Compression of periodic light pulses using all-optical repetition rate multiplication

Abstract

We propose a novel method for compression of periodic optical pulses based on all-optical repetition rate multiplication of pulses without requiring propagation in a dispersive delay line. The compression principle is explained using the temporal Talbot effect. The proposed method is demonstrated experimentally with the generation of ∼20 ps pulses from cw radiation of a laser diode. The repetition rate multiplication is performed with fiber Bragg gratings. The proposed method simultaneously implements two important requirements of many fields, for example, of optical communications: pulse compression and pulse repetition rate multiplication.