Various examples are provided for jamming avoidance response (JAR), and photonic implementations thereof. In one example, a method includes generating optical pulses that correspond to raising envelope of a beat signal associated with an interference signal and a reference signal; generating optical spikes that correspond to positive zero crossing points of the reference signal; and providing a phase output that indicates whether the beat signal is leading or lagging the reference signal, the phase output based at least in part upon the optical spikes. An adjustment to a reference frequency can be determined based at least in part upon the optical pulses and the phase output. In another example, a JAR system includes photonic circuitry to generate the optical pulses; photonic circuitry to generate the optical spikes; and photonic circuitry to provide the phase output. A logic unit can determine the adjustment to the reference frequency.