsystems
designed with the aim of carrying equivalent tasks to those of an
ordinary microwave filter within a radio frequency (RF) system
or link, bringing supplementary advantages inherent to photonics
such as low loss, high bandwidth, immunity to electromagnetic
interference (EMI), tunability, and reconfigurability. There is an
increasing interest in this subject since, on one hand, emerg-
ing broadband wireless access networks and standards spanning
from universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) to
fixed access picocellular networks and including wireless local
area network (WLAN), World Interoperability for Microwave Ac-
cess, Inc. (WIMAX), local multipoint distribution service (LMDS),
etc., require an increase in capacity by reducing the coverage
area. An enabling technology to obtain this objective is based on
radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems where signal processing is carried
at a central office to where signals are carried from inexpensive
remote antenna units (RAUs). On the other hand, microwave
photonic filters can find applications in specialized fields such as
radar and photonic beamsteering of phased-arrayed antennas,
where dynamical reconfiguration is an added value. This paper
provides a tutorial introduction of this subject to the reader not
working directly in the field but interested in getting an overall
introduction of the subject and also to the researcher wishing to
get a comprehensive background before working on the subject.
I. I NTRODUCTION
B Y MICROWAVE photonic filter [1]–[5], we understand
a photonic subsystem designed with the aim of carrying
equivalent tasks to those of an ordinary microwave filter within
a radio frequency (RF) system or link, bringing supplemen-
tary advantages inherent to photonics such as low loss, high
bandwidth, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI),
tunability, and reconfigurability. The term microwave will be
freely used throughout this paper to designate either RF, mi-
crowave, or millimeter-wave signals. These terms will be used
interchangeably.
The use and advantages of microwave photonic filters have
been thoroughly described in various references in the liter-
ature. Here, we will use a simple example to illustrate this
concept. Fig. 1 depicts a typical application configuration for
a moving target identification (MTI) ground radar system [5].
Manuscript received July 15, 2005; revised September 9, 2005. This
work was supported by TIC2002-04344-C02-01 PROFECIA, IST-2001-37435
LABELS, the networks of excellence IST-EPIX, IST-EPHOTON/ONE, and
IST NEFERTITI, and the Spanish government ayudas a parques científicos.
The authors are with the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia
(ITEAM), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Valencia 46022, Spain (e-mail:
jcapmany@dcom.upv.es).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2005.860478
0733-8724/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE
201
The MTI radar uses the Doppler effect to separate the targets
of interest from clutter (land, sea water, rain, etc.). To do
this, the radar sends a pulse sequence with pulse width τ
and interpulse period PRI = 1/PRF, where PRF identifies the
pulse repetition frequency. Any moving object will generate
a Doppler frequency shift ∆ν of the radar central frequency
fo according to its speed (dR/dt), where R(t) designates the
time-varying distance from the target to the radar. The spectral
signature of each object repeats in the spectrum periodically
with a period given by the PRF, which obviously sets the limit
on determining an unambiguous Doppler shift.
Thus, focusing on a spectral region from fo to fo + PRF
is enough to get all the information regarding moving targets
and clutter, and what is required after signal detection is a
signal processing stage to carry out the filtering of clutter
and noise (the unwanted signals) from the target(s). This is
usually performed as shown in the upper part of Fig. 2 by using
a digital notch filter placed after frequency down-conversion
to baseband and using analog to digital conversion (ADC).
In order to distinguish the small echo from the target and
the large echo from the fixed objects, high-performance (14-
to 18-bit resolution) ADCs are required, which represents a
major bottleneck in the system. If the clutter can be removed
before down-conversion, then the high-resolution requirements
on the ADCs can be relaxed. For example, with a 30-dB clutter
attenuation, the required ADC resolution is reduced by 5 bits.
This operation is difficult and costly in the microwave domain
but is simple if the RF signal is modulated into an optical carrier
and the whole signal is processed directly in the optical domain
by means of a photonic filter as shown in the lower part of
Fig. 2.
The former example illustrates the general concept behind
microwave photonic filters [1]–[5], which is to replace the
traditional approach toward RF signal processing shown in the
upper part of Fig. 3, where an RF signal originating at an RF
source or coming from an antenna is fed to an RF circuit that
performs the signal processing tasks (usually at an intermediate
frequency band after a down-conversion operation) by a novel
technique. In this approach, which is shown in the lower part
of Fig. 3, the RF signal that was priorly made to modulate an
optical carrier is directly processed in the optical domain by a
photonic filter based on fiber and integrated photonic devices
and circuits.
Adding extra photonic components implies increased filter
complexity on one hand but brings on the other several ad-
vantages as pointed out in most of the published literature
202
Fig. 1. Example of application of a microwave photonic filter to ground MTI radar.
Fig. 2. (Above) Typical signal processing configuration in an MTI radar system. (Below) Modified version including a microwave photonic filter prior to
down-conversion.
[6]–[44]: Optical delay lines have very low loss (independent
of the RF signal frequency), provide very high time band-
width products, are immune to EMI, are lightweight, and can
provide very short delays that result in very-high-speed sam-
pling frequencies (over 100 GHz in comparison with a few
gigahertz with the available electronic technology). Finally, but
not less important optics provides the possibility of spatial and
wavelength parallelism using wavelength division multiplexing
(WDM) techniques.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a tutorial introduction
of this subject to the reader not working directly in the field
but interested in getting an overall introduction of the subject
and also to the researcher wishing to get a comprehensive
background before working on the subject. To this aim, we have
structured the paper in five parts.
Section II provides an introduction to the theory of mi-
crowave photonic filters, including some very basic concepts
to understand their operation as discrete time filters and their
applications, and a more detailed description of the opera-
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
tion of single-source microwave photonic filters (SSMPFs)
and multiple-source microwave photonic filters (MSMPFs).
Section III presents and discusses their potential optical and
electrical-driven limitations and the basic parameters used to
evaluate their performance such as link gain, noise figure,
spurious free dynamic range (SFDR), etc.
In Section IV, we describe some of the main proposals for the
implementation of microwave photonic filters published in the
literature. Obviously, there is a considerable amount of work
carried by different research groups during the last years and it
is impossible to describe them in detail, so we will concentrate
on those that either are useful to understand the theoretical
aspects, as described in Section II, or constitute a significant
achievement.
Finally, Section V provides a summary, conclusions, and
future challenges within this field of research. A complete ref-
erence list of the subject including more than 70 bibliographical
items is provided to assist the reader interested in getting more
in-depth coverage of the subject.
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS 203

Fig. 3. General concept behind microwave photonic filters. The upper part shows the traditional configuration. The lower part shows the replacement of the RF
filter by a microwave photonic filter.

Fig. 4. General reference layout of a microwave photonic filter showing the relevant electrical and optical signals.

II. T HEORY OF M ICROWAVE P HOTONIC F ILTERS
A. General Concepts
A microwave photonic filter is a photonic structure, the
objective of which is to replace a standard microwave filter
used in an RF system, bringing a series of advantages (tun-
ability, reconfigurability, electromagnetic immunity, etc.) that
have been outlined in the prior section [1]–[5]. Fig. 4 shows a
general reference layout of a microwave photonic filter that we
will use to explain some of the basic concepts involved in its
description.
Referring to the upper part of Fig. 4, the RF to optical
conversion is achieved by directly (or externally) modulating
either a single continuous wave (CW) source or a CW source
array. The input RF signal si (t) is then conveyed by the optical
carrier(s) and the composite signal is fed to a photonic circuit
that samples the signal in the time domain, weights the samples,
and combines them using optical delay lines and other photonic
204 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

elements. At the output(s), the resulting signal(s) is optically The operation of a microwave photonic filter can alterna-
RF converted by means of various optical receivers producing tively be described in terms of a system difference equation and
the output RF signal so (t). its corresponding system function
The lower part of Fig. 4 shows an equivalent black-box repre-
sentation of the aimed performance of the microwave photonic
filter. In essence, it is expected to relate linearly the input and so (t − nT ) = bo si (t) + b1 si (t − T ) + · · · + bM si (t − M T )
output RF signals by means of an impulse response h(t) in the
time domain or by a frequency response H(Ω) in the frequency − c1 so (t − T ) − · · · − cN so (t − N T ) (4)
domain. In practice, however, this linear relationship can

M
−m
only be obtained under special operating conditions. Why this bM z
happens can be understood by observing Fig. 4. Here, the only So (z) m=0
H(z) = =
guaranteed signal linearity is that relating the input E
i (w) and Si (z) N
1+ cN z −n


output Eo (w) optical fields to the optical subsystem by virtue n=1
of the linearity of Maxwell’s equations. This linear relationship
is established through an optical field transfer function Ho (w), 
M
Γz N −M (z − zM )
and hence N (z) m=1
= = . (5)
D(z) 
N

o (w) = E

i (w)Ho (w). (z − pN )
E (1) n=1

The conversion process from the input RF signal to the input

electric field to
the optical subsystem is a nonlinear process
since ei (t) ∝ si (t), and similarly, the output RF signal is
nonlinearly related to the output electric field from the optical
subsystem since so (t) ∝ |eo (t)|2 , where  stands for the
ensemble average over the possible signal fluctuations due to
the coherence properties of the single or multiple optical CW
sources that are employed to feed the filter. The two nonlinear
operations described together with the linear relationship (1)
do not yield under general circumstances an overall linear
relationship between si (t) and so (t), and in Sections II-B and C
we will explore the conditions under which this overall linear
relationship is obtained in practice.
Let us assume for the time being that this linear operation
regime is possible, and therefore
N
 characterization.
so (t) = ar si (t − rT ) ⇒ so (t) = si (t) ∗ h(t)
r=−N
N
 N
 3-dB bandwidth) denoted as ∆ΩFWHM . The filter selectivity of
h(t) = ar δ(t − rT ) = h(n)δ(t − nT ). (2)
r=−N n=−N
In (5), the system function is expressed as the quotient of
two polynomials N (z) and D(z) of the complex variable z,
the roots of which are known as the filter zeros and poles, re-
spectively. The location of the filter zeros and poles depends on
the values of the filter coefficients bi and cj and determine the
modulus and phase response of the microwave photonic filter
and whether this can be considered of minimum, maximum, or
linear phase.
The observation of the microwave photonic transfer function
given by (3) reveals that it is spectrally periodic with a period
given by 2π/T in angular frequency units or 1/T in frequency
unit. This period is known as the filter free spectral range
(FSR). The spectrum of a microwave photonic filter is thus
periodic, and Fig. 5 illustrates a typical example that we now
employ to define some basic parameters related to its spectral
For bandpass filters, the spectral selectivity of any of its pass-
bands (resonances) is given by the full width half maximum (or
a given resonance is given by its quality or Q factor

