Ultralow-jitter and -amplitude-noise semiconductor-based actively mode-locked laser

We report a semiconductor-based, low-noise, 10.24 GHz actively mode-locked laser with 4.65 fs of relative timing jitter and a 0.0365% amplitude fluctuation (1 Hz to 100 MHz) of the optical pulse train. The keys to obtaining this result were the laser's high optical power and the low phase noise of the rf source used to mode lock the laser. The low phase noise of the rf source not only improves the absolute and relative timing jitter of the laser, but also prevents coupling of the rf source phase noise to the pulse amplitude fluctuations by the mode-locked laser.     

Phase-coherent light pulses for atom optics and interferometry

We have developed a novel source for the generation of powerful phase-coherent light pulses. Our setup uses an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) inside an external high-finesse resonator. By applying a short rf pulse to the AOM, we dump the cavity and extract a large part of the stored and enhanced power within a short optical pulse and with a controllable optical phase. In preliminary experiments we reached 100 W of peak power in a 15-ns optical pulse. The mutual phase coherence of successive light pulses is demonstrated with a molecular iodine interferometer experiment in a cell.     

A simple method for timing an XFEL source to high-power lasers

We propose a technique for timing an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) to a high-power conventional laser with femtosecond accuracy, yielding the relative jitter between pump and X-ray probe, and allowing sorting of experimental results over a certain time window. The same electron bunch is used to produce both an XFEL pulse and an ultrashort optical pulse by means of an optical radiator downstream of the X-ray undulator. Being produced by the same electron bunch, these pulses are perfectly synchronized. Cross-correlation techniques will allow to determine relative jitter between the optical pulse (and, thus, the XFEL pulse) and a pulse from an external pump-laser. Technical realization of the proposed timing scheme uses an optical-replica synthesizer setup to be installed after the final bunch-compression stage of the XFEL for electron bunch diagnostics purposes. A number of critical issues are quantitatively analyzed.     

重复频率可调谐的超低抖动光窄脉冲源的研究

提出了一种新型的基于光电振荡器的重复频率可调谐的超低抖动光窄脉冲源. 光电振荡器系统可以产生超低相位噪声的微波信号; 被该信号调制的直调光经过两次相位调制之后, 使光脉冲的啁啾增强; 再通过一段色散补偿光纤, 光脉冲被进一步压窄. 实验中使用YIG可调滤波器, 可以得到8–12 GHz内步进为200 MHz的可调谐微波信号, 因此光脉冲的重复频率具有可调谐性. 当微波信号即脉冲重复频率为9.6 GHz时, 测得脉冲宽度为3.7 ps, 相位噪声为-130.1 dBc/Hz@10 kHz. 由此得出光脉冲的瞬时抖动为60.1 fs (100 Hz–1 MHz), 因此该方案产生的光窄脉冲源具有超低的抖动.     

Investigations on order and width of RZ super Gaussian pulse in pre-, post- and symmetrical-dispersion compensated 10 Gb/s optical communication system using standard and dispersion compensating fibers

We show the effect of varied order and width of super Gaussian pulse at 10 Gb/s in dispersion compensated optical communication system. The optical communication system consists of standard single-mode fiber of 16 ps/nm/km of a certain length, whose dispersion is compensated using pre-, post- and symmetrical-dispersion compensation schemes with proportionate length dispersion compensating fiber of −80 ps/nm/km. Performance of these three compensation schemes is compared at 14 dBm values of Er-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) power at 1st, 2nd and 3rd order RZ super Gaussian optical pulse. The pulse width, full width at half maximum (FWHM) is also varied from 5 to 30 ps to highlight the optimum performance. The graphical results obtained show a relationship among the attributes pulse width, order of RZ super Gaussian optical pulse and dispersion compensation scheme implemented. It shows that to decrease BER and timing jitter in the system, smaller width and 3rd order super Gaussian pulse should be used. It is recommended that to decrease dependency of BER and timing jitter in the communication system on the pulse width i.e. FWHM, the symmetrical compensation scheme should be implemented.     

Photonically enabled agile rf waveform generation by optical comb shifting

We present a photonically enabled rf arbitrary waveform generator that can rapidly switch between two output waveforms. This method is based on line-by-line shaping of an optical comb and then converting the optical pulses to rf waveforms with a fast photodetector. It uses a single diode laser as the optical source and selects different patterns preprogrammed into an optical pulse shaper by shifting the laser frequency. We demonstrate minimum update delay times of 0.45 ns.     

