Millimeter-wave pulse generation based on pulse reshaping using superstructure fiber Bragg grating

A novel optical approach is proposed to generate millimeter wave (MMW) pulse signal based on the pulse reshaping of superstructure fiber Bragg grating (SSFBG). In our scheme, one input pico-second Gaussian pulse is transformed into n Gaussian pulses by the SSFBG reshaping firstly, and then the pulse train is replicated to form a required frequency modulation MMW optical pulse envelope by the linear chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG) or other highly dispersive element. The high-speed photodetector (PD) and band-pass filter can transform the MMW optical pulse into an MMW pulse signal ultimately. Depending on this scheme, MMW signals with frequency up to 10 GHz can be easily generated by the completed fiber components.     

Multiple-element photonic microwave true-time-delay beamforming incorporating a tunable chirped fiber Bragg grating with symmetrical bending technique

We experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme for a multiple-element photonic microwave true-time-delay device with high tunability based on a tunable chirped fiber Bragg grating without center wavelength shift. We achieve the different true time delay by controlling the grating period of a chirped fiber Bragg grating based on the symmetrical bending technique as a multiwavelength signal source is applied to carry microwave signals. The proposed method does not require the complex structure of systems, wavelength tuning, and synchronization of optical devices such as tunable bandpass filters and optical input signals. We achieve the tunabilty of the time delay for a microwave signal carried over an optical signal in a range from 1 to 230 ps.     

啁啾脉冲堆积用于光脉冲整形

报道了一种利用100 ps啁啾脉冲堆积产生2．2 ns任意整形脉冲的脉冲整形系统。采用掺Yb~(3 )光纤锁模振荡器得到稳定的锁模光脉冲序列,将该锁模脉冲通过啁啾光纤光栅展宽并通过1 nm带宽的高斯形光谱滤波器滤波,得到标准的100 ps高斯形啁啾脉冲序列,将此脉冲选单经过光纤延迟线组成的32路脉冲堆积器,得到了精度为32 bit的重复频率为1 Hz的2．2 ns任意整形光脉冲。研究了堆积脉冲的特性,分析了宽带啁啾堆积整形脉冲的光谱时间扫描特性对激光驱动惯性约束聚变打靶束匀滑的优化作用。实验测得了该系统输出的2．2 ns整形光脉冲具有小于50 ps的上升沿,与100 ps啁啾脉冲的时间抖动小于4 ps。     

Strained Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings Based all-fiber Variable Optical Delay Line for Optical Coherence Tomography

We present the novel all-fiber optical delay line that can be realized by exploiting the fundamental distributive reflection characteristics of a chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBG). With the assist of a strained CFBG and a designed fiber stretcher, the proposed delay line could perform the function (such as attainment of variable large enough optical delay without dispersion mismatch) of the conventional optical delay line within the optical fiber. While the strained CFBG produced 3.1 mm optical delay, the pair of CFBGs in the opposite direction can manage dispersion imbalance of the delay line. The use of the PZT-based fiber stretcher can enable depth scanning at a high repetition rate for real-time imaging. The performance of the delay element is demonstrated with measured experimental results. OCT system embedded with the all-fiber variable optical delay line showed the axial resolution of 100 μm and the dynamic range of 50 dB. The implemented system was used for the imaging of a biomedical sample, which proves the utility of the proposed delay element as a promising alternative of optical delay line.     

Switchable down-, up- and dual-chirped microwave waveform generation with improved time-bandwidth product based on polarization modulation and phase encoding

A switchable down-, up- and dual-chirped microwave waveform generation technique with improved time-bandwidth product (TBWP) is proposed and demonstrated based on a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM) cascaded with a polarization modulator (PolM). By properly controlling the phase shifts of the radio frequency signals applied to the DP-DPMZM, switchable down-, up- and dual-chirped waveforms with simultaneous frequency and bandwidth doubling can be generated. To enlarge the TBWP further, splitting parabolic signal and phase-encoding splitting parabolic signal are used to drive the PolM for the enhancement of bandwidth and time duration. Numerical results demonstrate the generation of down-, up- and dual-chirped microwave waveform with TBWP of 8, 160 and 10240. The proposed method may find applications in future multifunction radar systems due to the high performance and flexibility.     

Thermally tunable narrow-bandpass filter based on a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating

We propose a new method for the development of a tunable optical bandpass filter (TOBF) based on a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG). A NiCr wire heater is used to heat the LCFBG at a small point to introduce a narrow passband within the stop band of the LCFBG. The central wavelength of the passband is tuned by scanning the wire heater along the LCFBG. As an example demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method, we demonstrate a TOBF with a very small 3-dB bandwidth of approximately 7 pm, a tuning range of 16.4 nm, and a rejection ratio of more than 25 dB. Compared with previously reported tunable-fiber-based bandpass filters, this method provides the advantages of a large tuning range, continuous tunability, a switchable passband, a simple tuning mechanism, low cost, and narrow bandwidth.     

