Slow light fiber systems in microwave photonics

Slow light systems are particularly attractive for analog signal processing, since their inherent limitation to a delay-bandwidth product of 1 is less critical for analog systems such as those used in microwave photonics. We present here the implementation of two basic functions - phase shifting and true time delaying - fully optically controlled using stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. The combination of these two functions makes possible the implementation of true time delays without limitation on the microwave carrier frequency using the separate carrier tuning technique. This is illustrated by the implementation of the delaying system for the realization of a microwave tunable notch filter.