Patent ID: 8452139

Claim:
A method for operating a radio frequency (RF) photonic receiver that has an optical resonator formed of an electro-optic material and shaped to support at least one high quality factor optical mode having a narrow bandwidth, and at least one low quality factor optical mode with a broader bandwidth than the narrow bandwidth of the high quality factor optical mode, comprising: coupling external laser light into the optical resonator in the high quality factor optical mode into the narrow bandwidth to optically energize the optical resonator; applying a spatially inhomogeneous RF field to the electro-optical material in a region of the optical resonator where the high quality factor and low quality factor optical modes are localized to cause optical coupling that transfers optical energy from the high quality factor optical mode to the low quality factor optical mode; applying an RF signal modulation in the RF field to cause an electro-optic modulation of the light in the low quality factor optical whispering gallery mode to produce modulated light in the low quality factor optical mode that carries the RF signal modulation in the broader bandwidth than the narrow bandwidth of the high quality factor optical mode; and effectuating an increase in the bandwidth of the RF photonic receiver beyond what is permitted by the narrow bandwidth of the high quality factor optical mode of the optical resonator by converting the modulated light in the low quality factor optical mode into an RF output signal that carries RF signal modulation.