Patent ID: 8249460

Claim:
An apparatus for generating an RF signal, comprising: a driver configured to generate a timing control for a first optical signal and a second optical signal; a first optical pulse source configured to generate the first optical signal having a first plurality of optical pulses and a second optical pulse source configured to generate the second optical signal having a second plurality of optical pulses, the first and second optical signals being based on the timing control; and a photodetector configured to receive the first and second optical signals as input and further configured to generate the RF signal based on the first and second optical signals, wherein at least one of the first and second optical pulse sources comprises a plurality of laser sources, and each of the plurality of laser sources generates one of the first and second optical signals, and wherein the photodetector generates positive RF values for the RF signal based on the received first plurality of optical pulses from the first optical signal and negative RF values for the RF signal based on the received second plurality of optical pulses from the second optical signal.