0000000000018311
AUTHOR
Víctor Torres-company
High spatiotemporal resolution in multifocal processing with femtosecond laser pulses.
We report spatial and temporal dispersion compensation for fan-out of femtosecond pulses with a low-frequency diffraction grating by means of a hybrid diffractive-refractive lens triplet. In this way, we achieve a multifocal light structure with nearly diffraction-limited light spots even for 20 fs pulse duration. The spatial chromatic compensation, which drastically reduces the lateral walk-off of the various spectral components, also allows us to improve the available bandwidth at the dispersion-compensated diffraction orders. In fact, the temporal width of the output pulse is essentially limited by the group-delay dispersion term, which is shown to be small. The high spatiotemporal resol…
Spectral imaging system for scaling the power spectrum of optical waveforms.
We propose and analyze a new photonic system to change the scale of the optical power spectrum of an ultrashort pulse. Our device corresponds to the dual (spectral domain) configuration of a temporal imaging system. It is configured with two time lenses separated by a linear first-order dispersive medium. The specific relation between the chirp rates and the first-order dispersion coefficient is obtained. The main practical constraints are discussed, and the system performance is tested by means of a numerical simulation.
20 GHz arbitrary radio-frequency waveform generator based on incoherent pulse shaping
We demonstrate a new approach of photonically assisted radiofrequency (RF) waveform generation using a spectrally incoherent light source. The system is based on the so-called generalized frequency-to-time mapping operation. In this work, external modulation of the source is done by concatenating two electro-optic Mach-Zehnder modulators properly biased to achieve short pulse gates which allow for broad bandwidth electrical signals. Also, the spectral shaping stage is performed prior to O/E conversion. A detailed theoretical analysis demonstrates that even in this case the frequency-to-time mapping is preserved. The key is that the noise level is greatly reduced because the amplitude filter…
New photonic devices for ultrafast pulse processing operating on the basis of the diffraction-dispersion analogy
The space-time analogy is a well-known topic within wave optics that brings together some results from beam diffraction and pulse dispersion. On the above basis, and taking as starting point some classical concepts in Optics, several photonic devices have been proposed during the last few years with application in rapidly evolving fields such as ultrafast (femtosecond) optics or RF and microwave signal processing. In this contribution, we briefly review the above ideas with particular emphasis in the generation of trains of ultrafast pulses from periodic modulation of the phase of a CW laser source. This is the temporal analogue of Fresnel diffraction by a pure phase grating. Finally, we ex…
Arbitrary Waveform Generator Based on All-Incoherent Pulse Shaping
An all-incoherent technique for the generation of arbitrary electromagnetic intensity profiles is presented. It is based on spectral filtering of a broadband continuous-wave light source so that the filtered spectral density function (SDF) becomes the user-defined waveform. After large temporal modulation and subsequent distortion in a first-order dispersive medium, the incoherent mapping of the filtered SDF to the time domain occurs. Finally, optical-to-electrical conversion in a fast photodiode allows the optical intensity to be mapped into the electrical domain
‘Nonlocal’ dispersion cancelation with classical light
We show a classical analog of the original nonlocal dispersion cancelation effect in intensity interferometry with stationary light obeying Gaussian statistics. The dispersion compensation is due to the uncorrelation of the spectral components of the radiation. Although this classical counterpart phenomenon is not nonlocal in a strict quantum mechanical sense, it suggests that some second-order interference devices relying on temporal entanglement do not require a quantum light source.
Incoherent photonic techniques for RF-AWG
The capabilities for RF-AWG in terms of waveform fidelity for three different incoherent photonic methods are revised and discussed: incoherent frequency-to-time mapping, incoherent MWP filtering with N discrete taps, and multi-wavelength pulse compression.
