Transform-Limited Optical Pulse Generation up to 20 GHz Repetition Rate By Sinusoidally Driven InGaAsP Electroabsorption Modulator

Abstract

A long-distance optical soliton transmission experiments using Er-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) have been intensively studied.[1],[2] To realize optical soliton transmission systems, practical generation of a soliton pulse having transform-limited hyperbolic secant (sech) shape pulses is of primary importance. So far, mode-locked or gain-switched semiconductor lasers have been mainly used to obtain soliton pulses[1]-[3]. However, the conventional methods seem to be sensitive to ambient perturbations such as temperature change and mechanical vibration, because of the use of optical resonators or ultra-narrow band optical filters. The purpose of this paper is to propose and demonstrate a simple and stable generation of a transform-limited optical short pulse by using a sinusoidally driven InGaAsP electroabsorption (EA) modulator.