  We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a coherent microwave
photonic receiver operating at 35 GHz carrier frequency. The device is based on
a lithium niobate or lithium tantalate optical whispering gallery mode
resonator coupled to a microwave strip line resonator. Microwave local
oscillator is fed into the microwave resonator along with the microwave signal.
We show that the sensitivity of this receiver significantly exceeds the
sensitivity of the incoherent quadratic receiver based on the same technology.
The coherent receiver can possess a dynamic range in excess of 100 dB in 5 MHz
band if a low noise laser is utilized.