激光溅射法在射频离子阱中产生和囚禁低能多电荷离子

Timing jitter performance in binary optical preamplifier direct detection system is investigated through both the analytical method and computer simulation method. The presented analytical method is based on the moment generating function (MGF) and has taken into account the influence of optical filter on the optical pulse shape. It can be used to optimize the timing jitter performance for linear clock extraction scheme for any type of optical filter and narrow bandpass electrical filter. The presented computer simulation method is capable of dealing with any nonlinear clock extraction scheme and also the impact of laser phase noise on timing jitter performance.     

Jitter Characterization in Optical Preamplifier Direct Detection System

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Semiconductor mode-locked lasers as pulse sources for high bit rate data transmission

Semiconductor mode-locked lasers are evaluated as pulse sources for high bit rate data transmission. This chapter describes the requirements of OTDM sources for high bit rate data transmission, compares various OTDM source technologies, describes three semiconductor mode-locked laser cavity designs, explains the impact of timing jitter and amplitude noise on OTDM performance, illustrates how to characterize noise of OTDM sources using rf and optical techniques, shows how to interpret the noise measurements, and finally discusses semiconductor mode-locked laser cavity optimizations that can achieve low noise performance.     

Regenerative mode locking via superposition of higher-order cavity modes in composite cavity fiber lasers

We demonstrate a new method of optical pulse generation in regeneratively mode-locked fiber ring lasers (RML-FRLs). The method is based on generating dominant longitudinal modes in the fiber ring cavity by means of a composite cavity structure and their intermode beating at the photodetector incorporated in the regenerative feedback loop. The beat signal is then used as a modulation signal to generate optical pulses in a regenerative mode-locking scheme, thereby eliminating the requirement for a high-Q rf bandpass filter in a conventional RML-FRL. Optical pulses with a repetition frequency of 3.6 GHz have been generated successfully with a supermode noise suppression of more than 48 dB and a low phase noise of -85 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier frequency.     

Ultralow-jitter passive timing stabilization of a mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser by injection of an optical pulse train

The pulse timing of a mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser was stabilized to a reference pulse train from a Cr:forsterite mode-locked laser by all-optical passive synchronization scheme. The reference pulses were injected into a ring cavity of the fiber laser by using a 1.3-1.5 mum wavelength-division multiplexer. The spectral shift induced by cross-phase modulation between copropagating two-color pulses realizes self-synchronization due to intracavity group-delay dispersion. The rms integration of timing jitter between the fiber laser pulse and the reference pulse was 3.7 fs in a Fourier frequency range from 1 Hz to 100 kHz.     

Sub-100-as timing jitter optical pulse trains from mode-locked Er-fiber lasers

We demonstrate sub-100-as timing jitter optical pulse trains generated from free-running, 77.6 MHz repetition-rate, mode-locked Er-fiber lasers. At -0.002(±0.001) ps2 net cavity dispersion, the rms timing jitter is 70 as (224 as) integrated from 10 kHz (1 kHz) to 38.8 MHz offset frequency, when measured by a 24 as resolution balanced optical cross correlator. To our knowledge, this result corresponds to the lowest rms timing jitter measured from any mode-locked fiber lasers so far. The measured result also agrees fairly well with the Namiki-Haus analytic model of quantum-limited timing jitter in stretched-pulse fiber lasers.     

Solid state coherent transient measurements using hard optical pulses

An isolated and spectrally narrow absorptive feature is prepared via a novel spectral hole burning process in an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition in Eu(3+):Y(2)SiO5. With the narrow feature it is shown that it is feasible to apply complex optical pulse sequences analogous to rf pulse sequences used extensively in NMR.     

Pulse timing-jitter reduction by incoherent addition

A new technique is proposed and demonstrated for reducing the timing jitter of a mode-locked laser diode by use of fiber-optic interferometers with an optical path difference much longer than the laser's coherence length. At the output of the interferometer the intensities of the two pulse trains are incoherently added, giving rise to the cancellation of timing noise at specific Fourier frequencies determined by the path difference. The timing jitter of pulse trains emitted by a 19.444-GHz mode-locked laser is reduced to 0.991 and 0.874 ps for 100-kHz-18-MHz bandwidth after the pulse trains pass through a cascaded Mach-Zehnder and a ring interferometer, respectively.     

