Method and apparatus for pulse generation and adaptive pulse generation for optical communications

-27. (canceled)

An apparatus, comprising:

• a photodiode configured to receive an optical pulse having a first spectral component, a second spectral component and a third spectral component, the second spectral component and the third spectral component being based on a clock frequency, the photodiode configured to send a first signal having an amplitude and a spectral component with the clock frequency;
• a filter coupled to the photodiode, the filter having a spectral response associated with the clock frequency;
• and a detector coupled to the filter, the detector configured to send an error signal based on the amplitude of the first signal.

-37. (canceled)

An apparatus, comprising:

• a tunable delay device configured to receive a first amplitude portion of an optical signal;
• an optical hybrid coupled to the tunable delay device, the optical hybrid configured to receive a second amplitude portion of the optical signal;
• a detector coupled to the tunable delay device, and a processor coupled to the detector, the processor being configured to calculate a pulse width of the optical signal based on an autocorrelation of the first amplitude portion of the optical signal and the second amplitude portion of the optical signal component.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a dispersion device configured to receive a first portion of an optical signal on a first optical path and a second portion of the optical signal on a second optical path, the dispersion device configured to introduce a first dispersion into the first portion of the optical signal and a second dispersion into the second optical signal, the first dispersion having its own amplitude and sign, the second dispersion having its own amplitude and sign, the amplitude of the first dispersion being substantially equal to the amplitude of the second dispersion, the sign of the first dispersion being opposite of the sign of the second dispersion;
• and a balanced detector coupled to the dispersion device.

A method for measuring an optical signal received from a transmission link, the optical signal including a plurality of optical pulses having an estimated pulse width, comprising:

• introducing a first dispersion into a first portion of an optical signal on a first optical path;
• introducing a second dispersion into a second portion of the optical signal on a second path, the first dispersion having its own amplitude and sign, the second dispersion having its own amplitude and sign, the amplitude of the first dispersion being substantially equal to the amplitude of the second dispersion, the sign of the first dispersion being opposite of the sign of the second dispersion;
• and detecting the first portion of the optical signal after the introducing of the first dispersion and the second portion of the optical signal after the introducing of the second dispersion to produce a balanced-detected signal.

-56. (canceled)