Huy Quoc Lam

Bidirectional passively mode-locked soliton fiber laser with a four-port circulator

We present an all-fiber bidirectional passively mode-locked soliton laser with what we believe is a novel cavity configuration. Using a four-port circulator, we incorporate two different semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) into the laser cavity, which enables bidirectional mode locking. The laser allows the generation of two independent countercirculating mode-locked pulse trains, each with an individual fundamental repetition rate that can be adjusted by varying the SESAM pigtail length. Two countercirculating pulse trains with repetition rates of 21.3 and 15.2 MHz are obtained simultaneously. By controlling the intracavity loss imposed on these two pulse trains, either one of the two pulse trains can be switched on or off. The bidirectional operation with other repetition rates is also demonstrated.

Photonic Time-Stretched Analog-to-Digital Converter Amenable to Continuous-Time Operation Based on Polarization Modulation With Balanced Detection Scheme

In this paper, we show analytically and experimentally that a polarization modulator which supports TE and TM modes of opposite phase modulation indexes can be utilized to reject dispersion-induced even-order distortions in a photonic Time-Stretched Analog-to-Digital Converter (TS-ADC). The output of the polarization modulator propagates through a single dispersive channel. This makes the present scheme amenable to continuous operation. Based on the virtual time gating principle, the continuous-time RF signal is time-stretched by a factor of 4 and segmented into four channels prior to digitization. For a single channel, differential operation is achieved by using a polarization beam-splitter that generates complementary pulses which are fed to a balanced detector. The differential operation helps to reject dispersion-induced even-order distortions and the balanced detection assists in the suppression of second-order distortion as well as improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by 6 dB. Using a 10 bit electronic ADC with a sampling rate of 2 GSamples/s, we demonstrate digitization of RF signals up to a frequency of 950 MHz and obtain ~ 3.56 effective number of bits (ENOB) with a single channel at ~ 31.6% of the electronic ADCs peak-to-peak full scale voltage. With adequate backend digitizing hardware, a four-channel continuous-time TS-ADC with a sampling rate of 8 GSamples/s can be realized to handle RF frequencies as high as 4 GHz.

Dissipative Soliton (12 nJ) From an All-Fiber Passively Mode-Locked Laser With Large Normal Dispersion

We experimentally demonstrate an all-fiber erbium-doped fiber laser operating in the large normal dispersion regime. The laser is mode-locked by use of nonlinear polarization rotation and generates dissipative solitons (DSs) with large positive chirp and steep spectral edges. Within the cavity, there is no additional spectral filter used for self-starting and stabilizing the mode-locking of the laser. The output DSs have a duration of 30.5 ps with pulse energies up to 12 nJ, which can be compressed externally to 240 fs.

Efficient one-third harmonic generation in highly Germania-doped fibers enhanced by pump attenuation

We provide a comprehensive study on one-third harmonic generation (OTHG) in highly Germania-doped fiber (HGDF) by analyzing the phase matching conditions for the step index-profile and optimizing the design parameters. For stimulated OTHG in HGDF, the process can be enhanced by fiber attenuation at the pump wavelength which dynamically compensates the accumulated phase-mismatch along the fiber. With 500 W pump and 35 W seed power, simulation results show that a 31% conversion efficiency, which is 4 times higher than the lossless OTHG process, can be achieved in 34 m of HGDF with 90 mol. % GeO2 doping in the core.

An optically tunable wideband optoelectronic oscillator based on a bandpass microwave photonic filter

An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) with wideband frequency tunability and stable output based on a bandpass microwave photonic filter (MPF) has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Realized by cascading a finite impulse response (FIR) filter and an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter together, the tunable bandpass MPF successfully replaces the narrowband electrical bandpass filter in a conventional single-loop OEO and serves as the oscillating frequency selector. The FIR filter is based on a tunable multi-wavelength laser and dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) while the IIR filter is simply based on an optical loop. Utilizing a long length of DCF as the dispersion medium for the FIR filter also provides a long delay line for the OEO feedback cavity and as a result, optical tuning over a wide frequency range can be achieved without sacrificing the quality of the generated signal. By tuning the wavelength spacing of the multi-wavelength laser, the oscillation frequency can be tuned from 6.88 GHz to 12.79 GHz with an average step-size of 0.128 GHz. The maximum frequency drift of the generated 10 GHz signal is observed to be 1.923 kHz over 1 hour and its phase noise reaches the -112 dBc/Hz limit of our measuring equipment at 10 kHz offset frequency.

