An optical FPGA: reconfigurable simultaneous multi-output spectral pulse-shaping for linear optical processing

Temporally optimized and spectrally shaped hyperspectral coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy offers label-free chemical contrasts based on molecular vibrations. Hyperspectral CARS (HS-CARS) microscopy enables comprehensive microscale chemical characterization of biological samples. Various HS-CARS methods have been developed with individual advantages and disadvantages. We present what we believe to be a new temporally optimized and spectrally shaped (TOSS) HS-CARS method to overcome the limitations of existing techniques by providing precise control of the spatial and temporal profiles of the excitation beams for efficient and accurate measurements. This method uniquely uses Fourier transform pulse shaping based on a two-dimensional spatial light modulator to control the phase and amplitude of the excitation beams. TOSS-HS-CARS achieves fast, stable, and flexible acquisition, minimizes photodamage, and is highly adaptable to a multimodal multiphoton imaging system.

Ultrafast electro-optic time-frequency fractional Fourier imaging at the single-photon level

The Fractional Fourier Transform (FRT) corresponds to an arbitrary-angle rotation in the phase space, e.g., the time-frequency (TF) space, and generalizes the fundamentally important Fourier Transform. FRT applications range from classical signal processing (e.g., time-correlated noise optimal filtering) to emerging quantum technologies (e.g., super-resolution TF sensing) which rely on or benefit from coherent low-noise TF operations. Here a versatile low-noise single-photon-compatible implementation of the FRT is presented. Optical TF FRT can be synthesized as a series of a spectral disperser, a time-lens, and another spectral disperser. Relying on the state-of-the-art electro-optic modulators (EOM) for the time-lens, our method avoids added noise inherent to the alternatives based on non-linear optical interactions (such as wave-mixing, cross-phase modulation, or parametric processes). Precise control of the EOM-driving radio-frequency signal enables fast all-electronic control of the FRT angle. In the experiment, we demonstrate FRT angles of up to 1.63 rad for pairs of coherent temporally separated 11.5 ps-wide pulses in the near-infrared (800 nm). We observe a good agreement between the simulated and measured output spectra in the bright-light and single-photon-level regimes, and for a range of pulse separations (20 ps to 26.7 ps). Furthermore, a tradeoff is established between the maximal FRT angle and optical bandwidth, with the current setup accommodating up to 248 GHz of bandwidth. With the ongoing progress in EOM on-chip integration, we envisage excellent scalability and vast applications in all-optical TF processing both in the classical and quantum regimes.

Propagation of temporal mode multiplexed optical fields in fibers: influence of dispersion

Exploiting two interfering fields which are initially in the same temporal mode but with the spectra altered by propagating through different fibers, we characterize how the spectral profiles of temporal modes change with the fiber induced dispersion by measuring the fourth-order interference when the order number and bandwidth of temporal modes are varied. The experiment is done by launching a pulsed field in different temporal modes into an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer, in which the fiber lengths in two arms are different. The results show that the mode mismatch of two interfering fields, reflected by the visibility and pattern of interference, is not only dependent upon the amount of unbalanced dispersion but also related to the order number of temporal mode. In particular, the two interfering fields may become orthogonal under a modest amount of unbalanced dispersion when the mode number of the fields is k ≥ 2. Moreover, we discuss how to recover the spectrally distorted temporal mode by measuring and compensating the transmission induced dispersion. Our investigation paves the way for further investigating the distribution of temporally multiplexed quantum states in fiber network.

Time reversed optical waves by arbitrary vector spatiotemporal field generation

Lossless linear wave propagation is symmetric in time, a principle which can be used to create time reversed waves. Such waves are special “pre-scattered” spatiotemporal fields, which propagate through a complex medium as if observing a scattering process in reverse, entering the medium as a complicated spatiotemporal field and arriving after propagation as a desired target field, such as a spatiotemporal focus. Time reversed waves have previously been demonstrated for relatively low frequency phenomena such as acoustics, water waves and microwaves. Many attempts have been made to extend these techniques into optics. However, the much higher frequencies of optics make for very different requirements. A fully time reversed wave is a volumetric field with arbitrary amplitude, phase and polarisation at every point in space and time. The creation of such fields has not previously been possible in optics. We demonstrate time reversed optical waves with a device capable of independently controlling all of light’s classical degrees of freedom simultaneously. Such a class of ultrafast wavefront shaper is capable of generating a sequence of arbitrary 2D spatial/polarisation wavefronts at a bandwidth limited rate of 4.4 THz. This ability to manipulate the full field of an optical beam could be used to control both linear and nonlinear optical phenomena.

Truly arbitrary spatiotemporal wavefront shaping has many potential applications in optics. Here the authors develop a system capable of arbitrary waveshaping to the extent of full time reversal of spatiotemporal optical beams.

