Rebecca Jane Bussjager

Using Tungsten Oxide Based Thin Films for Optical Memory and the Effects of Using IR Combined with Blue/Blue-Green Wavelengths

Utilizing a form of tungsten oxide as the physical medium for optical memory, we show that infrared irradiation provides heat to the lattice structure while blue or blue-green light provides electronic excitation to initiate a photochromic chemical change. We have constructed and tested a spin stand based demonstration system for this form of optical memory. Tungsten oxide offers potential advantages in storage density, storage capacity, write speed, signal to noise, processing flexibility, data robustness, and overall, cost.

Photonic analog-to-digital conversion techniques using semiconductor saturable absorbers

There has been much recent interest in the use of photonics for analog to digital conversion. It is anticipated that the use of photonic analog to digital converters (ADCs) will far surpass the performance of electronic ADCs in terms of both sampling speed and resolution. We have designed a novel photonic ADC module that incorporates the use of semiconductor linear absorbers to perform the data quantization at speeds up to 100 GS/s with 4 bits of resolution. The use of the passive materials in this flash photonic ADC architecture makes this module a candidate for insertion into future space-based platforms. Experimental characterization results will be presented for the semiconductor materials used in the data conversion process.

Gamma-ray induced responses in an erbium doped fiber laser

Many people are investigating photonic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for use in a digital receiver as a plausible solution to increase the bandwidth and resolution over that currently offered by electronic ADCs. A key component of a photonic ADC is a mode-locked fiber laser. A preliminary evaluation of the capability of utilizing this type of laser in space based ionizing environments and applications is required. This paper explains the effects of exposing an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) to a total gamma-ray dose of 1 Mrad (Si). The performance of the laser is characterized in a passive fashion, i.e. before and after the irradiation. Predictions are offered to the extent of radiation induced damage that the fiber laser can endure before breaking down. The results of the evaluation will allow for further optimization of the EDFL for use in space-based architectures and applications.

Wavelength-based analog-to-digital conversion

This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of a tunable wavelength-based photonic high-speed analog-to- digital converter (ADC) approach and its anticipated performance. Analytic models, experimental data, and simulation results will provide the fundamental limits on the expected conversion speed and bit resolution. A thorough in situ study of the photonic signal conversion system under simulated space radiation conditions is required to precisely determine its performance in either a natural or man-made space environment. Although this study has not yet been performed on the entire system, preliminary performance predictions will be made based on previously published studies on the individual components within the system. The photonic components of particular interest that will be discussed in the context of radiation hardness includes the edge emitting laser diode with a MQW tuning element, the processor filters, the delay equalizers and the photodetectors.

Comparison of radiation-induced passive and dynamic responses in two erbium-doped fiber lasers

Erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs) may soon find applications in space as high bit rate optical communication systems and photonic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The rapid advancement in digital signal processing systems has led to an increased interest in the direct digitization of high-frequency analog signals. The potential high bandwidth, reduced weight, and reduced power requirements makes photonics an attractive technology for wide-band signal conversion as well as for use in space-based platforms. It is anticipated that photonic ADCs will be able to operate at sampling rates and resolutions far greater than current electronic ADCs. The high repetition rates and narrow pulse widths produced by EDFLs allow for high-speed impulse sampling of analog signals thus making it a vital component of a photonic ADC. In this paper we compare the results of exposing two differently constructed erbium-doped mode-locked fiber lasers (EDFLs) to gamma-rays. Each experiment is fully explained. The performance of EDFL1 was characterized in a passive fashion, i.e. before and after the irradiation. EDFL2s performance was monitored in situ. The onset, growth and extent of ionization induced damage under time-resolved operational conditions is presented. The in situ studies clearly revealed ionization induced shifts of the EDFL optical spectrum to shorter wavelengths and with corresponding changes to the emission spectral width. The results of the evaluation will allow for further optimization of an EDFL for use in space-based architectures and applications.

Injection characterization of packaged bi-directional diamond shaped ring lasers at 1550 nm

The Air Force Research Laboratory, Binoptics Corp., and Infotonics Technology Center worked collaboratively to package and characterize recently developed diode based ring lasers that operate at 1550 nm in a diamond shaped cavity. The laser modes propagate bi-directionally; however, uniaxial propagation may be induced by optical injection or by integrating a mirror. Round trip cavity length was 500 μm in 3.5 μm wide ridge waveguides, and four polarization-maintaining lensed fibers provided access to the input and output modes. A signal from a tunable diode laser, incident at one port, served to injection lock both of the counter-propagating circulating modes. When the input signal was time-encoded by an optical modulator, the encoding was transferred to both modes with an inverted time-intensity profile. Performance, in terms of fidelity and extinction ratio, is characterized for selected pulsed and monochromatic formats from low frequencies to those exceeding 12 GHz. A rate equation model is proposed to account for certain aspects of the observed behavior and analog and digital applications are discussed.