Photonic generation of arbitrary waveforms based on incoherent wavelength-to-time mapping

We demonstrate experimentally a radio frequency arbitrary waveform generator using the incoherent wavelengthto-time mapping technique.The system is implemented by amplitude modulation of a broadband optical resource whose spectrum is reshaped by a programmable optical pulse shaper and transmitted over a single mode fiber link.The shape of the generated waveform is controlled by the optical pulse shaper,and the fiber link introduces a certain group velocity delay to implement wavelength-to-time mapping.Assisted by the flexible optical pulse shaper,we obtain different shapes of optical waveforms,such as rectangle,triangle,and sawtooth waveforms.Furthermore,we also demonstrate ultra-wideband generation,such as Gaussian monocycle,doublet,and triplet waveforms,using the incoherent technique.     

Reconfigurable time-domain spectral shaping of an optical pulse stretched by a fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate a method for spectrally shaping optical pulses that is readily reconfigurable and can produce variable filter functions. This practical technique relies on a compact and robust 3.86-m-long linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating that chromatically disperses the pulse to ~30 ns. We then shape the pulse envelope, and thus the pulse spectrum, with a programmable arbitrary waveform generator and an amplitude modulator to obtain several filter functions.     

Tunable chirped microwave photonic filter employing a dispersive Mach-Zehnder structure

A Mach-Zehnder structure with modulation in one arm and dispersive time delay in the other is proposed to implement highly flexible single-bandpass chirped microwave photonic filters based on broadband optical sources. Both the amplitude response and the time delay slope can be fully reconfigured via control of the optical spectra and dispersion. The passband can also be widely tuned without changing the shape. A chirped filter with a bandwidth of ～4?GHz, a delay slope of ～-0.6?ns/GHz, and a tunability up to 40?GHz is demonstrated experimentally.     

Chirped pulse amplification in single mode Tm:fiber using a chirped Bragg grating

We report femtosecond pulse generation and chirped pulse amplification in Tm:fiber. A mode-locked oscillator operating in the soliton regime produced 800 fs pulses with 5 nm spectral bandwidth, at 40 pJ pulse energy. This oscillator seeded a pre-amplifier that utilizes a Raman soliton self-frequency shift to produce wavelength tunable pulses with 3 nJ energy, reduced pulse duration of 150 fs, and increased bandwidth of 30 nm. For further amplification, the pulses were stretched up to 160 ps using a chirped Bragg grating (CBG). Stretched pulses were amplified to 85 nJ after compression in single-mode Tm:fiber and recompressed with the CBG as short as 400 fs. Compressed pulses were coupled into a highly nonlinear tellurite fiber to investigate the potential of this ultrashort pulse 2-μm fiber source as a pump for mid-IR supercontinuum generation.     

All-optical tunable delay line based on wavelength conversion in semiconductor optical amplifiers and dispersion in dispersion-compensating fiber

We demonstrate an all-optical continuously tunable delay line system based on wavelength conversion in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) in a dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF). The system operates, near 1550 nm, with a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) pattern at 10 Gb/s. A maximal optical delay up to 2700 ps is observed. The scheme achieves continuous control of a wide range of optical delays, wide signal bandwidth, nearly no pulse broadening, and very little spectral distortion.     

Fast Brillouin Optical Fiber Sensor for Distributed Dynamic Measurement Based on Differential Double-Pulse

We demonstrate a high-spatial-resolution fast Brillouin optical time-domain analysis scheme based on frequency agility and differential double-pulse for distributed dynamic measurement. The frequency-agility probe wave is obtained from the second-order sideband of modulated light by using frequency-agility microwave signal from a wideband arbitrary waveform generator. The differential double-pulse technique is proposed to improve the spatial resolution while keeping the capability of dynamic measurement. In experiment, a spatial resolution of 20 cm is achieved by using a 52/50 ns differential double-pulse, and the distributed vibration measurement is demonstrated over a 50-m Panda fiber with a maximum vibration frequency of up to 50 Hz. With only five averages, the standard deviation of the strain accuracy is of 14 μV.     

Single-shot photonic time-intensity integration based on a time-spectrum convolution system

Real-time and single-shot ultra-fast photonic time-intensity integration of arbitrary temporal waveforms is proposed and demonstrated. The intensity-integration concept is based on a time-spectrum convolution system, where the use of a multi-wavelength laser with a flat envelope, employed as the incoherent broadband source, enables single-shot operation. The experimental implementation is based on optical intensity modulation of the multi-wavelength laser with the input waveform, followed by linear dispersion. In particular, photonic temporal intensity integration with a processing bandwidth of 36.8 GHz over an integration time window of 1.24 ns is verified by experimentally measuring the integration of an ultra-short microwave pulse and an arbitrary microwave waveform.     

Variable-time-delay optical coherent transient signal processing

A technique is proposed and experimentally demonstrated that achieves simultaneous optical pattern waveform storage and programmable time delay for continuous real-time signal processing by use of optical coherent transient technology. We achieve variable-time-delay and broadband signal processing by frequency shifting of two chirped programming pulses, the chirp rate of one being twice that of the other, without using brief reference pulses and without changing the timing of the programming sequence. We demonstrate the technique experimentally in Tm(3+): YAG at 5 K for 40-MHz chirps by performing temporal signal convolution with true-time delays that vary over a 250-ns range.     

