Shuqian Sun

Reconfigurable Optical Signal Processing Based on a Distributed Feedback Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

All-optical signal processing has been considered a solution to overcome the bandwidth and speed limitations imposed by conventional electronic-based systems. Over the last few years, an impressive range of all-optical signal processors have been proposed, but few of them come with reconfigurability, a feature highly needed for practical signal processing applications. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an analog optical signal processor based on a phase-shifted distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifier (DFB-SOA) and an optical filter. The proposed analog optical signal processor can be reconfigured to perform signal processing functions including ordinary differential equation solving and temporal intensity differentiation. The reconfigurability is achieved by controlling the injection currents. Our demonstration provitdes a simple and effective solution for all-optical signal processing and computing.

Experimental demonstration of a multi-target detection technique using an X-band optically steered phased array radar.

An X-band optically-steered phased array radar is developed to demonstrate high resolution multi-target detection. The beam forming is implemented based on wavelength-swept true time delay (TTD) technique. The beam forming system has a wide direction tuning range of ± 54 degree, low magnitude ripple of ± 0.5 dB and small delay error of 0.13 ps/nm. To further verify performance of the proposed optically-steered phased array radar, three experiments are then carried out to implement the single and multiple target detection. A linearly chirped X-band microwave signal is used as radar signal which is finally compressed at the receiver to improve the detection accuracy. The ranging resolution for multi-target detection is up to 2 cm within the measuring distance over 4 m and the azimuth angle error is less than 4 degree.

Direct laser writing of pyramidal plasmonic structures with apertures and asymmetric gratings towards efficient subwavelength light focusing

Efficient confining of photons into subwavelength scale is of great importance in both fundamental researches and engineering applications, of which one major challenge lies in the lack of effective and reliable on-chip nanofabrication techniques. Here we demonstrate the efficient subwavelength light focusing with carefully engineered pyramidal structures fabricated by direct laser writing and surface metallization. The important effects of the geometry and symmetry are investigated. Apertures with various sizes are flexibly introduced at the apex of the pyramids, the focusing spot size and center-to-sidelobe ratio of which could be improved a factor of ~4 and ~3, respectively, compared with the conical counterparts of identical size. Moreover, two pairs of asymmetric through-nanogratings are conceptually introduced onto the top end of the pyramids, showing significantly improved focusing characteristics. The studies provide a novel methodology for the design and realization of 3D plasmonic focusing with low-noise background and high energy transfer.

High-speed tunable broadband microwave photonics phase shifter based on an active microring resonator

We experimentally demonstrate a broadband microwave photonics phase shifter. This phase shifter utilizes the free-carrier dispersion effect in a silicon microring resonator (MRR) with P-N junction. We characterize the phase and amplitude response of the MRR at different bias voltage. Experimental results show that a microwave photonics phase shifter with a bandwidth from 10 GHz to 15 GHz and a tuning range of 176 degree is realized by varying the bias voltage from 0.7 V to 0.9 V. The tuning speed of the microwave photonics phase shifter can be up to 1 ns according to the testing results of MRR.

Photonic true time delay beamforming technique with ultra-fast beam scanning

A photonic-based true time delay (TTD) phased array antenna (PAA) with ultra-fast angle scan is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A tunable TTD is realized using a wavelength-swept laser and an array of dispersive elements. The key novelty of our work is the ultra-fast angle scan using an ultra-fast wavelength-swept laser source, which is constructed by a gated multi-wavelength laser (MWL) and a dispersion compensation fiber (DCF). In our experiments, a wavelength-sweep time between two adjacent wavelengths is only several nanoseconds for wavelength spacing of 2.4, and 3.2 nm. We successfully realized an ultra-fast angle scan from 0 to 43° with a step of 8.8° in 12.48 ns.

Fully characterization of a DFB-SOA based active optical filter

A fully characterization of an active optical filter based on an equivalent-phase-shifted DFB-SOA in transmission is experimentally demonstrated. The influences of driven current on transmission characteristics of the DFB-SOA are analyzed.

Tunable single passband microwave photonic filter based on DFB-SOA-assisted optical carrier recovery

A widely tunable single-passband microwave photonic filter (MPF) based on a distributed-feedback semiconductor optical amplifier (DFB-SOA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. The fundamental principle is to recover the suppressed optical carrier from a passband optical filter by the wavelength-selective amplification via a DFB-SOA. A microwave signal is then generated by beating the recovered optical carrier with the phase-modulated lower sideband, and thus, an MPF is achieved with the shape of the passband optical filter that is mapped from the optical domain to the electrical domain. By tuning the central wavelength of the passband optical filter, a single-passband MPF with a frequency tuning range from 5 to 35 GHz is obtained. The 3-dB bandwidth and the out-of-band suppression ratio are measured to be 4 GHz and 20 dB, respectively. In addition, the tunability of the MPF that is dependent on the driven current of the DFB-SOA is also experimentally investigated.

Tunable fractional-order photonic differentiator using a distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifier

Abstract. We propose a tunable fractional-order photonic differentiator based on a distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) working in reflection mode. The phase shift at the resonant wavelength can be adjusted by controlling the current injected into the DFB-SOA, which can implement the fractional-order differentiation. A 60 ps Gaussian pulse is temporally differentiated with a tunable order range from 0.7 to 1.3.

Time-bandwidth compression of microwave signals

We report and demonstrate a reconfigurable photonic anamorphic stretch transform to realize time-bandwidth product (TBP) compression for microwave signals. A time-spectrum convolution system is employed to provide an ultra-high nonlinear dispersion up to several nanoseconds per gigahertz, which is required for processing nanosecond-long microwave signals. The group delay of the system can be engineered easily by programming a WaveShaper. Based on the proposed scheme, the TBP of a double pulse microwave signal is compressed by 1.9 times. Our proposal can provide a more efficient way to sample, digitize and store high-speed microwave signals, opening up entirely new perspectives for generation of many critical microwave signal processing modules.

All-optical temporal fractional order differentiator using an in-fiber ellipsoidal air-microcavity

An all-optical temporal fractional order differentiator with ultrabroad bandwidth (~1.6 THz) and extremely simple fabrication is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on an in-fiber ellipsoidal air-microcavity. The ellipsoidal air-microcavity is fabricated by splicing a single mode fiber (SMF) and a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) together using a simple arc-discharging technology. By changing the arc-discharging times, the propagation loss can be adjusted and then the differentiation order is tuned. A nearly Gaussian-like optical pulse with 3 dB bandwidth of 8 nm is launched into the differentiator and a 0.65 order differentiation of the input pulse is achieved with a processing error of 2.55%.