Performance evaluation of an optoelectronic oscillator

Phase noise measurements of an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) at frequenci es less than 10 Hz from the carrier (10.6 GHz) as well as the measured Alla n variance are presented for the first time. The system has a measured sing le-side-band (SSB) phase-noise of -123 dB/Ha at 10 kHz from the carrier and a sigma(y)(tau) = 10(-10) for an integration time between 1 and 10 seconds . The importance of amplifier phase-noise and environmental fluctuations in determining the noise of the oscillator at these low Fourier frequencies i s verified experimentally and analyzed using a generalized model of noise s ources in the OEOs. This analysis then allows prediction of the oscillator performance from measured parameters of individual components in the system .