Abstract
We introduce a fully programmable two-dimensional (2D) pulse shaper, able to simultaneously control the amplitude and phase of very fine spectral components over a broad bandwidth. This is achieved by aligning two types of spectral dispersers in a cross dispersion setup: a virtually imaged phased array for accessing fine resolution and a transmission grating for achieving broad bandwidth. We take advantage of the resultant 2D dispersion profile as well as introduce programmability by adding a 2D liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator at the masking plane. Our shaper has a resolution of ~3 GHz operating over the entire 'C' band of >5.8 THz. Experimental evidence is provided that highlights the full programmability, fine spectral control, and broad bandwidth operation (limited currently by the bandwidth of the input light). We also show line-by-line manipulation of record 836 comb lines over the C-band.
Highlights
Optical pulse shaping is a widely adopted method to reshape ultrafast light pulses through the complex manipulation of their optical spectrum [1, 2]
Conventional pulse shapers are limited by an inherent trade-off: typical spectral dispersers either have broad bandwidth operation with coarse spectral control or fine spectral control with a limited bandwidth
The current spectral resolution record for line-by-line shaping is 890 MHz, comb lines could only be arbitrarily controlled over a limited bandwidth of 25 GHz [8]
Summary
Optical pulse shaping is a widely adopted method to reshape ultrafast light pulses through the complex manipulation of their optical spectrum [1, 2]. A programmable device allows us to tackle issues such as controlling higher orders of VIPA light as well as addressing the highly nonlinear diffraction pattern inherent to this device, both of which help enhance the available extinction ratio In this contribution, we highlight this new programmatic control and its benefits. In addition we highlight the broad bandwidth of the device through line-by-line spectral shaping of 836 lines across the C-Band To our knowledge these are the most complex waveforms ever shaped in a line-by-line manner, increasing the number of discrete lines individually addressed by ~30% compared to that achieved in the experiments of [17], which were limited by the number of pixels (640) in the one dimensional SLM. In our experiment the number of lines is limited by the bandwidth of the optical pulse source; with a broader band source substantially more lines could be accommodated without changing the pulse shaper setup
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
