Abstract

The electro-optic (E-O) sampling technique has potential applications in microwave measurement including the MMIC characterizations[1,2]. However, in the particular method to measure the wave form at microwave frequency by the E-O sampling used in ref. [2], there is a requirement for stable synchronization between the microwave source and the laser pulses. Even in the case of amplitude measurement alone (excluding phase), the signal to noise ratio is proportional to the frequency stability of the microwave source. In order to achieve high sensitivity measurement, the synchronization is essential. One approach to meet this requirement is to use a sophisticated frequency synthesizer as the microwave source and synchronize the laser acoustic-optic (A-O) modulator driver ( another frequency synthesizer ) with it [2]. This type of system is very complex and expensive, specially when applied to the millimeter wave frequency range requiring multiple signal sources.

© 1990 Optical Society of America