Generation of customized ultrahigh repetition rate pulse sequences using superimposed fiber Bragg gratings

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the use of superimposed fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as amplitude or phase filtering stages for generating ultrahigh-repetition-rate optical pulse bursts from a single ultrashort pulse. This approach offers the advantages of a compact all-fiber solution and provides high flexibility in tailoring the temporal features of the generated pulse sequence, namely, the repetition rate, as well as the shape and duration of both the individual pulses and the temporal envelope of the burst. To demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach, we generate near-flat-topped optical pulse bursts with repetition rates as high as ~~170 GHz at a wavelength of 1.55(mu)m using uniform and linearly chirped superimposed FBGs. We show that superimposed linearly chirped FBGs are more energetically efficient and provide increased design flexibility than superimposed uniform FBGs. Our experimental results also show the robustness of the technique to imperfections in the grating structures and to variations in the input pulse quality.