Recent developments in lightwave network analysis

The widespread use of photonic systems having microwave modulation bandwidt hs, coupled with the inclusion of photonic components in microwave and mill imetre-wave systems, is creating a demand for efficient characterisation te chniques. In particular, new tools will be required for the measurement of fundamental quantities such as the microwave frequency response, bandwidth, gain and return loss of microwave photonic components. However, existing l ightwave measurement techniques are primitive when compared with convention al RF and microwave network analysis. This paper provides a review of the t heory and techniques used for the small-signal characterisation of microwav e photonic components. State-of-the-art architectures for lightwave network analysers and the corresponding two-port calibration techniques are descri bed.