Abstract
In this paper, we propose a new approach for the generation of ultralow jitter optical pulses using optoelectronic microwave oscillators. The short pulses are obtained through time-lens soliton-assisted compression of sinusoidally modulated prepulses, which are self-started from a conventional single-loop optoelectronic oscillator. The inherent ultralow phase noise of optoelectronic oscillators is converted into ultralow timing jitter for the generated pulses. We provide a time-domain model for the slowly varying amplitudes of the microwave and optical oscillations, and our analytical study is confirmed by numerical simulations and experimental measurements. We demonstrate the generation of 4.1 ps pulses along with a microwave whose phase noise is -140 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz from the 10 GHz carrier, with 2.7 fs jitter in the 1-10 kHz frequency band.
Highlights
Optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) are known to provide ultrapure microwaves with ultralow levels of phase noise [1], [2]
The advantage of OEOs, in this case, is that their intrinsically low phase noise is equivalent to extremely low timing jitter for the generated pulses
Several architectures have been explored along that line, such as coupled mode-locked fiber laser OEOs [3], [4], electroabsorption OEOs [5], phase-modulation OEOs [6], or mutually coupled OEOs with intracavity fiber parametric amplification [7]
Summary
Optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) are known to provide ultrapure microwaves with ultralow levels of phase noise [1], [2]. Due to the combined effects of dispersion and self-phase modulation, the prepulses are optimally compressed with a compression factor that may be as high as 20, following a scenario referred to as time-lens soliton-assisted compression [8] This self-starting train of short pulses are converted back to an electrical signal, and they are filtered around the fundamental frequency before being used to close the feedback loop through the two aforementioned modulation branches. The system generates, at the same time, short, regularly spaced optical pulses in the optical domain, and an ultrapure microwave in the RF domain With this architecture, the fiber delay line plays two distinct and important roles: it stores optical energy as in conventional OEOs, and it compresses the sinusoidally modulated laser beam to a train of short pulses.
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