Multitap microwave photonic filters with programmable phase response via optical frequency comb shaping

We present a programmable multitap microwave photonic filter with an arbitrary phase response operating over a broad bandwidth. Complex coefficient taps are achieved by optical line-by-line pulse shaping on a 10 GHz flat optical frequency comb using a novel interferometric scheme. Through high-speed real-time measurements, we demonstrate programmable chirp control of a waveform via phase filtering. This achievement enables us to compress broadband microwave signals to their corresponding bandwidth-limited pulse duration