Programmable shaping of femtosecond optical pulses by use of 128-element liquid crystal phase modulator

Author

Weiner, Andrew M. ; Leaird, Daniel E. ; Patel, J.S. ; Wullert, John R., II

Author_Institution

Bellcore, Red Bank, NJ, USA

Volume

28

Issue

4

fYear

1992

fDate

4/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

908

Lastpage

920

Abstract

Programmable shaping of femtosecond pulses by using a 128-element liquid crystal modulator to manipulate the phases of optical frequency components which are spatially dispersed within a grating-and-lens pulse shaping apparatus is described. This apparatus makes possible gray-level control of the spectral phases and allows modification of the pulse shape on a millisecond time scale under electronic control. Refinements in the design of the multielement modulator result in pulse shaping fidelity comparable to that which can be achieved with microlithographically fabricated masks. Several examples of pulse shaping operation, including pulse position modulation, programmable pulse compression, and adjustable cubic phase distortion, are described

Keywords

high-speed optical techniques; liquid crystal devices; optical communication equipment; optical modulation; adjustable cubic phase distortion; electronic control; femtosecond optical pulses; grating-and-lens pulse shaping apparatus; gray-level control; liquid crystal phase modulator; millisecond time scale; optical frequency components; programmable pulse compression; programmable shaping; pulse position modulation; pulse shape; pulse shaping fidelity; spectral phases; Modulation coding; Optical pulse shaping; Optical pulses; Phase modulation; Pulse compression methods; Pulse modulation; Pulse shaping methods; Shape control; Ultrafast electronics; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.135209

Filename

135209