“Nonlocal” dispersion cancellation with classical light
Nonlocal dispersion cancellation [1] is a quantum phenomenon that relies on the use of a quantum light source, e.g., spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), providing temporally entangled photon pairs. Each photon in the pair propagates through a dispersive medium [see Fig. 1 (a)]. Under suitable conditions the dispersion of one photon cancels out the dispersion of the other photon, so that their intensity coincidence probability remains unchanged. Nonlocal dispersion cancellation has been experimentally demonstrated [2] and this phenomenon has subsequently triggered important applications in quantum information science, such as quantum-optical coherence tomography, distant clock syn…
Source linewidth effects in temporal imaging of Gaussian Schell-model pulses
A transform-limited Gaussian pulse generated from an externally modulated stationary source is launched within a temporal imaging system composed of a second-order dispersion followed by a time lens and a subsequent quadratic dispersion. We consider the effect of the statistical properties of the emitted light for temporal imaging. In particular, it is shown that the design parameters that ensure a received signal with the minimum root-mean-square (rms) width achievable, which is called the temporal image of the incident pulse, are strongly dependent on the coherence properties of the input waveform. Finally, limitations on the temporal resolution of the setup are highlighted and a realisti…
Electro-optic time lens with an extended time aperture
We propose what we believe to be a new approach to correct the residual aberrations of time lenses implemented through electro-optic sinusoidal phase modulation. The method is based on a single modulator driven with various harmonic channels coming from the same clock signal. Proper weighting of the amplitude and phase of the channels allows us to achieve nearly perfect parabolic phase modulation over a fraction of the clock period. We show numerically that our proposal only requires three harmonics of the clock frequency to achieve truly parabolic modulation over a time window that extends across 70% of the period. We illustrate the benefits of this aberration-free scheme in a pulse compre…
Incoherent frequency-to-time mapping: application to incoherent pulse shaping
After temporal amplitude modulation of a spectrally incoherent optical source the averaged intensity profile at the so-called temporal far-zone regime coalesces with a magnified replica of the spectral density function of the source. This has provided the basis for the generalization of the frequency-to-time mapping technique in the partially coherent case. Based on this fact, temporal intensity waveform generation is demonstrated by spectral filtering the incoherent source before the temporal modulation stage. We refer to this technique as full incoherent pulse shaping. Although only the average intensity of the output signal is properly shaped, intensity fluctuations between the different…
Real-time optical spectrum analyzers operating with spectrally incoherent broadband continuous-wave light source
On the framework of coherence theory we discuss the averaged temporal intensity output provided by real-time optical Fourier transformers when the spectral line shape of the stationary source is considered. Some numerical examples are given and the deviations from perfectly monochromatic sources are pointed out.
Limits for the Generation of Ultra-Wideband Signals with the Incoherent-Pulse-Shaping Technique
Recently, an nil-optical technique to generate arbitrary RF waveforms through Altering of the spectral density function of a broadband spectrally incoherent optical source has been introduced. The spectrum is tailored so that the output averaged intensity after large temporal modulation and subsequent distortion in a group-delay-dispersion circuit becomes the user-defined waveform. In general, there is a tradeoff between the spectral width and the signal-to-noise ratio of the output signal. Here, we provide an analytical treatment of the problem based on the optical coherence theory. In particular, we analyze the possibility to employ this technique for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications.
Space-time analogy for partially coherent plane-wave-type pulses.
In this Letter we extend the well-known space-time duality to partially coherent wave fields and, as a limit case, to incoherent sources. We show that there is a general analogy between the paraxial diffraction of quasi-monochromatic beams of limited spatial coherence and the temporal distortion of partially coherent plane-wave pulses in parabolic dispersive media. Next, coherence-dependent effects in the propagation of Gaussian Schell-model pulses are retrieved from that of their spatial counterpart, the Gaussian Schell-model beam. Finally, the last result allows us to present a source linewidth analysis in an optical fiber communication system operating around the 1.55 microm wavelength w…
Resolution-enhanced optical coherence tomography based on classical intensity interferometry.
