Letter abstract
Nature Photonics 1, 463 - 467 (2007)
Published online: 1 August 2007 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2007.139
Subject Category: Ultrafast photonics
Optical arbitrary waveform processing of more than 100 spectral comb lines
Zhi Jiang1,2, Chen-Bin Huang1,2, Daniel E. Leaird1 & Andrew M. Weiner1
Abstract
Pulse-shaping techniques, in which user-specified, ultrashort-pulse fields are synthesized by means of parallel manipulation of optical Fourier components, have now been widely adopted1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Mode-locked lasers producing combs of frequency-stabilized spectral lines have resulted in revolutionary advances in frequency metrology7, 8, 9, 10, 11. However, until recently, pulse shapers addressed spectral lines in groups, at low spectral resolution. Line-by-line pulse shaping12, in which spectral lines are resolved and manipulated individually, leads to a fundamentally new regime for optical arbitrary waveform generation13, in which the advantages of pulse shaping and of frequency combs are exploited simultaneously. Here we demonstrate programmable line-by-line shaping of more than 100 spectral lines, which constitutes a significant step in scaling towards high waveform complexity. Optical arbitrary waveform generation promises to have an impact both in optical science (allowing, for example, coherent control generalizations of comb-based time–frequency spectroscopies10) and in technology (enabling new truly coherent multiwavelength processing concepts for spread-spectrum lightwave communications and light detection and ranging, lidar).
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, 465 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2035, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Andrew M. Weiner1 e-mail: amw@ecn.purdue.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Optical metrology Everything under controlNature Photonics News and Views (01 Aug 2007)
RESEARCH
Coherent quantum control of two-photon transitions by a femtosecond laser pulseNature Letters to Editor (19 Nov 1998)
Molecular fingerprinting with the resolved modes of a femtosecond laser frequency combNature Letters to Editor (08 Feb 2007)
Shaped-pulse optimization of coherent emission of high-harmonic soft X-raysNature Letters to Editor (13 Jul 2000)
See all 7 matches for Research