FSR
According to the number of samples N in the impulse Q= . (6)
∆ΩFWHM
response sequence, the filter can be classified as either a finite
impulse response (FIR) filter if N < ∞ or an infinite impulse
response (IIR) filter if N < ∞. The value of the Q factor is related to the number of samples
From (2), h(t) can be regarded as a discrete-time signal or (taps) used to implement it. If the number of taps is high
sequence and thus the usual z and discrete-time Fourier (DTF) (> 10), the Q factor can be approximated for uniform filters
transform techniques developed for other filter technologies by the number of taps Q ∼ = N . This relation can be slightly
[45], [46] can be fully employed for its analysis. For instance, corrected (Q < N ) for windowed filters. Q factors as high as
these are given by 237 [32] and 938 [11] have been reported for FIR and IIR
∞
 microwave photonic filters, respectively. Recently, this figure
H(z) = h(n)z −n has risen up to Q > 3000 [78] using a novel technique to obtain
n=−∞ single resonance microwave filters.
∞
 Finally, the filter rejection of nonadjacent channels is mea-
H(Ω) = h(n)e−jnΩT . (3) sured through the main to secondary sidelobe ratio (MSSR) also
n=−∞ shown in Fig. 5.
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS 205

Fig. 5. Typical periodic spectrum of a microwave photonic filter showing the relevant parameters.

B. SSMPFs [6]–[15] (assuming a detector responsivity )

SSMPFs are characterized, as its name indicates, by the  
I0 (t) =  |E0 (t)|2
use of only one optical √ source to feed the filter. The source
output electric field Ii ej(wo t+φ(t)) (where Ii represents the
N
 −1
optical intensity, wo the source central frequency, and φ(t)
the source phase fluctuations) is modulated by the RF input = Ii [|ar |si (t − rT )]
r=0
signal si (t) and the different filter samples are implemented by
means of delayed and windowed replicas of the RF-modulated N −1 N −1 
optical carrier. In Fig. 6(a) and (b), we show two possible  
+ Ii ar a∗s si (t − rT )si (t − sT )
implementations of an FIR and an IIR SSMPF, respectively. In r=0 s=r
the first case, a transversal filter is shown where the electric field
of the input RF-modulated optical signal is evenly divided into × Γ ((r − s)T ) . (8)
the N outputs of a 1 × N coupler. Output port j, for instance,
is connected to an attenuator, providing a field attenuation
√ In the above expression,  represents the ensemble average
coefficient aj−1 and an optical delay (j − 1)T , where T is over the signal fluctuations due to the stochastic process de-
the filter basic delay. Filter samples are then evenly combined scribing the source phase noise, and Γ stands for the optical
by an output N × 1 coupler. At the output port of this device, source degree of coherence, and we assume as it is customary
the overall electric field Eo (t) is composed of the interference that phase fluctuations of the optical source are modeled by an
of all the delayed and this signal is fed to an output photodiode ergodic process
that converts the optical signal into the final output RF signal
|(r−s)T |
so (t). The overall filter structure thus relates the input and Γ ((r − s)T ) ∝ e
− τcoh
. (9)
output microwave/RF signals given in volts or amperes. In the
case of the IIR structure, infinite samples of the modulated τcoh = 1/π∆ν is the source coherence time, which is in-
electrical field are generated. Fig. 6(b) shows, in particular, a versely proportional to the source linewidth ∆ν in the absence
microwave photonic filter based on a single cavity recirculating of modulation (i.e., under CW operation). A crucial aspect that
delay line formed by joining together two output ports of a fiber is connected with the filter operation is that of the optical source
coupler, providing a basic delay per cavity recirculation given coherence, as we shall now discuss.
by T . The filter behavior is similar apart from the obvious dif- In principle, filter linearity is only guaranteed in the optical
ference that in the first case, the structure produces N samples, fields (due to the linearity of Maxwell equations) but not as far
whereas in the second, the number of samples is, in theory, as optical powers are concerned. However, this last magnitude
infinite. is related to the input and output currents or voltages of the
The filter operation in both cases is described by the follow- RF signals since there is a linear relationship between the
ing equation that gives the output electric field, i.e., output optical power and the input current/voltage at the source
and between the input optical power and the output electrical
 N −1
 1
current/voltage at the optical receiver.
E0 (t) = Ii [ar si (t − rT )] 2 ej(w0 (t−rT )+φ(t−rT )) . (7) As shown in (8), the general shape of the output current is
r=0 composed of two terms, an incoherent term where the output
current/voltage is linearly related to the input RF signal and a
The upper number in the sum is N for the FIR case and N → coherent term that depends on the source degree of coherence
∞ for the IIR case. The output current from the photodiode is and destroys, in principle, power linearity.
206
Fig. 6. (a) Layout of an FIR SSMPF. (b) Layout of an IIR SSMPF.
If the optical source has a coherence time much smaller than
the basic filter delay (τcoh  T ), then the second term in (8)
vanishes and a linear relationship between the input and output
RF signals results, i.e.,
N
 −1
I0 (t) = so (t) = Ii [|ar |si (t − rT )] .
r=0
Filters fulfilling this condition of operation are known as
incoherent filters and bring in principle several advantages.
For instance, the filter impulse response as seen in (10) does
not depend on any optical phase. This makes these filters
very stable against environmental conditions (i.e., temperature
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
variations, mechanical vibrations, etc.) and is the main reason
why most of the implemented architectures so far are based
on this paradigm. The main disadvantage is that the filter
coefficients are positive
 since, according to (8), the coefficients
are given by |ar | = |ar |2 . Thus, in principle, only filters with
positive coefficients can be implemented using this approach.
(10)
In the early 1980s, Goodman, Moslehi, and others showed that
filters with positive coefficients are severely limited since they
always implement a resonance at baseband and, most notably,
the range of transfer functions that can be implemented shows
poor performance in terms of filter selectivity and roll-off.
This limitation, however, has been overcome and, as we will
see in the next section, today it is possible to implement
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
incoherent filters with negative coefficients using a variety of
techniques.
On the other extreme, if the optical source has a coherence
time much bigger than the basic filter delay (τcoh > T ), then
the filter works under coherent operation regime and (9) can be
approximated by
jwo (s−r)T
Γ ((s − r)T ) = e . (11)
Therefore, (8) is now given by
N
 −1
so (t) = Ii [|ar |si (t − rT )]
r=0
N
 −1 N
 −1 
+ Ii ar a∗s si (t − rT )si (t − sT )ejwo (s−r)T .
r=0 s=r
(12)
As it can be observed, the output RF signal is composed by
a set of weighted and delayed replicas of the RF-modulating
signal plus an interfering term which is optical phase sensitive.
Although the overall weight coefficient of a given output sam-
ple can now be negative, the filter will now be very dependent
on environmental fluctuations since part of the coefficients
depends on the evolution of optical phases. Coherent SSMPFs
are thus potentially very difficult to stabilize and are not imple-
mented in practice.
C. MSMPFs [16]–[31]
In MSMPFs, the output of an array of optical CW sources
is optically combined and modulated by the RF input signal
si (t). The source array can be implemented either by using
an array of independent lasers, the output spectrum of a low-
cost Fabry–Pérot laser, or by slicing the output of a broadband
source (i.e., LED or SLED) by means of a periodic optical filter.
Regardless of the particular option, the electric field prior to RF
modulation is given by
N −1 
 increase the capacity by reducing the coverage area [47]. An
ES (t) = Ir ej(wr t+φr (t)) (13)
r=0
where Ir , wr , and φr (t) represent, respectively, the optical in-
tensity, the source central frequency, and the phase fluctuations
of the rth component of the array. Each source implements a
filter sample that is selectively delayed usually by employing
a dispersive (i.e., wavelength selective) delay line implemented
either by a fiber coil or by a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating
(LCFBG). The dispersive delay element is chosen such that the
differential group delay experienced by adjacent wavelengths
of the source array is T . Sample windowing can be achieved
using different techniques. If the MSMPF is based on an array
of independent sources, then the simplest way is to control the
output powers of the different sources. If a sliced source is em-
ployed, then the wavelength components must be wavelength-
demultiplexed, attenuated, or amplified on an individual basis
and then multiplexed prior to RF modulation. Fig. 7(a) and
207
(b) show the two possible implementations of an MSMPF dis-
cussed above.
The output electric field from impinging on the photodiode
in this case is given by
N
 −1 
E0 (t) = ar sin (t − rT )ej(wr (t−rT )+φr (t−rT )) . (14)
r=0
The output current from the photodiode is (assuming again a
detector responsivity )
 
