Method and apparatus for arbitrary waveform generation using photonics
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsBahram Jalali, Parag V. Kelkar
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for synthesizing waveforms with arbitrary amplitude, frequency, and phase modulation. Pulses from a broadband (supercontinuum) optical source are filtered into a plurality of wavelength channels, and the intensity of each wavelength channel is adjusted to an appropriate level depending on the desired shape of the envelope of the output pulse. The envelope of the sampling wavelength channels can be stretched, compressed, or inverted in the time domain later using a dispersive medium. After time domain manipulation, the optical pulse train is observed with a combination of high-speed photodetectors and a radio frequency low-pass filter, a low-speed photodetector.
Claims109
A photonic arbitrary waveform generator, comprising:
- (a) a broadband optical source;
- and
- (b) means for converting an optical pulse from said broadband optical source into an electrical waveform, said means comprising means for generating a spectral shaped optical waveform from said optical pulse, means for directly converting said spectral shaped optical waveform into a time domain optical waveform, and means for converting said time domain optical waveform into said electrical waveform;
- wherein said spectral shaped optical waveform and said time domain optical waveform have substantially identical shapes.
A photonic arbitrary waveform generator, comprising:
- (a) a broadband optical source;
- (b) a spectral shaping device optically coupled to said optical source and configured to generate a spectrally shaped optical waveform;
- (c) a time domain manipulation device optically coupled to said spectral shaping device and configured to generate, by direct wavelength-to-time conversion, a time domain optical waveform from said spectrally shaped optical waveform;
- and
- (d) an opto-electronic conversion device optically coupled to said time domain manipulation device and configured to convert said time domain optical waveform to an electrical waveform;
- wherein said spectral shaped optical waveform and said time domain optical waveform have substantially identical shapes.
A photonic arbitrary waveform generator, comprising:
- (a) a broadband optical source;
- (b) a spectral shaping device optically coupled to said optical source and configured for converting a pulse from said optical source to a shaped and wavelength divided output optical waveform;
- (c) a time domain manipulation device optically coupled to said spectral shaping device and configured to directly convert the output of the said spectral shaping device into a time domain optical waveform;
- and
- (d) an opto-electronic conversion device optically coupled to said time domain manipulation device and configured for converting said optical waveform from said time domain manipulation device to a corresponding electrical waveform;
- wherein said spectral shaped waveform and said time domain waveform have substantially identical shapes.
A method for photonic arbitrary waveform generation, comprising:
- (a) generating an optical pulse from a broadband optical source;
- (b) dividing said optical pulse into a plurality of wavelength channels;
- (c) spectrally shaping said wavelength channels according to a desired waveform envelope and generating a spectral shaped optical waveform;
- (d) directly converting said spectrally shaped optical waveform into a time domain optical waveform;
- and
- (e) generating a corresponding electrical waveform from said time domain optical waveform;
- wherein said spectral shaped waveform and said time domain waveform have substantially identical shapes.
A method for photonic arbitrary waveform generation, comprising:
- generating an optical signal from a broadband optical source, said optical signal comprising one or more optical pulses;
- spectrally shaping said optical signal;
- directly converting said spectrally shaped signal into a time domain optical signal;
- and
- converting said time domain optical signal to an electrical signal;
- wherein said spectral shaped optical signal and said time domain optical signal have substantially identical waveform shapes.
An apparatus for photonic arbitrary waveform generation, comprising:
- means for generating an optical signal from a broadband optical source, said optical signal comprising one or more optical pulses;
- means for spectrally shaping said optical signal;
- means for directly converting said spectrally shaped signal into a time domain optical signal;
- and
- means for converting said time domain optical signal to an electrical signal;
- wherein said spectral shaped optical signal and said time domain optical signal have substantially identical waveform shapes.
A method for photonic arbitrary waveform generation, comprising:
- generating an optical signal from a broadband optical source, said optical signal comprising one or more optical pulses, said optical signal having an unshaped spectrum;
- mapping the unshaped spectrum to the time domain;
- shaping the spectrum of said optical signal;
- and
- converting said optical signal to an electrical signal;
- wherein the spectral and time domain waveforms have substantially identical shapes.
An apparatus for photonic arbitrary waveform generation, comprising:
- means for generating an optical signal from a broadband optical source, said optical signal comprising one or more optical pulses, said optical signal having an unshaped spectrum;
- means for mapping the unshaped spectrum to the time domain;
- means for shaping the spectrum of said optical signal;
- and
- means for converting said optical signal to an electrical signal;
- wherein the spectral and time domain waveforms have substantially identical shapes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.