High-frequency characterization of high-speed modulators and photodetectors in a link with low-speed photonic sampling

We propose a low-speed photonic sampling for independent high-frequency characterization of a Mach–Zehnder modulator(MZM)and a photodetector(PD)in an optical link.A low-speed mode-locked laser diode(MLLD)provides an ultrawideband optical stimulus with scalable frequency range,working as the photonic sampling source of the link.The uneven spectrum lines of the MLLD are firstly characterized with symmetric modulation within the interesting frequency range.Then,the electro-optic modulated signals are down-converted to the first Nyquist frequency range,yielding the self-referenced extraction of modulation depth and half-wave voltage of the MZM without correcting the responsivity fluctuation of the PD in the link.Finally,the frequency responsivity of the PD is self-referenced measured under null modulation of the MZM.As frequency responses of the MZM and the PD can be independently obtained,our method allows self-referenced high-frequency measurement for a high-speed optical link.In the proof-of-concept experiment,a 96.9 MS/s MLLD is used for measuring a MZM and a PD within the frequency range up to 50 GHz.The consistency between our method and the conventional method verifies that the ultra-wideband and self-referenced high-frequency characterization of high-speed MZMs and PDs.

Bias-Independent Inter-Modulation Method for Simultaneously Measuring Low-Frequency Modulation and Bias Half-Wave Voltages of Mach-Zehnder Modulators

A bias-independent inter-modulation method is proposed and demonstrated for measuring low-frequency modulation and bias half-wave voltages of Mach-Zehnder modulators(MZMs).The method consists of simultaneous sinusoidal modulation on the modulation and bias ports of the MZM under test.Sinusoidal-modulated sidebands heterodyne with each other and generate the desired inter-modulation products after photodetection,which allows extracting both the modulation depth and half-wave voltage for the modulation and bias ports of the MZM.Our method is independent of bias voltages of the MZM,which can be canceled out by carefully choosing the sinusoidal-modulation frequencies.Moreover,the proposed method enables the low swing voltage for measuring both the modulation depth and half-wave voltage of MZMs.Experiments indicate that the proposed method features the simple setup and high accuracy for low-frequency response measurement ranging from 1 Hz to 1 MHz.

Analog-to-digital converters using photonic technology

This paper presents a brief review of photonic analog-to-digital converters(ADCs).Some typical schemes and operation principles of photonic ADCs,including photonic sampling ADCs,photonic quantizing ADCs,photonic sampling&quantizing ADCs and photonic assisted ADCs,are summarized and analyzed.In addition,some recent breakthrough results in the photonic ADCs are introduced.

Methods to improve the performance of the swept source at 1.0 μm based on a polygon scanner

In this work, we investigate the methods to improve the performance of the swept source at 1.0 μm based on a polygon scanner, including in-cavity parameters and booster structures out of the cavity. The three in-cavity parameters are the cavity length, the rotating speed of the polygon scanner, and the in-cavity energy. With the decrease of cavity length, the spectrum bandwidth becomes wider and the duty cycle becomes higher.With the increase of the rotating speed of the polygon, the spectrum bandwidth becomes narrower, and the duty cycle becomes lower but the repetition rate becomes higher. With more energy in-cavity, the spectrum bandwidth becomes wider and the duty cycle becomes higher. The booster structures include the buffered structure, secondary amplifier, and dual-semiconductor optical amplifier configuration, which are used to increase the sweep frequency to 86 kHz, the output power to 18 mW, and the tuning bandwidth to 131 nm, respectively.

Few-layer MoS2 grown by chemical vapor deposition as a passive Q-switcher for tunable erbium-doped fiber lasers

We report an erbium-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by a few-layer molybdenum disulfide（MoS2） saturable absorber（SA）.The few-layer MoS2 is grown by the chemical vapor deposition method and transferred onto the end-face of a fiber connector to form a fiber-compatible MoS2 SA.The laser cavity is constructed by using a three-port optical circulator and a fiber Bragg grating（FBG） as the two end-mirrors.Stable Q-switched pulses are obtained with a pulse duration of 1.92 μs at 1560.5 nm.By increasing the pump power from 42 to 204 mW,the pulse repetition rate can be widely changed from 28.6 to 114.8 kHz.Passive Q-switching operations with discrete lasing wavelengths ranging from 1529.8 to 1570.1 nm are also investigated by using FBGs with different central wavelengths.This work demonstrates that few-layer MoS2 can serve as a promising SA for wideband-tunable Q-switching laser operation.

Fiber chromatic dispersion measurement with improved measurement range based on chirped intensity modulation

A novel method for accurately measuring chromatic dispersion of optical fibers is proposed based on the use of chirped intensity-modulated signals.Unlike the conventional method,the proposed method utilizes the configurable transfer function of optical fibers caused by the residual chirp of intensity modulation,which not only eliminates the chirp error but also improves the measurement range through adjusting the chirp parameter of the intensity modulator.Our method is applicable for measuring both the magnitude and sign of chromatic dispersion of optical fibers or other dispersive devices at different operating wavelengths by using a vector network analyzer.