I0 (t) =  |E0 (t)|2
N
 −1
= [|ar |si (t − rT )]
r=0
N −1 N −1 
 
+ ar a∗s si (t − rT )si (t − sT )
r=0 s=r
 
j(wr −ws )t j(sws −rwr )T
×e e ej[φr (t−rT )−φs (t−sT )]
N
 −1
= [|ar |si (t − rT )] . (15)
r=0
The second term in the above expression is zero since the output
phase variations from different optical sources can be assumed
to be always uncorrelated. Thus, a linear relationship between
the input and output RF/microwave signal is obtained.
D. Applications of Microwave Photonic Filters
Apart from the application to the field of ground radars [6]
outlined in Section I, there are certainly a wide range of appli-
cations where microwave photonic filters can be of interest. For
instance, in the emerging broadband wireless access networks
and standards spanning from universal mobile telecommuni-
cations system (UMTS) to fixed access picocellular networks
and including wireless local area network (WLAN), World
Interoperability for Microwave Access, Inc. (WIMAX), local
multipoint distribution service (LMDS), etc., there is a need to
enabling technology to obtain this objective is radio-over-fiber
(RoF) systems, where radio signals are distributed from a cen-
tral location to remote antenna units (RAUs) using fiber optic
transmission as shown in the upper part of Fig. 8. RoF makes
it possible to centralize the RF signal processing functions in
one shared location (headend). By so doing, RAUs are simpli-
fied significantly as they only need to perform optoelectronic
conversion and amplification functions. The centralization of
RF signal processing functions enables equipment sharing, dy-
namic allocation of resources, and simplified system operation
and maintenance. The processing at the headend involves a
prior frequency down-conversion, ADC, and baseband process-
ing using a DSP as shown in the intermediate part of Fig. 8,
which illustrates a direct fiber link joining a given RAU and
the headend. The down-conversion operation can be eliminated
or divided into two steps, putting less stringent requirements
on the ADC and DSP operations if a microwave photonic filter
208
Fig. 7. (a) Layout of an FIR MSMPF using a laser array. (b) Layout of an FIR MSMPF using a sliced broadband source.
is placed prior to optical detection as shown in the lower part
of Fig. 8.
The microwave photonic filter can be employed either for
channel rejection [48], [49] or for channel selection applica-
tions [50]–[52]. In the first case, we deal with an optical link
where not only the desired signal is carried by the fiber but
also unwanted interfering signals that are also picked up by
the antenna. A paradigmatic example can be found in radio
astronomy applications [49], where signal transmission from
several stations to a central site requires removing strong man-
made interfering signals from astronomy bands. The ability to
reject these interfering RF signals directly in the optical domain
is a unique characteristic of these photonic filters. Another
application example is for noise suppression and channel in-
terference mitigation in the front-end stage after the receiving
antenna of an UMTS base station prior to a highly selective
SAW filter. In the second case [50], the signal carried by the
optical link is composed of a frequency plan that comprises
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
several disjoint parts of the RF spectrum (UMTS, HIPERLAN,
LMDS, etc.). Here, a bandpass photonic filter can be employed
to select a given RF band or spectral region. Furthermore,
the selected band can be changed if the filter is tunable: a
feature uncommon to traditional microwave filters but possible
in microwave photonic filters, as we shall see in Section III.
In both cases, the position of the frequency notch or the filter
bandpass can be as low as a few megahertz or as high as
several tens of gigahertz due to the broadband characteristics
of photonic delay lines. Microwave photonic filters can also
be of interest in applications where lightweight is a prime
concern, for example, as analog notch filters are also needed to
achieve cochannel interference suppression in digital satellite
communications systems [53].
Another important application of microwave photonic filters
is in the field of true time delay beamsteering of antenna arrays
[54]. A photonic true time delay system for feeding an array of
antennas is based on the use of broadband photonic delay lines.
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS 209

Fig. 8. RoF access network (upper). Potential application of microwave photonic filters at the head-end on the centralized station (lower) replacing the RF filter
of standard configuration (intermediate).

Fig. 9. Photonic beamsteering system based on a laser array feeding an LCFBG. The configuration is equivalent to that of a microwave photonic transversal
filter (see Fig. 19).

The feeder network for an array of N antennas is essentially
equivalent to an N -tap microwave photonic tunable FIR filter
where the basic filter delay T can be altered, the only difference
being that each filter sample is detected by a different optical
receiver that is placed before each antenna unit in the array.
Fig. 9 shows an example of a photonic beamsteering system
that is based on using a dispersive delay line implemented by an
LCFBG featuring a dispersion parameter of D ps/nm in combi-
nation with a bank of N tunable laser sources. The wavelength
distance ∆λ between adjacent sources is kept constant. The RF
signal to be radiated modulates the whole set of optical sources
and each wavelength is selectively delayed by the LCFBG and
then directed to a particular optical receiver feeding an element
of the array after being demultiplexed. The phase difference for
an RF signal of frequency Ω between adjacent elements is given
by ∆Φ = ΩD∆λ, so it can be easily changed by changing ∆λ.
To finalize this list of potential applications, it should not be
forgotten that the very high bandwidth and potentially low de-
lays (5 s/m) that can be achieved with optical delay lines make
them an ideal technology option for the implementation of sig-
nal correlators [55] for very high speed signals and incoherent
optical code division multiplexing (OCDMA) applications.
210
III. L IMITATIONS AND P ERFORMANCE P ARAMETERS OF
M ICROWAVE P HOTONIC F ILTERS
A. Optical Sources of Performance Limitation
Microwave photonic filters must overcome a series of poten-
tial limitations prior to their practical realization. We classify
these limitations into two groups according to whether these
limitations appear mainly in the optical domain or whether they
manifest in the electrical domain.
Limitations arising in the optical domain include nonlinear
optical effects, polarization, positive nature of the filter coef-
ficients due to the incoherent operation, the limited range of
attainable spectral periods, spectral periodicity, filter reconfig-
urability, and tunability.
Spectral Periodicity: The spectral periodicity of microwave
photonic filters limits the bandwidth of the RF signals to be
processed to a fraction of the FSR in order to avoid spectral
overlapping. Single resonance (i.e., nonperiodic filters) is there-
fore desired for certain applications. Section IV-D addresses
the techniques proposed to implement this class of filters
[11], [32], [33].
Positive Coefficients: Filters working under the incoherent
regime are linear in optical intensity, thus the coefficients
of their impulse responses are always positive. This has two
important implications as derived from the theory of positive
systems [4]. The first one and more important is that the range
of transfer functions that can be implemented is quite limited.
The second one is that regardless of its spectral period, the
transfer function always has a resonance place at baseband.
This is not a serious limitation since a DC blocking filter can be
inserted at the optical receiver output. Nevertheless, incoherent
filters with negative coefficients can be implemented by means
of different recently developed techniques [34]–[44] that are
further discussed in Section IV.
Fiber Nonlinearities: Filter linearity can be compromised if
the optical carriers used in filter implementation deliver enough
power to stimulate fiber nonlinearities. The main sources of
optical nonlinearities are self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-
phase modulation (XPM), four-wave mixing (FWM), stimu-
lated Brillouin scattering (SBS), and Raman scattering (SRS).
The requirements for each one of these are the same as those
for typical communication systems and can be found elsewhere
in the literature [56].
Polarization: Polarization effects are mainly important un-
der coherent operation [2]–[4]. However, it has been outlined
and experimentally demonstrated that even under incoherent
operation the filter can be sensitive to signal polarization [57],
[58]. The main cause for this apparent contradiction is that
some signal samples experience exactly the same delay within
the filter leading to a coherent interference between them even
if a broadband source is employed [57], [58]. Also, when
laser sources and external modulators are used, care must be
taken to adjust the source polarization to that required by the
modulator. The use of polarization preserving fiber pigtails at
the modulator input helps to overcome this limitation.
Limited Spectral Period or FSR: As discussed in
Section II-A, microwave photonic filters are periodic in spec-
trum since they sample the input signal at a time rate given by
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
T . Thus, the spectral period or FSR is given by 1/T . If the filter
is fed by only one optical source, then the source coherence
time (which is inversely related to the source linewidth) limits
the maximum (minimum) value of the attainable FSR under
incoherent (coherent) operation. MSMPFs have been proposed
to overcome this limitation [15].
Reconfigurability: This property refers to the possibility to
dynamically change the values of ar and ck in (4). Passive
structures are incapable of this feature. Several solutions have
been proposed to overcome this limitation including the use
of optical amplifiers (OAs) [59]–[61], modulators [62], fiber
gratings, and laser arrays [15]. Some of these are addressed
later in Section IV.
Tunability: This property refers to the possibility to dynam-
ically change the position of filter resonances or notches. To
provide tunability, it is necessary to alter the value of the
sampling period T . Solutions that include the use of switched
fiber delay lines [63], high dispersion fibers [64], and FBGs [6]
have been proposed. In the last two options, a tunable source is
required. Some of the main reported results are also reviewed
in Section IV.
B. Electrical Sources of Performance Limitation
Microwave photonic filters are a particular case of an analog
fiber optic link and suffer from the same electrical limitation
sources, including noise and intermodulation. The performance
study of the complete microwave photonic filter from the point
of view of a black box with an RF input port and an RF output
port is therefore essential for the sake of comparison with
other existing technologies and also in order to verify properly
its adequate fitting inside a real applications scenario with
bounded gain, noise factor, and intermodulation characteristics.
An important starting point for the analysis is the knowledge of
the previously mentioned features in an RoF system [65]–[69].
In fact, the more general structure of a microwave photonic
(MWP) filter shown in Fig. 4 can be treated as an RoF system
with direct intensity modulation (IM) or external modulation
(EM), followed by an optical transmission section that in this
case includes the necessary FIR or IIR tap replication scheme,
and finally, the detection front-end. Nevertheless, MWP filter
structures can include additionally some specific optical com-
ponents not specific of RoF as multiple optical source arrays
instead single-source broadband optical sources [LED, SLED,
or ASE spectrum from erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs)]
or even sliced versions such as broadband sources. We now pro-
ceed to present the gain and noise factor concepts applicable to
the general case of RoF and MWP systems and include the nec-
essary specializations applicable to microwave photonic filters.
1) Gain: The total RF gain of the MWP filter can be derived
from the general set up in Fig. 10. The filter can be divided
into the three main blocks from input to output, namely, the
electrooptical conversion module (EO), an all-optical process-
ing part, and finally an optical to electronic conversion (OE)
module. For the EO module, there are two main options, direct
IM of a semiconductor source, or EM employing a CW source.
Both alternatives are equivalent from the point of view of
the general operation concept of MWP filters since in both
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 10. General MWP filter structure including electrooptical conversion, all-
optical process, and optical detection. Definition of the optical span and RF gain
reference planes.
amplitude modulation of the RF signal over the optical carrier
is performed. The IM alternative can result interesting for low
cost and medium–low frequency range applications due to their
limited modulation bandwidth (< 1 GHz). The EM approach
opens the possibility for RF modulation up to tens of gigahertz
with moderated cost. Electroabsortion modulators (EAMs) and
electrooptical modulator (EOMs) are the two main possibilities,
EOMs being the more common option because of their moder-
ate costs up to 10 GHz (they are very mature technologically
due to the strong market of digital optical networks). EAMs,
nevertheless, have also been demonstrated in a considerable
number of RoF systems, and they represent a promising alter-
native. On other hand, EMs require one additional device for
CW light generation and also involve some additional optical
losses at the own EM.
The total RF gain or losses defined as the RF power ratio
between input and output of the MWP filter (see Fig. 10) can
be approximated for the EOM case as
 2
PRFout πPopt Topt Z0
TRF = =  (16)
PRFin 2Vπ
where Z0 is the effective EOM RF input impedance or
resistance of the EOM electrode, Vπ is the voltage for a
π-radian optical phase shift at the EOM arms that represent
the voltage excursion between a minimum to a maximum of
its modulation response,  [A/W] is the detector responsivity,
Popt is the applied CW optical power to the EOM, and Topt is
the optical power transmission parameter that embraces all the
optical losses and/or gain along the optical processor including
the EOM insertion losses as depicted in Fig. 10 (Gopt (dBo) =
10 log10 (Topt )). The biasing point along the standard nonlin-
earized raised-cosine response of the EOM is supposed to be
the quadrature point (QB) that ensures the maximum linearity
in optical amplitude modulation and the minimum even-order
distortion terms. Equation (16) supposes also that the detected
photocurrent is applied to load impedance RL equal to Z0 , in
other case, a factor RL /Z0 should multiply (16), i.e.,
GRF (dBe) = 10 log10 (TRF )

