32 channel, 25 GHz InP integrated pulse shaper with SOA amplitude control

Abstract

Over the past few decades optical pulse shaping has become an integral part of numerous photonic systems, impacting applications from optical communications to RF-photonic filtering [1]. In a parallel line, driven primarily by the need for broadband mass transmission of information, the technology behind photonic integration on the InP platform has continued to advance at a remarkable rate [2]. Leveraging these new fabrication methods researchers have developed an ever-increasing on-chip photonic tool set, which in turn is fueling a push for the migration of photonic solutions from bulk devices to a more marketable and scalable integrated platform. One of the most powerful tools one can envision is a fully functioning integrated pulse shaper. Particularly attractive is a shaper capable of working in the ‘line-by-line’ regime where it has arbitrary amplitude and phase control over individual lines of an optical frequency comb. In this regime, user-defined complex spectral shapes and arbitrary temporal waveforms can be synthesized on demand, thereby facilitating applications like optical- and RF- arbitrary waveform generation [3], agile RF-photonic filtering [4], and coherent communications. In this contribution we present a 32 channel InP Arrayed Waveguide Grating Pulse Shaper (AWGPS) exhibiting line-by-line amplitude control at 25 GHz channel spacing.