Optoelectronic delay-time controller for laser pulses

A dc-voltage-controlled optoelectronic delay line for continuous tuning of the relative delay time of an optical pulse train generated from a gain-switched laser diode is demonstrated. A maximum tunable range delay time of 3.9 ns ( approximately 2 periods) for optical pulses at a 500-MHz repetition rate is reported, which corresponds to a phase shift of as much as 4pi. The tuning responsivity and resolution of the current apparatus are 0.54 ps/mV and <0.2 ps, respectively. The measured timing fluctuation and long-term drift at any delay time are 0.13 ps and 20 fs/min, respectively. This scheme further permits the simultaneous phase tracking of the laser pulse train to unknown signals generated from the device under test.     

40 Gb/s信号全光3R再生实验

提出一种新型40 Gb/s全光3R再生器方案。采用高精细度法布里-珀罗滤波器进行时钟提取。时钟提取前,通过高稳定光源对输入信号光波长变换实现信号光波长和法布里-珀罗滤波器梳状窗口对准;时钟提取后,接半导体光放大器(SOA)进一步消除时钟信号噪声。全光判决中,采用双半导体光放大器串联增大非线性性能,提高了判决门的响应速度。判决输出接窄带滤波器去除脉冲啁啾拖尾,减小码型效应。实验中,恶化40 Gb/s光脉冲信号通过全光3R再生器可以得到再生脉冲。输入恶化信号时间抖动大于5 ps,脉冲宽度大于16 ps,再生得到的信号时间抖动小于1.5 ps。再生信号相对于输入信噪比改善14 dB。连续稳定工作记录大于15 h。通过实验验证,这种全光3R再生器方案成功地实现了40 Gb/s信号的再生。     

Generation and stabilization of ultrafast optical pulse trains with monolithic mode-locked laser diodes

In this paper, we report on the generation and the stabilization of ultrafast optical pulse trains exceeding 100 GHz from monolithic mode-locked laser diodes (MLLDs) combined with some new techniques such as subharmonic synchronous mode-locking (SSML) and repetition-frequency multiplication (RFM) method. Key subjects to increase the pulse repetition frequencies of the MLLDs such as fast absorption recovery and harmonic mode-locking operation are discussed. 500 GHz optical pulse generation from a short-cavity, graded-index separated confinement heterostructure MLLD and THz-rate pulse generation by harmonic mode-locking are reported. We also demonstrate the stabilization of a 160 GHz MLLD by the SSML with subharmonic-frequency optical pulse injection and reveal that the SSML is very promising as a stabilization technique of the ultrafast MLLD beyond the limitations by the electronic device speed. A method to accurately measure the timing jitter of such ultrafast optical pulse train, all-optical down converting using a nonlinear optical device, is also presented. We also mention another choice for ultrafast optical pulse generation using the MLLD combined with a dispersive medium such as an optical fiber. We demonstrate here the generations of stable 84–256 GHz optical pulse trains by the RFM method of the MLLD stabilized by the SSML.     

Rapid ultrafine-tunable optical delay line at the 1.55-mum wavelength

A fast, ultrafine-tunable delay line at 1550 nm is demonstrated by use of acousto-optic pulse shaping. Delays of up to 30 ps can be achieved without any optical readjustment. The delay is linear to the rf center frequency applied to the acousto-optic modulator and is fully electronic. It takes only 3micros to switch between different time slots, irrespective of the time separation in the tuning range of 30 ps; for a smaller tuning range the tuning speed can be faster. The tuning resolution and range depend on the choice of system parameters. The pulse energy can be regulated by rf power.     

Timing-jitter measurement of 78-GHz optical time-division multiplexed pulses by optoelectronic harmonic mixing

The timing jitter of 78-GHz optical time-division multiplexed pulses has been evaluated over nine decades of Fourier frequency by the time-domain demodulation technique. For downconverting the 78-GHz pulse intensity into a low-frequency i.f. signal, an optoelectronic harmonic mixing scheme with a Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator was employed. The rms timing jitter has been estimated to be 3.74 ps for 2.5 mHz-18 MHz bandwidth.     

Broadband dipolar recoupling in rotating solids: a numerical comparison of some pulse schemes

A numerical comparison of the dipolar recoupling performance of several previously published homonuclear recoupling schemes under magic angle-spinning conditions is presented. Emphasis is put on the recoupled polarization transfer in a two-spin system where the efficiency is studied as a function of resonance offsets in the presence and absence of chemical-shielding anisotropies. In addition, the effect of the rf field strength is investigated. Powder pattern line shapes are shown in the on-resonance case that reveal the distribution of dipolar couplings for each recoupling scheme. These results are compared to data computed with a purposely misset rf field strength to estimate the pulse scheme sensitivity to rf-inhomogeneity and experimental missettings.