πPopt Z0
211
The total RF gain can then be divided into two separate parts
as shown in (17). The first term is the contribution of the pure
optical gain or losses to the RF gain, and the second term is
the contribution of the EO and OE conversion. Notice that the
EO–OE process can be divided also into two conversion slope
efficiency parameters, the detector responsivity [A/W ] and
seom = πPopt Z0 /2Vπ [W/A] for the EOM. Expressed in that
way, the slope efficiency for the EOM can be directly substi-
tuted by the equivalent parameter if direct IM is employed,
i.e., sIM = dP0 /dI, which represents the slope of generated
optical power versus the injected current when I > Ith , and it
is proportional to the known differential quantum efficiency.
It is interesting to point out that sIM is independent of the
mean optical power delivered by the laser (I > Ith ) and that it
only depends of the slope of the P −I curve. This is in contrast
with seom that depends linearly with the CW power applied
to the EOM, and therefore TRF depends quadratically. This,
in principle, allows the EOM-based systems to compensate
for their own EOM losses or even compensate optical inser-
tion losses of the remaining optical processor if Popt can be
increased.
As an example of RF gain calculus: Popt = 10 mW, EOM:
Vπ = 6 V. Z0 = 50 Ω, and Gopt = −10 dBo (including EOM,
passive optical circuits like optical couplers, FBGs, circula-
tors, optical delay lines, etc.). In that case, GEO&OE (dBe) =
−16 dBe, and the total gain GRF (dBe) = −36 dBe. This total
negative gain can be compensated up to 0 dB by different
ways: 1) by 36 dBe of electrical amplification (before, after,
or at both places the MWP), 2) by pure optical gain (in that
case the required gain will be half of the electrical gain, i.e.,
18 dBo), or 3) a combination of electrical and optical amplifi-
cation (for example, 12 dBo + 12 dBe). All these possibilities
have important implications in terms of noise figure and distor-
tion behavior of the MWP filter as it will be shown later.
The total RF gain has been calculated without any reference
to the particular frequency response of the MWP structure
because it has to be considered as the absolute value to be added
to the normalized filter response independent of the number of
taps or particular optical process. In that sense, it has to be
pointed out that Popt inside (16) and (17) should include the
total optical power applied to the MWP structure by the set of
sources when the MWP filter is of the multiple-source type as
discussed in Section II-C.
2) Noise Figure: The noise figure of the microwave pho-
tonic filter can be defined as the ratio between the total noise
power spectral density at the device output Nout and the noise
power due to only the thermal noise spectral density applied to
the input at the reference temperature and affected by the device
gain. More specifically, in our case
N F (dB)
Nout
= 10 log 4kT0 TRF
R
NRIN + Nshot + Nsig-ASE + NPIIN + Nth
= 2 (10 log10 (Topt )) + 20 log10  = 10 log  4kT T

2Vπ 0 RF
R
= 2Gopt (dBo) + GEO&OE (dBe). (17) (18)
212
Fig. 11. EOM-based general MWP filter basic structure. Optical amplification can be included after or before optical processing. Noise sources are represented.
(a) Optical intensity noise. (b) Shot noise. (c) ASE noise. (d) Thermal noise.
where k is the Boltzmann’s constant, T0 is 298 K, and R is
the load resistance at the RF source applied to the MWP filter.
The total noise spectral density at the output of the MWP filter
is composed of different sources of noise generated along the
MWP filter as we can see schematically represented in Fig. 11.
Relative intensity noise (RIN) produced in the optical source
[case (a)] propagates along the optical processor up to the
detector and is one of the dominant sources of noise when direct
IM is employed. Its spectral power density is
 
NRIN = Ip2 RIN A2 /Hz , Ip = Popt Topt
where Ip is the average detected photocurrent and RIN [Hz−1 ].
Notice that this noise contribution increases with the square of
Popt . Also, for the case of multiple laser arrays feeding the
MWP filter, the different sources can be considered in general
uncorrelated and with similar RIN values, and therefore, the
total intensity noise is the adding of the individual ones, being
applicable (19), where Popt contains the already mentioned
aggregated array power. Notice also that intensity noise spec-
tral density depends on the RF frequency under consideration
RIN(Ω)[Hz−1 ] and therefore the resultant noise figure. External
modulated systems relax the constraints over the laser source
and the intensity noise features can be reduced employing CW
sources with low RIN parameter. In that case, the dominant
noise source is the shot noise produced at the detector output,
this being intrinsic to the quantum nature of lightwave with
spectral density
 
Nshot = 2qIp A2 /Hz .
OAs are indispensable in many cases to compensate high
optical losses of the passive components along the MWP filter.
EDFAs or semiconductor OAs (SOAs) can be used depending
if their respective gain dynamics behavior is or not a limitation
or whether this dynamic is used for some purpose [cross
gain modulation (XGM), for example, to negative coefficient
generation]. In the case of incorporating OAs, new sources of
noise produced by the amplified spontaneous emission noise
(ASE) should be considered. Detailed derivation of ASE noise
sources and OA noise factor can be found in [70]. We will
provide here some summarized and useful expressions for the
easy calculation of the more general case with dominant signal
ASE beating contribution and the procedure to extend to an
arbitrary chain of AO and optical losses [70].
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
According to the previous notation, the noise power spectral
density due to signal to ASE beating is [7]
 
Nsig-ASE = 4qηnsp Ip (GOA − 1)T2 A2 /Hz (21)
where η is the quantum efficiency of the detector [also inside
 = (qη/hν)], nsp is the population inversion parameter for
the amplifier that is related with the OA gain (G0A ), and the
OA noise factor (F0 ) through
(19)
(GOA − 1) 1
F0 = 2nsp + . (22)
GOA GOA
Notice also that (2) includes the term T2 that embraces the
optical transmission between the OA and the detector. In this
way, the expression can be applied to cover any location of
the OA along the optical processing chain, leaving Topt =
T1 G0A T2 , where T1 is the optical transmission before the
OA (just between the source output up to the OA input). To
include the noise effect of more that one amplifier along the
optical process, we can use the equivalent OA gain (GOA,Eq )
and OA noise factor (FO,Eq ) of a chain of {GOA1 , FO1 } +
intermediate losses (TINT ) + {GOA2 , FO2 } being
GOA,Eq = GOA1 TINT GOA2
FO2
FO,Eq = FO1 + . (23)
GOA1 TINT
(20) Equation (23) assumes that GOA,Eq , GOA1 , and GOA1  1,
and therefore, (22) reduces to F0 = 2nsp . In other case,
the cascading expression can be calculated also with slight
modifications [7]. Note that any OAs + optical losses
chain combination can be calculated by recursive iteration
employing (23).
Phase-induced intensity noise (PIIN) is usually the dominant
noise source in single-source incoherent microwave photonic
signal processors. PIIN arises since, as mentioned previously,
the incoherent regime implies the use of wide linewidth sources
in order to obtain a robust transfer characteristic irrespective
of environmental perturbations. The price to be paid is that
the laser linewidth, which arises from random phase variations
of the optical output with time, is larger than the processor
FSR. Inside the optical processor, the input power is tapped
into different paths (samples) and recombined at the output.
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS 213

Fig. 12. (a) SFDR schematic definition and its relation with the system requirements. (b) IMD3 and C versus input RF power. Linearly extrapolated cross point
and its relation with SFDR.