Noise conversion from pump to the passively mode-locked fiber lasers at 1.5 μm

We characterize the noise conversion from the pump relative intensity noise (RIN) to the RIN and phase noise of passively mode-locked lasers at 1.5 μm. Two mode locking mechanisms, nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) and semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), are compared for noise conversion for the first time. It is found that the RIN and the phase noise of both types of lasers are dominated by the noise converted from the pump RIN and thus, can be predicted with the measured pump RIN and noise conversion ratios. The SESAM laser is found to show an excess noise conversion from the laser RIN to the laser phase noise due to the slow saturable absorber effect.

Characterization of the Excess Noise Conversion From Optical Relative Intensity Noise in the Photodetection of Mode-Locked Lasers for Microwave Signal Synthesis

Excess noise converted from the optical relative intensity noise (RIN) has limited the noise performance in the microwave signal synthesis application for mode-locked lasers. In this paper, a method for detailed characterization of the excess noise conversion from the optical RIN to the electrical pulse width jitter (PWJ), electrical relative amplitude noise (RAN) and electrical phase noise in the photodetection of mode-locked lasers is proposed. With the measured noise conversion ratios, one can predict the electrical RAN and phase noise power spectral densities under different input optical powers. The effect of the pulse width and peak power of the incident optical pulses and the effect of the saturation power of the photodetectors are also investigated. The results are used to suggest guidelines for achieving low-noise photodetection for microwave signal synthesis application.

Efficient Third-Harmonic Generation From 2

We propose the asymmetrical plasmonic slot waveguide (APSW) design for third-harmonic generation (THG) from 2.25 μm. In this configuration, the phase-matching condition is fulfilled between the zeroth-order mode at fundamental frequency (FF) and the first-order mode at third-harmonic frequency (THF). Due to the asymmetrical geometry, the mode overlap between the two involved modes is significantly enhanced, leading to an efficient THG process. According to the numerical calculation, the conversion efficiency is predicted up to 1.4% with 1-W pump power. The proposed APSW has the potential to realize an integrated efficient THG device in nanometer scale.

\mu \hbox{m}

We show analytically as well as experimentally a photonic technique for generation of frequency-tunable microwave signals. The technique involves propagating an array of uniformly spaced optical combs with identical comb profile into a length of dispersive single-mode fiber (SMF) prior to photodetection. A new scheme that involves a supercontinuum source and a Fourier-domain programmable optical processor as a spectral filter is proposed to generate the required array of optical combs. For an initial optical comb with a fixed repetition rate and a given length of standard SMF, our scheme shows that by choosing appropriate values of the number of optical combs, the number of comb lines in each optical comb, as well as the frequency spacing between the adjacent optical combs, we can generate a microwave signal whose frequency can be tuned to any integer multiple of the optical combs repetition frequency that lies within the bandwidth of the photodetector. Based on the proposed scheme, using a 2 GHz supercontinuum source as an initial optical comb, we demonstrate the generation of stable microwave signals tunable to 8, 10, and 12 GHz.

in Asymmetric Plasmonic Slot Waveguide

Flat supercontinuum (SC) generation with less than 1 dB fluctuation in the telecommunication band is demonstrated using a regenerative active mode-locked fiber laser together with a dispersion-flattened highly nonlinear fiber. Such SC is highly desirable in the context of a photonic time-stretched ADC system due to its flatness, bandwidth and brightness. Experimental results presented here agree well with the simulations.