Universal Silicon Microwave Photonic Spectral Shaper

Optical modulation plays arguably the utmost important role in microwave photonic (MWP) systems. Precise synthesis of modulated optical spectra dictates virtually all aspects of MWP system quality including loss, noise figure, linearity, and the types of functionality that can be executed. But for such a critical function, the versatility to generate and transform analog optical modulation is severely lacking, blocking the pathways to truly unique MWP functions including ultra-linear links and low-loss high rejection filters. Here we demonstrate versatile RF photonic spectrum synthesis in an all-integrated silicon photonic circuit, enabling electrically-tailorable universal analog modulation transformation. We show a series of unprecedented RF filtering experiments through monolithic integration of the spectrum-synthesis circuit with a network of reconfigurable ring resonators.