The summation of multiple optical samples at the photodetector F (dB) + LRF (dB), with LRF (dB) = −GRF (dB). In the op-
transforms the laser phase fluctuations into intensity fluctua- posite case, if TRF  1, then NF(dB) → 0 dB, but this will
tion noise (PIIN) at the output. PIIN noise has been studied be very difficult to reach in practice because high TRF  1
in passive structures [71] and active recirculating delay lines involves high optical power and therefore increase of RIN and
[72], [73]. Recently [74], an excellent and detailed considera- shot noise or optical gain with added ASE.
tion of its impact and the techniques to overcome the effect of 3) Harmonic and Intermodulation Distortion: Harmonic
PIIN has been published in the literature [75]. Among these, it and intermodulation distortion (IMD) features are the other
is worth mentioning the use of multiple-source architectures. great constraint that should be addressed for a real application
Finally, added to the optical-type noise sources, we also have of an MWP filter. The main source of signal distortion is nor-
the thermal noise propagated along the MWP filter added to mally the E/O conversion stage. If we consider direct IM lasers,
that produced at the detector load resistance and the feasible both static distortion produced by the P −I curve and dynamic
electrical gain, i.e., distortion produced by the laser couple rate equation dynamics
 are produced. EM is dominated by the static distortion and
4kT0  2  depends on the E/O device employed (EOM or EAM) and if
Nth = (F + TRF ) A /Hz . (24)
R a linearization technique was employed. Extensive compilation
of all these possibilities can be found in [68] and [69]. Whatever
In the simplest case of thermal noise being dominant, if the the E/O approach is finally used, the distortion will translate
MWP filter has considerable losses TRF  1, them NF(dB) = into harmonic distorsion (HD) terms and IMD terms. From all
214
Fig. 13. RF notch filter based on a fiber optic Mach–Zehnder and a linearly chirped FBG [8].
the intermodulation terms, the third-order terms (IMD3) are
more deleterious because they fall over the system frequency
band being difficult or impossible to avoid by simple filtering.
In the case of EOM modulator (without liberalizer), the rise-
cosine static P −V curve implies distortion and traditionally
the biasing point QB that ensures maximum optical amplitude
modulation and minimum even-order distortion terms (IMD2,
HD2). In that case, IMD3 can be reduced, decreasing the
RF power and therefore the optical modulation index (m).
Nevertheless, the m reduction will imply a reduction of the
carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) at the MWP filter output due to
the noise floor. There are two aspects limiting the system in
opposite directions, first the noise floor level and second the RF
power limit at the input due to intermodulation. This balance
is summarized into the known SFDR that is defined as the
fundamental carrier to the two-tone third intermodulation prod-
uct just when the IMD3 product power equals the total noise
power on the system bandwidth. Fig. 12(a) shows schematically
the SFDR definition and how a specific application could
operate with RF channels with maximum power difference ∆P
between the strongest and weakest signals and SFDR should be
higher than ∆P + CNRmin , being CNRmin the minimum CNR
for the specific application. A general procedure to compute
IMD3 output power versus output carrier power (C) for an
arbitrary input RF power employs the linearly extrapolated
cross point IP3 [see Fig. 12(b)]. SFDR can be easily obtained
from the schematic of Fig. 12 as
   time optical processing of microwave signals.
2 IP3 2
SFDR = 10 log dB−Hz 3
3 Nout R
where Nout R is the power noise spectral density (watts per
hertz). For the case of using EOMs without linearization [68],
IP3 = 4Ip2 R, and
SFDR
 
2 4Ip2  
2 by using multiwavelength optical sources (lasers) modulated
= 10 log dB−Hz 3 .
3 RINIp2 + 2qIp + Nsig−ASE + Nth
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
IV. P RACTICAL I MPLEMENTATION OF M ICROWAVE
P HOTONIC F ILTERS
A. Introduction and Brief Historical Sketch
The use of optical fiber as a delay medium in the context of
RF signal processing applications was proposed by Wilner and
van der Heuvel as early as 1976 [75]. They were the first to
note that fiber delay lines are attractive due to their low loss and
low dispersion. A year later, Ohlhaber and Wilner [76] reported
an experimental demonstration of an optical fiber transversal
filter based on three multimode fiber delay paths to generate and
correlate a 4-bit 88 Mb/s coded sequence. Also, an optical fiber
frequency filter was demonstrated by Chang et al. [77], who
illuminated a bundle of 15 multimode fibers that provided 15
different delays spaced by 5.2 ns, yielding a filter with a transfer
function having a fundamental passband at 193 MHz. Since
then, different tapping elements and dispersive mechanisms
have been investigated to develop advanced single-mode optical
fiber delay line architectures capable of synthesizing many
sophisticated time- and frequency-domain filtering operations
for basic signal processing functions. The most relevant initial
activity was carried by Goodman, Shaw, and others then at the
University of Stanford [4], [33]. However, most of these pro-
posals presented filters relying on the implementation of time
delays by means of fiber strands. The use of novel components
such as FBGs to implement a programmable delay line based on
optical RF link technology [6] opened the perspectives toward
the implementation of fully reconfigurable and tunable discrete-
In this section, different approaches for the implementation
(25)
of incoherent transversal filters are reviewed, attending to the
type of source(s) employed, and focusing on the main perfor-
mance and limitations presented by each one. As discussed in
previous sections, there are two the main options for sources
employed to implement the optical taps: The first one is where
only one modulated optical source is employed. The filter taps
are therefore generated from delayed versions of the output
signal from this source, but a limitation of the maximum
attainable filter FSR is found since interference effects need to
be avoided. The second one employs multiple sources, either
by the same RF signal or by using a sliced broadband source.
In the first alternative, provided each source implements only
(26) one tap, there is no phase correlation between different taps,
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS 215

Fig. 14. RF photonic filter architecture based on an EDF active cavity and two linearly chirped FBGs [9]. (Inset) Tunable bandpass frequency response.

so no limitation in the minimum time delay or maximum

FSR is encountered. The second one consists of a modulated
broadband optical source (LED, EDFA or SOA ASE source,
etc.) with very low coherence time, which is sliced to generate
all the filter taps. Since each tap is implemented by a different
part of the sliced spectrum, there will be no limitations in the
filter FSR, provided each slice carries a portion of the optical
spectrum broad enough.
Finally, we have included a subsection on negative-co-
efficient microwave filters due to the large interest they cur-
rently attract to researchers. The main approaches proposed in
the literature for implementing these types of filters, which offer
higher flexibility in the transfer function, and also do not exhibit
a resonance at baseband, have also been reviewed in the section.

B. Implementation of SSMPFs
The first continuously tunable optical transversal filter was
reported in [7]. It was based on a single tunable modulated
laser source and two long chirped gratings on separate ports
of a coupler as tapping elements. By varying the wavelength
of the source over the chirp range of the gratings, the point of
reflection of the grating shifts linearly along the length of each
grating, and this enables the time delay between both reflected
signals (i.e., optical taps) to be controlled. Another example
of an RF notch filter was proposed in [8], showing higher
resolution filtering. It was based on a fiber optic Mach–Zehnder
section combined with a linearly chirped fiber grating, as shown Fig. 15. (a) Cascaded passive Mach–Zehnder filters to select a desired fre-
in Fig. 13. In this structure, provided the fixed delay difference quency. (b) Filter frequency response of the hybrid structure based on an active
is much larger than the tunable time delay, the shift of the notch fiber grating pair cavity and the passive section [10].
frequencies can be tuned linearly and precisely while the FSR
is kept nearly unchanged, offering large flexibility for real-time gratings by passing it back and forth through the active fiber.
signal processing. Tuning the wavelength of the optical carrier over the reflection
Another proposal featuring high Q filters with wide and bandwidth of the gratings causes the point of reflection to
continuous tunable center frequencies was presented in [9]. The change linearly along the length of the gratings so the basic time
experimental configuration for the tunable filter is shown in delay between taps is different, resulting in a tunable bandpass
Fig. 14. It consists of two chirped long Bragg gratings whose frequency response (see inset in Fig. 14).
reflectivities are 50% and 100%, respectively, and a section of Further work on these structures presents hybrid approaches
active fiber between them, which enables a large number of combining both active and passive sections to obtain a signifi-
taps to be generated in the impulse response. The modulated cant increase in the filter’s Q factor [10], [11] The p-section pas-
light launched into the cavity is reflected successively from both sive Mach–Zehnder lattice see Fig.15(a)] is used to eliminate
216
Fig. 16. RF photonic transversal filter structure using four fiber grating arrays and doubling the number of coefficients using a Mach–Zehnder stage [13].
Fig. 17. (a) Eight-tap filter response just after the circulator in Fig. 4.
(b) Eight-tap filter response just after tap multiplexing stage in dashed box
(Fig. 4). (c) Filter tunability.
the intermediate peaks and to select the multiple that corre-
sponds to the desired filter frequency. Although this hybrid
structure can only be implemented with uniform fiber gratings,
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
Fig. 18. FIR tunable RF filter architecture based on a fiber grating array [13].
and therefore, tunability has not been demonstrated, experi-
mental results in [10] show a filter centered at a fundamental
frequency of 1.1 GHz, exhibiting a Q factor of 801, as depicted
in Fig. 15(b), and increased up to 983 when a third section is
included, comprising a small-FSR long delay line difference
passive filter [11].
Another complex filter composed of a single tunable laser
and eight fiber grating arrays was proposed in [12]. The system
configuration, shown in Fig. 16, uses a 1 × 8 splitter, and each
of the grating arrays is connected via an adjustable attenua-
tor to provide the tap weighting (windowing of the impulse
response) and, therefore, different bandpass spectral profiles.
Each of the eight grating arrays, corresponding to eight taps
of the microwave photonics signal, has four gratings. Each of
these four sets of Bragg gratings, selected by changing the
optical carrier wavelength, has a different spacing increment
of distance, providing different tunabilities of the bandpass
responses. However, the number of taps in this structure can be
increased by adding a Mach–Zehnder section, as depicted in the
dashed box in Fig. 16 [13]. One beam passes through directly
and the other is reflected at a grating with the same wavelength,
and so placed that the optical path difference between these
two arms is exactly eight times that of the unit delay time,
which is related to the spacing between the adjacent two taps.
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 19. (Top) Tunable and reconfigurable RF photonic filter architecture based on a laser array and a linearly chirped FBG [16]. (Bottom) Experimental results
for a five-tap filter. (Left) Reconfigurability (reduction of sidelobes level). (Right) Tunability (different bandpass central frequency).
The impulse response, before and after this section, is also
shown in Fig. 16. The frequency response of the filter measured
at the output of the optical circulator is shown in Fig. 17(a),
whereas the response after the stage in the dashed box shows
a narrower bandwidth of the passband while the FSR remains
the same, confirming that the Q factor has been doubled [see
Fig. 17(b)]. The bandpass profile optimization can achieve an
MSSR of 30 dB by using a Hamming windowing function and
filter tunability is demonstrated by tuning the optical carrier
wavelength from λ1 to λ2 , as shown in Fig. 17(c).
Based on the fact that the optical fiber recirculating delay
line is one of the most compact configuration to implement
an IIR microwave photonic filter and can provide very steep
notch response, Zhang et al. proposed in 2001 [14] an optical
fiber recirculating structure incorporating a fiber grating array
to achieve maximum notch depth and tunable FSR. As shown
in Fig. 18, this filter consists of a fiber coupler and a length of
fiber to provide delayed feedback optical signal, which can be
changed in this structure by tuning the optical carrier.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that other approaches that are
found in the literature explore properties such as the polariza-
tion synthesizing [15] in Bragg gratings to realize incoherent
217
optical transversal filters with large tunable FSR by using a
single optical source.
C. Implementation of MSMPFs
1) Filters Based on Source Arrays: As described in
Section II, a class of MSMPFs is based on the use of laser
arrays, aiming to provide a further step in the sense that the
filters proposed are completely flexible and allow fast and
independent reconfiguration and RF tunability, although the
main drawback is related to the high cost of these structures.
The first proposal was done in [16] and the layout of the filter
is shown in the upper part of Fig. 19. It is composed of an
N laser array, where the laser wavelengths and output powers
can be independently adjusted. Thus, spectrally equally spaced
signals representing RF signal samples can be fed to a linearly
chirped fiber grating suffering different delays but keeping
constant the basic incremental delay T between two adjacent
wavelengths. Furthermore, T can be changed by proper tuning
of the central wavelengths emitted by the laser array, providing
tunable transversal RF filters. Also, since the output powers of
the lasers can be adjusted independently at high speed, impulse
218 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Fig. 20. (Top) Architecture for a tunable RF photonic filter based on fixed optical sources and a tunable dispersive element [17]. (Top inset) Nonuniform magnetic
field inside the electrical coil. (Bottom inset) Grating time delay response when chirp is induced: spectral location of the optical taps. (Bottom) Three-tap tunable
transversal filter response by using the filter architecture described in the upper part. Bandpass filter centered at (a) 6 GHz and (b) 9 GHz.

