Optomechanical Crystal Cavities for Mechanically-Enabled All-Optical Upconversion of 3GPP 5G NR Signals

Phonon lasing is attained by driving optomechanical crystal cavities (OMCCs) with blue-detuned lasers, producing narrow and stable microwave tones at integer multiples of the mechanical frequency. We evaluate all-optical frequency upconversion employing an OM frequency comb generated with a silicon OMCC targeting the generation of 3GPP 5G new-radio signals. The performance of the upconverted 5G signal from the low-band to higher frequency bands employing the first two harmonics and their phase noises are evaluated. The proposed OMCC technology is a compact and power-efficient solution for all-photonic processing of microwave signals, a crucial aspect in 5G NR and future beyond-5G systems.