Fiber chromatic dispersion measurement based on wavelength-to-time mapping using a femtosecond pulse laser and an optical comb filter

A novel method for the measurement of chromatic dispersion of an optical fiber based on wavelength-to-time mapping using a femtosecond pulse laser (FSPL) and an optical comb filter is proposed and experimentally evaluated. In the proposed approach, the spectrum of an ultrashort optical pulse generated by an FSPL is sliced by an optical comb filter. The spectrum-sliced optical pulse is then coupled into the optical fiber under test. Thanks to the chromatic-dispersion-induced wavelength-to-time mapping in the optical fiber under test, a time-domain waveform similar to the sliced spectrum is generated at the output of the optical fiber, with different frequency components having different time delays. The time delay vs. frequency data are then recorded for the estimation of the chromatic dispersion by using least square fitting. Chromatic dispersions of two types of optical fibers with different lengths are tested. The measured dispersion values agree well with those measured by the conventional modulation phase shift (MPS) method.     

动态应力场作用下线性啁啾光栅光谱特性研究

目前柔性结构损伤检测需多个传感器,且需要探测器具有极高的采集频率。光纤光栅具有动态响应快、易实现分布式测量等特点,为解决上述问题提供了有效的途径,提出采用线性啁啾光栅(LCFBG)实现动态应力场探测。首先,用传输矩阵理论建立了LCFBG反射光谱应变传感模型,用衰减正弦函数模拟沿LCFBG分布的动态应力场。通过仿真实验,详细研究了LCFBG反射光谱对不同振幅、不同衰减系数与不同传播速度动态应力场的响应特性。实验结果表明,LCFBG反射光谱的反射率、波长变化与光谱形状均与动态应力场上述参数有关,但是LCFBG反射光谱对动态应力场不同参数的响应规律不同。在一定范围内,LCFBG反射光谱的最大反射率随动态应力场幅值与速度的增大而增大,最终趋于一稳定值,但其随阻尼系数增大而减小。最后,研制了以LCFBG为敏感元件的传感器,并构建了动态应力场实验平台,实验结果与仿真实验数据基本一致。提供了一种通过实时采集LCFBG全光谱信息探测动态应力场的新方法。     

40Gb/s光时分复用传输光纤光栅补偿色散研究

用精密扫描掩模法写入宽阻带啁啾光纤光栅,掩模板背面两端各10％长度处镀有按4阶高斯函数透过率的膜,写入的啁啾光栅的时延纹波最大值为20ps。为减少写入光纤光栅的偏振模色散,研制了新的低偏振模色散光纤光栅补偿写入法。采用补偿写入法前的平均微分群时延为9．1406 ps;采用补偿写入法后的平均微分群时延为0．1521 ps。并利用低偏振模色散光纤光栅对40Gb／s光时分复用系统在普通G．652光纤传输122km的色散进行了补偿实验,功率代价为1．5dB。     

Generation of long bursts of high-repetition-rate arbitrarily shaped optical pulses using time lens

A technique for the generation of long ultrahigh-speed bursts of optical pulses with arbitrary shapes is proposed. A laser pulse is temporally chirped by a time lens and then passes through a filter with a reconfigurable periodic spectral response, which produces time-delayed replicas of the chirped pulse and recombines them. As a result of the temporal interference between the replicas, the chirped pulse is broken up into short pulses with the shape determined by the chosen filter response. It is demonstrated that the filter acts on a long chirped optical pulse as a temporal modulator with a periodic modulation function. The modulation frequency and bandwidth of the modulator can be much higher than for commercially available high-frequency modulators. The additional advantage of this modulator is the arbitrary shape of the modulation function. A 2.4 ns burst of nearly flat-top pulses with a repetition rate of about 400 GHz is obtained in numerical simulations. In addition, the technique proposed can act as a pulse repetition rate multiplier and a pulse compressor. A repetition rate of 1.589 THz and an individual pulse width of 212 fs are achieved in simulations for a 9.7 ns sinusoidally phase modulated pulse burst.     

Spectral line‐by‐line shaping for optical and microwave arbitrary waveform generations

Spectral line‐by‐line shaping is a key enabler towards optical arbitrary waveform generation, which promises broad impact both in optical science and technology. In this paper, generation of optical and microwave arbitrary waveforms using the spectral line‐by‐line shaping technique is reviewed. Compared to conventional pulse shaping, significant new physics arises in the line‐by‐line regime, where the shaped pulse fields generated from one laser pulse now overlap with those generated from adjacent pulses. This leads to coherent interference effects related to the properties of optical frequency combs which serve as the source in these experiments. We explore such effects in a series of experiments using several different high‐repetition‐rate optical combs, including harmonically mode‐locked lasers and continuous‐wave lasers that are externally phase modulated either with or without the help of an optical cavity. As an application of line‐by‐line pulse shaping, we describe generation of microwave electrical arbitrary waveforms that can be reprogrammed at rates approaching 10 GHz.