New design for photonic temporal integration with combined high processing speed and long operation time window

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical Signal Processing
• Integrated Optics

Background:

• Photonic temporal integrators are crucial for signal processing.
• Existing designs face trade-offs between processing bandwidth and operation time window.
• Achieving a large time-bandwidth product is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel photonic temporal integrator design.
• To achieve simultaneous high processing bandwidth and a long operation time window.
• To create a large time-bandwidth product for optical signal processing.

Main Methods:

• Concatenating a time-limited ultrafast photonic temporal integrator (e.g., Fiber Bragg Grating - FBG) with a discrete-time optical integrator (e.g., optical resonant cavity).
• Experimental proof-of-concept using a uniform FBG in series with a bulk-optics coherent interferometers' system (4-point discrete-time integrator).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated accurate temporal integration of complex-field optical signals.
• Achieved integration of signals with time-features as fast as ~6 picoseconds (ps).
• Extended the operation time window to ~200 picoseconds (ps), a 4-fold improvement over the FBG integrator alone.

Conclusions:

• The proposed hybrid design successfully combines high processing speed and extended operation time.
• This novel photonic temporal integrator offers a significant advancement in achieving large time-bandwidth products.
• The demonstrated system provides a versatile platform for advanced optical signal processing applications.