Shaping of soliton- into rectangular-pulsesusing a superstructurefiber Bragg

grating
P. Petropoulos, M. Ibsen, D.J. Richardson
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SOI 7 IBJ, U.K.
E-mail : pp @ orc.soton.ac.uk

Abstract: In this paper we discuss a technique that employs superstructure fiber Bragg
gratings for coherent control of short pulses. This is achieved by filtering the incoming
spectrum, both in amplitude and phase. Using such a grating we have achieved the
reshaping of 2.5 ps soliton pulses with a repetition rate of 10 GHz into 20 ps rectangular
pulses.
OCIS codes: (060.2330) Fiber optics communications; (320.5540) Pulse shaping; (050.2770) Gratings.

Recent advances in ultrafast laser technology cal1 for new all-optical methods for precisely manipulating
and controlling the shape of short pulses. The most widely known pulse-shaping technique involves
filtering of the spatially dispersed frequency components of a short pulse using bulk gratings and
appropriate phase and amplitude masks [ 11. Altemative coherent pulse shaping techniques have also been
developed. For example, in Ref.[2] pulse shaping was achieved using second-harmonic generation in
aperiodic quasi-phase-matching structures. The use of arrayed-waveguide gratings for optical processing
applications has also been proposed [3].
Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) can also be viewed, and used, as spectral filters of controllable
phase and amplitude. FBGs offer a l l the advantages associated with fiber components, such as ready
integration into fiber systems, "alcoupling losses, and in addition offer tunability through control of
the grating's strain and temperature. For a FBG in which light penetrates through the full grating without
significant loss in power, its frequency response is given by the Fourier transform of the index modulation
profile along the grating length. This principle has been used in the past, in conjunction with conventional
uniform FBG designs, to generate a train of dark soliton pulses [4],and to obtain a matched filter for the
detection of lOOps square pulses [5].
However, advances in the fabrication of FBGs now allow the fabrication of gratings with almost
arbitrary amplitude and phase characteristics, greatly extending the range of applications of the approach.
Control of the grating's frequency response is obtained by spatially modulating a uniform grating's
refractive index profile with a sampling function that corresponds to the desired impulse response of the
grating [6, 71. Recently, we demonstrated the use of relatively simple superstructure gratings for pattem
generation and recognition [8], as required for optical code division multiple access (OCDMA)
applications. Further developing the technique, we also demonstrated the use of a FBG to perform pulse
repetition rate multiplication from 10 to 40 GHz [9]. This latter experiment relied on spectrally filtering
out three of every four spectral lines of a periodic 10 GHz train of pulses, thereby increasing the
periodicity in the time domain by a corresponding factor of four to give a 40 GHz pulse train (Fig. la).
Apart from exhibiting a channel spacing of 0.32 nm (i.e. 40 GHz), the special requirements on the
superstructure FBG, were that it had a square envelope, good extinction for unwanted modes, and a
constant optical phase between the individual reflected channels. These features ensure that the
characteristics of the individual pulses remain unaffected by the filtering action. The spectral response of
the FBG fabricated is shown inset in Fig. la, whereas autocorrelation traces of the original and filtered
pulses are shown in Fig. lb. The pulse multiplication function is clearly seen.
OSA TOPS VoL 33 Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity,
and Poling in Glass Waveguides
Turan Erdogan, E. Joseph Friebele, and Raman Kashyap (eds)
Q2000 Optical Society of America 67
 Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and
Poling in GIass Waveguides

1.o

TP = 3.4ps
0.5
h
>
.-
s!
%? ?
0.0 ~

ln 2
v

F -o
m
1.0
O I
a U
J
0.5

0.0
I I I I

1 557 1558 1559 1560 -10 O 10 20 30 40

Time (ps)
Waveiength (nm)

Fig. 1. Pulse multiplication experiment. (a) shows (i) the original pulse spectrum and (ii) that
reflected off the FBG pulses; inset is the spectral response of the sampled FBG used; (b) shows
corresponding autocorrelation traces of the (i) 10 and (ii) 40 GHz pulses.

In the work presented in this paper we have progressed the approach, and successfully
demonstrated the fabrication and use of a truly complex superstructure grating designed to transform
short optical pulses (2.5 ps at 10 GHz) into a corresponding train of 20 ps rectangular pulses. Such pulse
forms are suited to nonlinear optical switching applications, in which a square switching window is
required.
The -2.5 ps input pulses were generated using an actively and harmonically mode-locked Er-fiber
ring laser, operating at a repetition rate of 10 GHz. They had a spectral half-width of 1.04 nm (Fig. 4a)
and a temporal FWHM of 2.53 ps (Fig. 5a), indicating almost transform-limited soliton pulses (time-
bandwidth product = 0.326). They were coupled onto the FBG by means of a fiberized optical circulator.

h
5 1.0 - (a)
0 7 1.0 - (b)

EOK EO
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Y
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-
4!
.-
0

.-o
.-
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.-
o
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The grating was designed, such that the product of its spectral electric-field response (amplitude
and phase) with the spectrum of the incident soliton pulses gives the required temporal reshaping. The