response windowing can be easily implemented, and therefore,

the filter transfer function can be reconfigured at high speed.
The reader at this point is invited to compare the structure in
Fig. 19 with that of Fig. 9 to verify the equivalence of the
structures required for microwave photonic transversal filters
and for photonic beamsteering of antenna arrays.
The lower left hand side part of Fig. 19 shows the response
of a five-tap uniform filter where the normalized output powers
from the lasers in the array are [1 1 1 1 1] together with
the response of a truncated Gaussian windowed filter where
the normalized output powers from the lasers in the array are
given by [0.46 0.81 1 0.81 0.46], where a reduction on the
MSSR down to −20 dB can be observed. The right hand side Fig. 21. Multitap transversal bandpass filter implemented by spectrally slicing
a broadband source with wavelength-multiplexed Bragg grating arrays equi-
demonstrates resonance tunability, increasing the resonance spaced in time [19].
position from approximately 2 up to 4 GHz. In addition, this
figure shows the carrier suppression effect (CSE) suffered by A limitation of this technique is that since the tunability of
the second resonance in this specific case of dispersive media these filters is based on the optical wavelength tuning of the
and wavelength spacing. CSE effect can be eliminated by using multiwavelength laser, expensive sources must be employed
single sideband (SSB) modulation. for them. A lower cost alternative was proposed in [17] based
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 22. (Top left) UMTS filter layout based on a broadband slice source followed by a switched dispersive delay line. (Top right) Filter prototype developed
within the IST-LABELS project. (Bottom) Filter response based on a fiber grating array [22] showing the tunability of the filter.
on dispersion variable devices. Fig. 20 shows the filter setup
employing the dynamic chirp of an original uniform FBG
(UFBG) controlled by a nonuniform magnetic field, which is
induced by an electrical coil on a magnetostrictive transducer.
The dispersion slope was changed from 300 to 900 ps/nm, and
therefore, by setting the optical wavelengths at fixed values, a
three-tap tunable transversal filter is implemented, as shown in
the lower part of Fig. 20.
Other lower cost proposals for reconfigurable RF filters
based on multiwavelength lasers are based on multimode
Fabry–Pérot lasers [18]. In these structures, the bias injection
current to the laser is modified to change the emitted optical
spectra and, therefore, the optical taps. Although reconfigura-
tion has been demonstrated, it is limited to the spectral charac-
teristics to the modal distribution of the laser, and tunability
is only achieved when used tunable dispersive elements, as
described above.
2) Filters Based on Sliced Broadband Sources: The lit-
erature offers a large variety of microwave photonic filters
based on sliced broadband optical sources, showing very low
coherence time and low cost as their main advantages. In this
section, different slicing techniques required in these structures
to generate optical taps are reviewed focusing on the tunability
219
and reconfigurability properties of the filters. The incorporation
of FBGs to microwave photonic filters has provided enhanced
flexibility.
A simple discretely tunable notch filter was demonstrated
[19] using two Bragg gratings written in series in one of the
arms of a coupler. In such a structure, FBGs are used as tapping
elements and the delay between taps is fixed by the distance
between the gratings. In a further step [20], a multitap (29 taps)
transversal bandpass filter was demonstrated by spectrally slic-
ing a broadband source with wavelength-multiplexed Bragg
grating arrays equispaced in time (see Fig. 21), showing the
possibility of shaping the tap element profile to obtain win-
dowing for the design of the filter response. By apodizing the
reflectivity of the gratings in the array according to a Kaiser
window, the MSSR was lowered up to −18 dB. The accuracy
of the tap weighting and time delays guaranteed by current mass
production techniques contributes to high sidelobe suppression
and excellent reproducibility of the grating-based filter [21].
An example of a filtering application implemented by using
this approach is published in [22], where a tunable photonic
filter for noise suppression and channel interference mitigation
in the front-end stage of a UMTS base station prior to the highly
selective SAW filter has been developed. As shown in Fig. 22,
220
Fig. 23. Architecture of the tunable stretched UFBG-based RF filter [24]. (Inset) FSR tunability dependence on the optical wavelength spacing of the optical
carriers.
the slicing of the broadband optical source is performed by
an array of FBGs, which also introduces a fixed time delay
between the reflected slices of the signal. A 40-nm broadband
SLED centered at 1550 nm is RF modulated and tapped and
delayed by the N grating array. Finally, the spectral slices are
fed to a reconfigurable chain of dispersive switched sections
of standard fiber to vary the time delay between the slices.
By varying the configuration of the switches, the time delay
between the signals reflected from different gratings is changed,
and thus, tunability of the filter RF response is achieved.
The UMTS channel filtering application requires a high
Q factor (about 400) since the required 3-dB passband of the
filter should be less than 5 MHz and the operating frequency
of the filter lies within 1920–1980 MHz. Furthermore, UMTS
channel filtering also requires the tunability of the RF pass-
band within the 12 channels allocated along the 60-MHz band
(1920–1980 MHz). In order to achieve such a high Q factor, the
FSR of the filter is an integer fraction of the UMTS operating
frequency. The filter is tuned to the upper UMTS channel
at 1977 MHz (18th resonance or FSR), when the dispersive
module is “switched off,” the FSR of the filter has been set to
109 MHz, and the corresponding spacing between adjacent
gratings has been set to 930 mm. In order to meet the 3-dB
bandwidth and 40-dB rejection level required by the applica-
tion at the central RF frequency, 30 Gaussian apodized taps
were employed with a spectral spacing of 1 nm. The 5-MHz
tuning step between UMTS channels is achieved by sections of
1.35 km of standard fiber for the 17–19th resonances of the filter
response. The small MSSR is mainly due to the spacing errors
between the gratings and has been subsequently optimized to
over 20 dB.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
More sophisticated continuously tunable systems based on
FBGs have been recently presented [23], [24]. The tunable
approach was previously demonstrated to provide a simple
tunable notch filter where the broadband optical source was
sliced by means of only two FBGs, which can be tuned by
means of a strain application stage [23]. Fig. 23 shows a filter
consisting of a broadband optical source, i.e., a superelectro-
luminescent diode, SLED, and UFBGs as filtering elements
that will be stretched to tune the reflection bandwidth, initially
centered at λinit . Since the central optical frequency ωN of
different gratings must be equidistant [24], each grating must
be stretched over a different fiber length so that the total
device length is determined by the number of optical taps.
The device employs identical Bragg gratings whose initial
responses have been tuned by tension before gluing the gratings
on the mechanical stage. Provided one of the gratings is not
glued on the stage but the others are glued over different fiber
lengths, the filter tunability is demonstrated as a function of the
basic wavelength spacing between adjacent optical taps cor-
responding to reflected signals by the gratings when different
elongations are applied. The inset of Fig. 23 shows the FSR
tunability in the range of 1–6 GHz when three- and four-tap
filters are implemented by using a fiber length of 23 km as
the dispersive element. A similar configuration for a four-tap
filter where the gratings are written in a parallel configuration
to achieve large sidelobe suppression by weighting the taps was
also demonstrated.
Other solutions are based on the use of periodical spectral
slicing elements such as fiber Fabry–Pérot, sampled fiber grat-
ings, or arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) [25]–[29]. The first
one is based on the use of a transmissive low spectral period
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 24. (Left) RF photonic filter architecture using a broadband optical source sliced by an SFBG [26]. (Right) Response of the RF photonic filter implemented
from different spectral SFBG responses. (a) Asymmetric double sigmoidal. (b) Voigt function. (c) Lognormal function.
optical Fabry–Pérot filter to realize subnanometer-resolved
optical sampling [25].
Superstructured fiber Bragg gratings (SFBGs) have also
been proposed as slicing elements in these type of structures
[26], [27], as shown in Fig. 24, leading to high rejection level
(> 45 dB) and with the potential of a big variety of filter
transfer functions to be synthesized by designing the proper
spectral response of that of the SFBG, such as asymmetric
double sigmoidal, Voigt, or lognormal functions, as depicted
in the left part of Fig. 24.
AWG devices have also been employed to implement broad-
band source slicing with a high number of taps [28], [29].
In Fig. 25, a recently proposed scheme that combines source
slicing via AWG devices and signal tapping using an array
of spatial light modulators (SLMs) to implement a 40-tap re-
configurable microwave photonic filter is shown. This structure
has great potential because the spectrum slices can be indepen-
dently adjusted or switched ON or OFF by optical components
221
as electronically operated attenuators providing fast tunability
or reconfigurability. For instance, Fig. 26 shows different trans-
fer functions obtained when programming standard windowing
functions well known in the literature. These window functions
were dynamically loaded into the SLM array, thus demonstrat-
ing the possibility of adaptive filtering.
Another recently reported slicing technique employs a bulk
acoustooptic tunable filter (AOTF) to select certain wavelengths
from the broadband source to implement the transversal filter
taps with corresponding weights and separation determined by
the control signals applied to the AOTF [30]. A fiber imple-
mentation of this approach is shown in Fig. 27 [31], where a
fiber Bragg grating and a longitudinal acoustic wave perform
the slicing of the EDFA broadband source. The acoustic wave
generated by a piezoelectric transducer driven by an RF creates
a periodic strain perturbation that modulates periodically the
period and the refractive index of the FBG, which has been
written at the neck of a symmetric tapered fiber in order to
222 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Fig. 25. Forty-sample reconfigurable transversal filter using a two-stage 1 × 40 AWG configuration and a 40-SLM free space array [29].