We propose a fourth-order interference scheme for optical coherence tomography operating with broadband incoherent (or quasi-incoherent) light. It is shown that using this proposal, an axial resolution improvement by a factor of 2 and a better sensitivity for weakly reflecting samples are obtained than with the standard second-order correlation scheme. From a practical perspective, we suggest the use of broadband Q-switched pulses and performing ultrafast intensity correlation with a nonlinear crystal. The global performance of our proposal is illustrated by means of numerical simulations
All-fiber incoherent frequency-to-time mapping method for microwave signal generation with baseband transmission and multicasting support
We present a proof-of-principle experiment for achieving simultaneous distribution of baseband radio-frequency data and up-conversion with broadcasting support over a passive optical network. The technique is based on an incoherent frequency-to-time mapping method for pulse shaping. Specifically, we synthesize the spectral density function of sliced ASE noise from an EDFA with a periodic Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer optical filter. By using external intensity modulation combined with propagation in an optical fiber, after photodetection, the resultant averaged temporal pulse profile resembles the shape of the incoherent source. The photodetected signal contains both the baseband data a…
Millimeter-wave and microwave signal generation by low-bandwidth electro-optic phase modulation
We propose, analyze and numerically illustrate a photonic-based technique for waveform generation of electrical signals approaching the 50 GHz bandwidth with time apertures as large as a few nanoseconds, by low-frequency, up to 2 GHz, electro-optic phase modulation of time-stretched optical pulses. Synthesis of the electrical waveform relies on phase-to-amplitude conversion of the modulated signal by a group delay dispersion circuit designed to behave as a transversal filter with N taps. Although arbitrary waveform generation capabilities are limited, a wide variety of user-defined signals are numerically demonstrated by appropriately designing the low-frequency signal driving the electro-o…
Side-lobe suppression in electro-optic pulse generation
A simple method is presented for rejecting undesirable tails and wings, around the main pulses of a periodic train, which is generated by electro-optical, sinusoidal phase modulation. It is shown that, by using a broadband optical carrier, the nonlinear chirp components generated by sinusoidal phase modulation can be filtered out. Thus, nearly apodised picosecond pulsation can be generated.
Reconfigurable RF waveform generation using optical incoherent sources
An RF waveform generator operating with incoherent broadband light is successfully implemented. Complex RF ~10 GHz bandwidth waveforms are generated by means of incoherent wavelength-to-time mapping. Our technique can be scaled to the mm-wave range.
Lossless equalization of frequency combs
Frequency combs obtained by sinusoidal phase modulation of narrow-band continuous-wave lasers are widely used in the field of optical communications. However, the resulting spectral envelope of the comb is not at. In this Letter, we propose a general and eficient approach to achieve at frequency combs with tunable bandwidth. The idea is based on a two-step process. First, eficient generation of a train with temporal at-top-pulse profile is required. Second, we use large parabolic phase modulation in every train period in order to map the temporal intensity shape into the spectral domain. In this way, the resulting spectral envelope is at and the size is tunable with the chirping rate. Two d…
Flat-top ultra-wideband photonic filters based on mutual coherence function synthesis
A novel all-incoherent optical circuit that allows for band-pass microwave-photonic filter design is presented and verified through numerical simulation. In contrast to conventional spectrum-sliced optical architectures that operate on the basis of a finite number of discrete taps, our proposal is based on arbitrary shaping of the spectrum of the broadband optical source in a conventional frequency encoder. This fact dramatically increases the free spectral range of the filter with respect to the conventional discrete-time optical processing. The filter transfer function is given by the mutual coherence function of the filtered source which allows, through an inverse problem, sculpting the …
Pulse-by-pulse method to characterize partially coherent pulse propagation in instantaneous nonlinear media.
We propose a numerical method for analyzing extensively the evolution of the coherence functions of nonstationary optical pulses in dispersive, instantaneous nonlinear Kerr media. Our approach deals with the individual propagation of samples from a properly selected ensemble that reproduces the coherence properties of the input pulsed light. In contrast to the usual strategy assuming Gaussian statistics, our numerical algorithm allows us to model the propagation of arbitrary partially coherent pulses in media with strong and instantaneous nonlinearities.
Ambiguity function analysis of pulse train propagation: applications to temporal Lau filtering
We use the periodic-signal ambiguity function for visualizing the intensity-spectrum evolution through propagation in a first-order dispersive medium. We show that the degree of temporal coherence of the optical source plays the role of a low-pass filter on the signal's ambiguity function. Based on this, we present a condition on the temporal Lau effect for filtering harmonics at fractions of the Talbot length. This result allows one to increase the repetition rate of a pulse train obtained from a sinusoidally phase-modulated CW signal.