68
 Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and
Poling in Glass Waveguides

-0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Frequencyf-f, (THz)

Fig. 3. Actual (solid lhe) and designed (dashed line)

frequency response of the grating; the sampling function of
the grating is shown in the inset.

overall grating bandwidth was limited to 6 nm to accommodate the full bandwidth of the soliton pulses
down to -25 dB from the spectral peak. For our target 20 ps pulses (see Fig. 2b) we can accommodate a
total of 13 spectral lobes, with altemate optical phase. Note that the power spectrum of a perfect
rectangular pulse is a sinc2 function which extends to infinity either side of its main lobe. Using this
reshaping approach we inevitably restrict the bandwidth. In order to avoid the ringing in the temporal
domain that would othenvise ensue, we therefore apodized the output pulse spectrum (through the
grating response) to smoothen the effects of this truncation (Fig. 2). The reflected spectrum of the filter
we designed is shown by the dashed line in Fig. 3. The main features of the ideal sinc2 power spectrum
are still evident despite the apodization, i.e. the zeros at every 1/T from the center frequency, where T =
20 ps, and the sidelobes of interchanging optical phase. The grating sampling function is given by the
inverse Fourier transform of the grating’s spectral response and is shown inset in Fig. 3. Its full length in
time is t = 100 ps, corresponding to a grating length of 0 . 5 t d n = 10.3 mm, and consists of severa1
sections of alternating phase. The grating was subsequently fabricated, using a continuous grating writing
technique, based on grating plane by grating plane exposure [6]. The actual spectral response obtained is
compared to the design in Fig. 3 (solid line), and clearly demonstrates the quality and control provided by
this writing technique.
The power spectrum of the pulses reflected off the FBG is shown as curve (b) in Fig. 4. This is
compared to the calculated truncated and apodized sinc2-shaped spectrum that was used to design the
FBG (Fig. 4c). A good agreement between the two shapes is clearly demonstrated. The amplitude of the
first lobes is -12.5dB lower than the central lobe, close to the corresponding figure for the ideal sinc2
function (13.3 a). The temporal characteristics of the resultant pulses were measured with an
autocorrelator. The autocorrelation of a rectangular pulse of duration T is a triangular pulse of full length

69
 Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and
Poling in Glass Waveguides

I
-30

-40

-E
âj
-50

5
n
-60

-70

1556 1557 1558 1559 -50 40 -30 -20 -10 O 10 20 30 40 50

Wavelength (nm) Time (ps)

Fig. 5. Autocorrelation traces of the input 2.5 ps soliton

Fig. 4- ’OwerWectra Of (a) the input pulses, and (b) pulses (a), and the output pulses (b). The dashed curve (c)
the shaped pulses; (c) is the calculated spectrum of corresponds to the calculated autocorrelation of the pulse
the pulse shown in Fig. 3(Inset) shown Fig. 2b.

2T. The acquired autocorrelation trace is compared in Fig. 5 to that of the incident pulses, and the
calculated autocorrelation trace corresponding to the pulse shown in Fig. 2b. Once again the agreement is
extremely good indicating excellent phase control within the grating.
In conclusion, we have achieved the generation of rectangular 20 ps pulses with a repetition rate
of 10 GHz by shaping a train of 2.5 ps soliton pulses. Pulse shaping was performed by spectral filtering of
the incident pulses using an FBG, the refractive index of which was appropriately modulated along its
length to yield the desired spectral characteristics. In both cases, the results agreed well with the
calculated predictions. The generation of rectangular pulses serves as a good example of a demanding
(and useful) pulse shaping application, as it requires good control of both the phase and amplitude
characteristics of the filterhhaper. We believe that the work described here demonstrates that fiber
grating technology has now truly developed to the extent that FBGs can be reliably and accurately
fabricated to produce complex optical filters with almost arbitrary phase and amplitude response.

References

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OFC’98, paper W12, 152, (San Jose, 1998).

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 Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and
Poling in Glass Waveguides

6. M. Ibsen, M.K. Durkin, M.J. Cole, and R.I. Laming, “Sinc-sampled fiber Bragg gratings for identical
multiple wavelength operation”, IEEE Phot. Tech. Lett. 10,842-844 (1998).
7. M. Ibsen, M.K. Durkin, M.J. Cole, and R.I. Laming, “Optimised square passband fibre Bragg grating
filter with in-band flat group delay response”, El. Lett. 34,800-802 (1998).
8. H. Geiger, A, Fu, P. Petropoulos, M. Ibsen, D.J. Richardson, R.I. Laming, “Demonstration of a simple
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(Madrid, 1998).
9. P. Petropoulos, M. Ibsen, D.J. Richardson, “GHz-repetition-rate pulse multiplication using a sampled
fiber Bragg grating”, in Technical Digest CLEO ’99,paper CWA1, (Baltimore, 1999); also, P.
Petropoulos, M. Ibsen, D.J. Richardson, and M.N. Zervas, “Generation of a 40 GHz pulse stream by
pulse multiplication using a sampled fiber Bragg grating”, submitted to Optics Letters, October 1999.

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