Stabilization of a fiber-optic two-arm interferometer for ultra-short pulse signal processing applications

We experimentally demonstrate a stable ultrafast first-order temporal differentiator using a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer incorporating a simple feedback stabilization control, which is based on dithering a single wavelength cw reference. Feedback control signals are acquired by a phase-lock-loop and used for automatically adjusting and maintaining the resonance wavelength of the differentiator at the pulse center wavelength without dithering or disturbing the interferometer arms. Picosecond odd-symmetry Hermite-Gaussian waveforms using the implemented first-order differentiator have been stably generated. The demonstrated stabilization system should prove useful for a wide range of ultrafast pulse processing and analysis applications based on the use of two-arm interferometers.