Signal interference RF photonic bandstop filter

In the microwave domain, signal interference bandstop filters with high extinction and wide stopbands are achieved through destructive interference of two signals. Implementation of this filtering concept using RF photonics will lead to unique filters with high performance, enhanced tuning range and reconfigurability. Here we demonstrate an RF photonic signal interference filter, achieved through the combination of precise synthesis of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) loss with advanced phase and amplitude tailoring of RF modulation sidebands. We achieve a square-shaped, 20-dB extinction RF photonic filter over a tunable bandwidth of up to 1 GHz with a central frequency tuning range of 16 GHz using a low SBS loss of ~3 dB. Wideband destructive interference in this novel filter leads to the decoupling of the filter suppression from its bandwidth and shape factor. This allows the creation of a filter with all-optimized qualities.