Optically assisted high-speed, high resolution analog-to-digital conversion

An approach that modifies an analog fiber optic link with a recirculating optical loop as a means to realize a high-speed, high-resolution Analog-to-Digital Converted (ADC) is presented. The loops stores a time-limited microwave signal so that it may be digitized by using a slower, conventional electronic ADC. Detailed analytical analysis of the dynamic range and noise figure shows that under appropriate conditions the microwave signal degradation is sufficiently small so as to allow the digitization of a multi-gigahertz signal with a resolution greater than 10 effective bits. Experimental data is presented which shows that a periodic extension of the input signal can be sustained for well over one hundred periods that in turn suggests an electronic ADC speed-up factor of over 100. The data also shows that polarization effects must be carefully managed to inhibit the loops tendency to lase even though the loop itself contains no frequency-selective elements.

Characterization of an electroabsorption modulator design with high-dynamic range for broadband analog applications

An electroabsorption modulator (EAM) is designed to optimize dynamic range performance over 20 GHz bandwidth. The single stripe waveguide enables an extremely compact and integrated package to be fabricated with single mode fiber pigtails. The transfer functions shape permits suppression of higher order intermodulation products, yielding a spur-free dynamic range exceeding that of Mach- Zehnder designs. A dilute optical core diverts energy flow from absorbing layers into low loss waveguide; the 20 dBm optical power tolerance is significantly higher than that of commercially available electroabsorption devices. The tunable performance over 20 GHz is characterized and applications are discussed. New approaches to the broadband impedance matching requirements are calculated and the impact on system performance is assessed.

40 GSPS opto-electronic polyphase analog-to-digital converter

A novel opto-electronic polyphase analog-to-digital converter scheme that entails parallel optical sampling of different phases of an input analog signal is presented. With this scheme higher sampling rate can be attained by scaling. We demonstrate the basic tenets of this approach by upscaling a 160MSPS optoelectronic analog-to-digital ADC system to design and implement a 40.96GSPS four-channel polyphase optoelectronic analog-to-digital system. An optoelectronic divide-by-two decimation technique is implemented for demultiplexing digital samples having a repetition rate f into its even and odd subsamples with each subsample having a repetition rate of f/2. A two stage concatenation of the basic divide-by-two decimation scheme is employed to demultiplex the 40.96GSPS sampled RF signals into 8 channels of demultiplexed data, each channel having a data-rate of 5.12GSPS. Detailed design parameters and experimental results are presented for both the 160MSPS and the 40GSPS, including the design and implementation of optical clock networks, polyphase RF sampling networks, and decimation or demultiplexing networks. In addition, the electronic quantization network for the 160MSPS ADC system is presented. The 160MSPS system was found to have effective bit-resolution of 6.97, third-harmonic distortion of 43.73dB, signal-to-noise-distortion of 43.73dB, and spurious free dynamic range of 41dB.

Gamma-ray-induced damage and recovery behavior in an erbium-doped fiber laser

Erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs) may soon find applications in space as high bit rate optical communication systems and photonic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The rapid advancement in digital signal processing systems has led to an increased interest in the direct digitization of high- frequency analog signals. The potential high bandwidth, reduced weight, and reduced power requirements makes photonics an attractive technology for wide-band signal conversion as well as for use in space-based platforms. It is anticipated that photonic ADCs will be able to operate at sampling rates and resolutions far greater than current electronic ADCs. The high repetition rates and narrow pulse widths produced by EDFLs allow for high-speed impulse sampling of analog signals thus making it a vital component of a photonic ADC. In this paper we report on the in situ gamma-ray irradiation of an actively mode-locked EDFL operating at 1530 nm. The onset, growth and extent of ionization induced damage under time-resolved operational conditions is presented. The laser consisted of approximately 3 meters of erbium-doped fiber pumped by a laser diode operating at 980 nm. The picosecond pulses produced by the laser were initiated and controlled by a Mach-Zehnder lithium niobate electro-optic modulator. The active mode-locking element allowed for the precise timing control of the laser repetition rate which is critical in high-speed optical networking systems as well as in photonic ADCs.