Abstract:In this paper, an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) with a voltage-controlled phase shifter-based phase-locked loop (VCP-PLL) has been designed, analyzed and experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that the free-running OEO produces a frequency drift of 36 kHz within 60 minutes, whereas that of the designed VCP-PLL OEO is within 400 Hz. At frequency offsets of 1 kHz, and 10 kHz, the phase noise of the free-running and VCP-PLL OEOs are -76.1 dBc/Hz and -79.5 dBc/Hz, -98.4 dBc/Hz and -100.5 dBc/Hz, respectively. Additionally, in com-parison with the OEO with a piezoelectric ceramic transducer-based PLL (PZT-PLL), the frequency of the VCP-PLL OEO can be stable for a longer time. However, both the VCP-PLL and PZT-PLL OEOs have lower phase noise compared to the free-running OEO, while the VCP-PLL OEO exhibiting the lowest phase noise at low frequency offsets.