Fig. 26. Filter response for different windowing functions [29].

CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 27. Transversal filter architecture based on a Bragg-grating-based acoustooptic superlattice modulator [30]. (Insets, a and b) Spectra of the optical signal
generated by 0.755- and 1.444-MHz frequency, respectively. (c) and (d) Corresponding filter response.
increase the efficiency of the acoustic interaction. The inset of
Fig. 27(a) and (b) shows the spectrally equispaced bands of
reflection on both sides of the original Bragg grating created
at 0.755 and 1.444 MHz, respectively, leading to filters with an
FSR of 6.25 and 11.5 GHz (see insets c and d in Fig. 27) and
an MSSR of up to 20 dB. The reconfigurability of the filter can
be obtained by applying different voltages to the piezoelectric
transducer since different degrees of apodization of the optical
tap intensities are achieved by controlling the acoustic power.
D. Single Resonance (Nonspectrally Periodic) Microwave
Photonic Filters
As it has been pointed out in Section III-A, the periodic
nature of the spectral response of microwave photonic filters
imposes a limitation over the bandwidth of the signals to be
processed. In many practical implementations, particularly in
those based on the use of optical fibers as delay elements,
the value of T can be considerable, yielding very low FSR
values, sometimes below the gigahertz or even the hundreds of
megahertz range. This is a serious drawback since the spectral
range where the filter can be employed is very limited.
To overcome the above drawback and obtain truly bandpass
transfer functions, Minasian has proposed to use incoherent
structures in cascade. The main idea is that by carefully choos-
ing two filter configurations, one (that we call filter 1) with
a low FSR and very selective resonances and a second with
223
broader resonances and higher FSR value, the overall filter
yields a transfer function given by HF1 (Ω)HF2 (Ω), which
features the resonance selectivity of the first filter and the broad
FSR value of the second. For instance, in [11], a filter composed
of the cascade of a very low FSR active amplified recirculating
delay line filter and a chain of Mach–Zehnder interferometers
(MZIs) was presented featuring Q factors of 801 and 938, re-
spectively. The former approach has two limitations. First of all,
both photonic filters must be carefully designed and stabilized
for perfect spectral alignment, and second and most important,
it is not clear that the transfer function of the cascade of two
incoherent filters is the product of the transfer functions of their
individual constituents. In fact, it can be demonstrated that this
is not the general case, the main reason being the nonlinear
relationships between the input and output RF currents and the
optical field that propagates through the optical filters.
A second alternative, recently proposed [32], is based on a
fiber MZI used as a sinusoidally continuous slicing stage of
the broadband spectrum emitted by the optical source used to
implement a tunable bandpass filter, showing a single bandpass
frequency response and large tunability, as shown in Fig. 28.
By using a 3-dB bandwidth of 5.4-nm optical source and
46-km fiber length as a dispersive element, the RF filter re-
sponse shows a bandpass characteristic centered at a given
frequency, which can be tuned varying the periodicity of the
interferometer Mach–Zehnder output spectrum. The lower part
of Fig. 28 shows how a periodic wavelength spacing in the
224
Fig. 28. (Top) Implementation of the RF single bandpass filter based on a broadband source and an MZI [32]. (Bottom) Tunability of the filter.
interferometer output of 0.237 and 0.173 nm leads to bandpass
filters at 7.9 and 12.2 GHz. A tuning range of several tens of
gigahertz has been achieved with an MSSR of over 20 dB and
a maximum Q factor of 40, although potential high Q values
can be obtained in this setup by choosing the appropriated
broadband source and compensating the degradation effect of
the dispersion slope.
Finally, a recent contribution proposes the implementation
of single bandpass microwave photonic filter based on the use
of tuned external modulators instead of broadband external
modulators at the filter input, for instance, incorporating a
discrete bandpass microwave filter preceding the EOM. There-
fore, a single resonance on the short RF spectral modulation
region of the tuned modulator will be shown by the filter
transfer function, but retaining the selectivity, tunability, and
reconfigurability properties of the filter [33].
E. Microwave Photonic Filters With Negative Coefficients
As discussed in Section III-A, incoherent structures that are
required to obtain a linear relationship between the input and
output RF signals can only implement filters with positive
coefficients. This severely limits the range of impulse responses
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006
or transfer functions that can be implemented. In this section,
we briefly review some of the most important proposals to
overcome this limitation.
The first technique, known as differential detection, was
proposed in [34] and was itself a particular case of an elegant
solution proposed in [35] to implement incoherent spatial filters
with complex coefficients. The impulse response of an arbitrary
filter can be decomposed into positive and negative taps con-
tribution. Each part can be implemented by a different section
with only positive coefficients, but the output of each section
is fed to a pair of photodiodes placed in a differential config-
uration. Thus, signal subtraction is achieved in the final opto-
electronic conversion. Although this approach was proposed in
the 1980s, the experimental demonstrations of its applicability
on an RF photonic filter were performed in the last decade
[36], [37]. Even though the differential detection technique
allows the implementation of any kind of negative coefficient
filter, extra components are required because of the required
structure duplication. Furthermore, filter reconfigurability is not
always easy to implement.
The hybrid optoelectronic alternative [38], [39] consists of
the electrical implementation of the taps, just after photodetec-
tion. Light from a directly modulated injection laser is split by
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
Fig. 29. Two-tap RF filter implementing a negative coefficient using the RF signal inversion in XGM–SOA-based wavelength conversion. (Inset) Spectrum of
the notch filter [40].
a coupler to implement the different signal samples, which are
differently delayed and converted in a photodetector. The mag-
nitude and sign of the tap coefficients are implemented from
the value and sign of the bias voltage to each photodetector
[39]. Monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) [38]
have also been proposed for sign and tap weighting with good
performance, although the filter bandwidth is limited to that of
MMICs, and the thermal noise of these filters is increased.
All-optical approaches for implementing negative coeffi-
cients are the preferred option since they overcome elec-
tronic bandwidth limitations and electrical noise distortions.
Coppinger et al. [40] made a first optical attempt by exploiting
the π phase shift obtained in XGM and XPM wavelength con-
version using SOAs in the modulating signal of the converted
carrier, as depicted in Fig. 29, corresponding to the implemen-
tation of a two-sample notch filter with negative coefficients. By
using this approach, the filter bandwidth is limited by the band-
width conversion of the SOA (which can be above 40 GHz),
reconfigurability and multitap filter implementation are difficult
to achieve, and polarization sensitivity of SOA devices must be
overcome. Negative tapping was also demonstrated by using
the carrier depletion effect in a DFB laser diode [41] in a
structure that also contained cascaded FBGs. Discrete and
continuous tuning was demonstrated with a linear FBG and
a UFBG.
Other optical techniques for the implementation of negative
coefficients have been recently published. Mora et al. [42]
proposed the use of tunable sources amplified by an EDFA
for implementing positive coefficients, whereas negative coef-
ficients are obtained by carving the transmission spectrum of a
broadband ASE source through UFBGs, as shown in Fig. 30.
This technique offers phase inversion (negative coefficients)
directly in the optical domain with no bandwidth limitation, and
filters can be easily reconfigured by tuning the sources and the
FBGs. A main drawback of this approach is a DC component
always present in the filter transfer function that arises from the
nonzero average optical ASE radiation level, but it can be easily
suppressed at photodetection with a blocking filter. The inset
225
Fig. 30. RF photonic filter with negative taps based on a broadband ASE
spectrum transmitted through UFBGs. (Inset) Filter response with the detail
of the optical taps employed in this implementation [42].
of Fig. 30 shows the results obtained for a five-tap transversal
filter with three positive and two negative taps.
Other techniques recently reported [43]–[45] rely in the
counter-phase modulation in Mach–Zehnder external modula-
tor devices by means of employing the linear part of the transfer
function with positive and negative slopes in the output versus
input optical power sinusoidal transfer function of an EOM.
As shown in the upper part of Fig. 31, two linear modula-
tion regions with opposite slopes can be observed centered
− +
at different bias voltages VBIAS and VBIAS , respectively. The
same RF modulation signal applied to the modulator at each
of the former bias points will produce an optical-modulated
output signal with the same average power but where the mod-
ulating signals are π shifted or have different signs (positive
and negative taps). Although, in principle, two modulators are
+ −
required in the transmitter, each one biased at VBIAS and VBIAS ,
to implement positive and negative taps, respectively, whose
outputs are combined and sent to a dispersive element that
implements the constant differential time delay between the
filter samples, in practice, the setup can be simplified to only
one modulator if this device is provided with two input ports
226 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Fig. 31. RF signal inversion in a dual-input EOM for the implementation of negative coefficients [43]. (Inset) RF signal inversion principle in the EOM response.

