A direct temporal domain approach for pulse-repetition rate multiplication with arbitrary envelope shaping

Abstract

We present a direct temporal domain approach for pulse-repetition rate multiplication (PRRM) with envelope shaping using spectrally periodic optical filters. We show that the repetition rate of an input pulse train can be multiplied by a factor N using an optical filter with a free spectral range that does not need to constrained to an integer multiple of N. Individual output pulses in the newly generated pulse train have exactly the same intensity shape as those at the input. Furthermore, the amplitude of each individual output pulse can be manipulated separately to form an arbitrary envelope (profile) by optimizing N discrete values of the optical filter impulse response h(t). We demonstrate the direct temporal domain approach by designing a combined amplitude-and-phase filter based on a lattice-form Mach-Zehnder interferometer and simulation results show that PRRM with uniform and arbitrary profiles can be performed using these type of filters.