Photonic integrated circuit implementation of a sub-GHz-selectivity frequency comb filter for optical clock multiplication

We report a photonic integrated circuit implementation of an optical clock multiplier, or equivalently an optical frequency comb filter. The circuit comprises a novel topology of a ring-resonator-assisted asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometer in a Sagnac loop, providing a reconfigurable comb filter with sub-GHz selectivity and low complexity. A proof-of-concept device is fabricated in a high-index-contrast stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si₃N₄/SiO₂) waveguide, featuring low loss, small size, and large bandwidth. In the experiment, we show a very narrow passband for filters of this kind, i.e. a -3-dB bandwidth of 0.6 GHz and a -20-dB passband of 1.2 GHz at a frequency interval of 12.5 GHz. As an application example, this particular filter shape enables successful demonstrations of five-fold repetition rate multiplication of optical clock signals, i.e. from 2.5 Gpulses/s to 12.5 Gpulses/s and from 10 Gpulses/s to 50 Gpulses/s. This work addresses comb spectrum processing on an integrated platform, pointing towards a device-compact solution for optical clock multipliers (frequency comb filters) which have diverse applications ranging from photonic-based RF spectrum scanners and photonic radars to GHz-granularity WDM switches and LIDARs.

Small phase pattern 2D beam steering and a single LCOS design of 40 1 × 12 stacked wavelength selective switches

Two-dimensional beam steering by small, square, phase patterns as small as 50 × 50 pixels on a phase-only liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) device is experimentally verified as suitable for the application of wavelength selective switches (WSSs), in terms of the diffraction efficiency and steering accuracy. This enables a proposed highly functional and versatile stacked switch architecture, where 40 independent 1 × 12 WSSs can be realised on a single 4k LCOS device. They can be configured to support a 1 × N WSSs with N≤144, or an N × N wavelength crossconnect with N≤12.

All-optical generation of DFT-S-OFDM superchannels using periodic sinc pulses

Discrete-Fourier-transform spread (DFT-S) optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) signals offer improved nonlinearity performance in long haul optical communications systems, and can be used to form superchannels. In this paper we propose how DFT-S-OFDM superchannels can be generated and demultiplexed using all-optical techniques, and demonstrate the feasibility using numerical simulations. We also discuss how each wavelength channel is similar to recently proposed Orthogonally Time-Division Multiplexed (OrthTDM) systems using periodic-sinc pulses from, for example, a Nyquist laser. The key difference between OrthTDM and DFT-S-OFDM is the synchronization of the symbol boundaries of every modulation tributary; because of this we show that OrthTDM cannot be formed into superchannels that can be demultiplexed without penalties, but DFT-S-OFDM can be.

Reconfigurable linear combination of phase-and-amplitude coded optical signals

We introduce an all-optical arithmetic unit operating a weighted addition and subtraction between multiple phase-and-amplitude coded signals. The scheme corresponds to calculating the field dot-product of frequency channels with a static vector of coefficients. The system is reconfigurable and format transparent. It is based on Fourier-domain processing and multiple simultaneous four-wave mixing processes inside a single nonlinear element. We demonstrate the device with up to three channels at 40 Gb/s and evaluate its efficiency by measuring the bit-error-rate of a distortion compensation operation between two signals.

Flexible all-optical frequency allocation of OFDM subcarriers

We investigate the underlying mechanism that allows OFDM subcarriers in an all-optical OFDM system to be assigned to any optical frequency using an optical filter, even if that frequency is not generated by the comb-line source feeding the filters. We confirm our analysis using simulations, and present experimental results from a 252-subcarrier system that uses a mode-locked laser (MLL) as the comb source and a wavelength selective switch. The experimental results show that there is no correlation between the programmed frequency offset between a subcarrier and nearest comb line, and the received signal quality. Thus, subcarriers could be inserted into unused portions of an optical transmission system's spectrum without restriction on their particular center frequencies. Any percentage of cyclic prefix can be added to the OFDM symbol simply by reprogramming the optical filter to give wider subcarrier frequency spacing than the comb line spacing, which is useful for tailoring the CP to the dispersion of various optical transmission paths, to maximize the spectral efficiency. Finally, the MLL's center frequency need not be locked to a system reference.

All-optical hash code generation and verification for low latency communications

We introduce an all-optical, format transparent hash code generator and a hash comparator for data packets verification with low latency at high baudrate. The device is reconfigurable and able to generate hash codes based on arbitrary functions and perform the comparison directly in the optical domain. Hash codes are calculated with custom interferometric circuits implemented with a Fourier domain optical processor. A novel nonlinear scheme featuring multiple four-wave mixing processes in a single waveguide is implemented for simultaneous phase and amplitude comparison of the hash codes before and after transmission. We demonstrate the technique with single polarisation BPSK and QPSK signals up to a data rate of 80 Gb/s.