Fig. 32. Transfer function of an eight-coefficient filter with four negative coefficients and flat-top resonance shape: Theoretical (solid line) and experimental
(dotted line) results.

[44], or a WDM architecture can be implemented by using the
modulator transfer function dependence with wavelength [45].
Fig. 32 shows the transfer function of an eight-coefficient
filter with four negative coefficients and flat-top resonance
shape. Theoretical results in solid line and experimental results
in dotted line are shown for reference and comparison. As
expected, the filter resonance at baseband (typical of positive
coefficient filters) has been eliminated, thus confirming the
feasibility of the proposed scheme for the implementation of
negative coefficients. With this technique, phase inversion in
the modulation process is limited by the modulator bandwidth,
which can be high enough so as to reach 40 GHz.
Finally, a new all-optical technique based on a dual-output
EOM connected to undergo double-pass modulation has been
used to obtain a frequency response equivalent to a two-tap
negative notch filter [46] under two different topologies. The
first one connects the two outputs via an isolator, and the second
one uses a reverse connection of the EOM together with a
CAPMANY et al.: TUTORIAL ON MICROWAVE PHOTONIC FILTERS
grating reflector, which can be integrated on a planar circuit and
extended to tunable filters when a chirped grating is employed.
V. S UMMARY AND C ONCLUSION
We have provided a tutorial introduction to the subject of
microwave photonic filters to the reader not working directly
in the field but interested in getting an overall introduction
of the subject and also to the researcher wishing to get a
comprehensive background before working on the subject.
The tutorial has covered both basic theoretical principles and
practical limitations and has also reviewed some of the principal
achievements in the area of filter implementations.
Microwave photonic filters are photonic subsystems de-
signed with the aim of carrying equivalent tasks to those of an
ordinary microwave filter within an RF system or link, bringing
supplementary advantages inherent to photonics such as low
loss, high bandwidth, immunity to EMI, tunability, and recon-
figurability. There is an increasing interest in this subject since,
on one hand, emerging broadband wireless access networks and
standards spanning from UMTS to fixed access picocellular
networks and including WLAN, WIMAX, LMDS, etc., require
an increase in the capacity by reducing the coverage area. An
enabling technology to obtain this objective is based on RoF
systems, where signal processing is carried at a central office
to where signals are carried from inexpensive RAUs. On the
other hand, microwave photonic filters can find applications in
specialized fields such as radar and photonic beamsteering of
phased arrayed antennas, where dynamic reconfiguration is an
added value.
Despite the intense research activity carried during the last
decades, there is still a considerable room for improvement.
Some highlights of the main current technological challenges
are as follows.
1) Developing methods and techniques to obtain stable fil-
ters with high Q values. This requires a) investigation in
novel techniques for increasing the number of optical taps
in FIR structures possibly by combining guided wave and
free space architectures; b) developing techniques for tap
value control in IIR structures, and c) investigating novel
structures composed by a cascade of incoherent filters.
2) Developing more compact techniques to obtain negative
and complex coefficient filters. This requires a) research
on novel MZM and electroabsorption modulator struc-
tures and b) extending the SOA-based XGM technique
to multiple taps.
3) Refining the techniques leading to filter tunability. Mainly
by a) developing flexible microwave FSR control by op-
tical means, b) achieving stronger delays in small lengths
(i.e., using photonic crystal fibers), and c) developing
techniques for a tighter bounding of the tolerances in
delays and filter coefficients.
4) Overcoming the effects of coherence in filters with small
values of T with a view of circuit integration.
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José Capmany (S’88–M’91–SM’96) was born in
Madrid, Spain, on December 15, 1962. He received
the telecommunications engineering and Ph.D. de-
grees from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid,
in 1987 and 1991, respectively.
From 1988 to 1991, he worked as a Research
Assistant with the Departamento de Tecnología
Fotónica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In
1991, he moved to the Departamento de Comuni-
caciones, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Va-
lencia, Spain, where he initiated activities related to
optical communications and photonics, founding the Optical Communications
Group (www.gco.upv.es). He was an Associate Professor from 1992 to 1996
and has been Full Professor in optical communications, systems, and networks
since 1996. At the same time, he was Telecommunications Engineering Faculty
Vice-Dean from 1991 to 1996 and has been deputy head of the Communications
Department since 1996. In 2002, he was appointed as the Director of the In-
stitute of Informatics, Multimedia, Communications and Computers (IMCO2)
of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, which now has more than 100
researchers focusing on research in information technologies and applications.
His research activities and interests cover a wide range of subjects related
to optical communications, including optical signal processing; microwave
photonics; fiber radio systems; fiber resonators; fiber gratings; radio frequency
(RF) filters; subcarrier-multiplexing (SCM), wavelength-division-multiplexing
(WDM), and CDMA transmission; wavelength conversion; optical bistability;
and quantum information processing using photonics and slow wave devices.
He has published more than 220 papers in international refereed journals and
conferences, five textbooks on optical communications, and three chapters in
international research books.
Dr. Capmany is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA). He has
been a reviewer for 25 international scientific journals in the field of optics,
photonics, and optical communications. He also is or has been a member of
the editorial board of Fiber and Integrated Optics, Microwave and Optical
Technology Letters, Optical Fiber Technology, and the International Journal of
Optoelectronics. He has been leader of more than 20 national or international
research projects, and he is currently the leader of the European Union-funded
IST project LABELS, dealing with the implementation of optical internetworks
based on subcarrier multiplexed label swapping. He is or has been a member
of the Technical Programme Committees of the European Conference on
Optical Communications (ECOC), the Optical Fiber Conference (OFC), the
Integrated Optics and Optical Communications Conference (IOOC), CLEO
Europe, and the Optoelectronics and Communications Conference (OECC).
He has also conducted activities related to professional bodies and is the
Founder and current Chairman of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society
(LEOS) Spanish Chapter and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA)
and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). He was the recipient of the
extraordinary doctorate prize of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1992
and has been a Guest Editor for the IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED TOPICS IN
QUANTUM ELECTRONICS.
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229
Beatriz Ortega (M’03) was born in Valencia, Spain,
in 1972. She received the M.Sc. degree in physics
from the Universidad de Valencia, in 1995 and
the Ph.D. degree in telecommunications engineering
from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, in
1999.
She joined the Departamento de Comunicaciones,
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, in 1996, where
she was working with the Optical Communications
Group. Her research was mainly done in the field
of fiber gratings. From 1997 to 1998, she was with
the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, U.K., where
she was involved in several projects developing new add-drop filters or twin-
core fiber-based filters. She has published more than 60 papers and conference
contributions in fiber Bragg gratings, microwave photonics, and fiber filters.
Currently, she is an Associate Lecturer with the Telecommunications Engineer-
ing Faculty, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Her main interests include
fiber gratings applications, optical delay lines, and optical networks.
Daniel Pastor (S’95–A’97) was born in Elda, Spain,
on November 5, 1969. He received the Ingeniero de
Telecomunicacion and the Doctor Ingeniero de Tele-
comunicacion (Ph.D.) degrees from the Universidad
Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia, Spain, in
1993 and 1996, respectively.
He joined the Departamento de Comunicaciones,
UPV, in 1993, where he was with the Optical Com-
munications Group. From 1994 to 1998, he was a
Lecturer with the Telecommunications Engineering
Faculty and became an Associate Professor in 1999.
He has coauthored more than 120 papers in journals and international con-
ferences in the fields of optical delay line filters, fiber Bragg gratings, mi-
crowave photonics, wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM), and subcarrier
multiplexing (SCM) ligthwave systems. In his teaching activities, he has also
published three textbooks and interactive CD-ROMs for the Optical Communi-
cation and Laboratory of Optical Communications subjects at the Telecommu-
nications Faculty, UPV. He has been a leader of two national projects related to
metro and access optical networks and optical-code-division multiple-access
(OCDMA), respectively, and he has also been leader of particular work
packages in such European Union projects as Ligthwave Architectures for
the processing of Broadband Electronics Signals (LABELS) and Glass-based
modulators, Routers and Switches (GLAMOROUS). His current technical
interests include microwave photonics, complex fiber Bragg grating fabrication
for optical signal processing applications, WDM–SCM networks, RoF systems,
and OCDMA techniques.