Programmable Fiber-Optics Microwave Photonic Filter based on Temporal Talbot Effects

We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable microwave photonic filter based on temporal Talbot effects. An optical pulse source is employed to sample the microwave signal through intensity modulation. The sampled signal is then propagated through the Talbot-based microwave photonic filter, involving temporal phase modulation and chromatic dispersion. The microwave photonic filter exhibits a periodic transfer function whose passband frequency and frequency periodicity (free spectral range) can be programmed electrically by adjusting the phase-modulation profile, e.g., using an arbitrary waveform generator, without the need for manual adjustment of the optical components and with the potential for fast tuning of the filter's response. The bandwidth of the filter passband can also be easily customized by adjusting the sampling pulse width using an optical bandpass filter.