Optical sinc-shaped Nyquist pulse generation by using of an intensity modulator in a Sagnac Loop

Abstract

A simple optical frequency comb generator with Nyquist temporal waveform by using of an intensity modulator (IM) in a Sagnac Loop is proposed. By properly adjusting the polarization of the output from the Sagnac loop, a quasi-rectangular-shaped 5-tone OFC with Nyquist temporal waveform is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. But it is impossible to generate Nyquist pulses with more than 3 comb lines using a single IM as reported before. In our scheme, only one RF signal with a relatively low power is needed, which effectively increases the system reliability and decrease the system complexity and cost.