Optical single-sideband suppressed-carrier modulator for wide-band signal processing

We develop and demonstrate a technique for implementing a wide-band optical single-sideband suppressed-carrier modulator. The technique relies on a dual-electrode traveling wave modulator for sideband suppression and a Sagnac fiber-loop interferometer for carrier suppression, The implementation uses all commercially available components and demonstrates >40 dB optical carrier suppression, and as much as 60 dB unwanted signal sideband rejection across a 6-20 GHz microwave frequency range. The modulator is used to demonstrate broad-band spectral shifting and inversion across the 3-18 GHz frequency range.