Photonic microwave stabilization for period-one nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor lasers using optical modulation sideband injection locking

Photonic microwave generation using period-one nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor lasers suffers from poor spectral purity. A stabilization approach based on optical modulation sideband injection locking is investigated. An optical signal carrying a highly correlated modulation sideband comb simultaneously injection-locks the regeneration of the optical carrier and the lower oscillation sideband in the dynamics, establishing a phase-locking between the two spectral components. A linewidth of below 1 Hz is therefore achieved for microwave generation up to at least 40 GHz. Because of the frequency multiplication in yielding the comb-like optical signal, only an electronic microwave reference at the tenth subharmonic or higher of the generated microwave frequency is required.