Optical frequency combs generated by four-wave mixing in optical fibers for astrophysical spectrometer calibration and metrology

Endless Single-Mode Photonics Crystal Fiber Metalens for Broadband and Efficient Focusing in Near-Infrared Range

The advent of the ‘lab-on-fiber’ concept has boosted the prosperity of optical fiber-based platforms integrated with nanostructured metasurface technology which are capable of controlling the light at the nanoscale for multifunctional applications. Here, we propose an endless single-mode large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber (LMA-PCF) integrated metalens for broadband and efficient focusing from 800 to 1550 nm. In the present work, the optical properties of the substrate LMA-PCF were investigated, and the metalens, consisting of dielectric TiO₂ nanorods with varying radii, was elaborately designed in the fiber core region with a diameter of 48 μm to cover the required phase profile for efficient focusing with a high transmission. The focusing characteristics of the designed metalens were also investigated in detail over a wide wavelength range. It is shown that the in-fiber metalens is capable of converging the incident beams into the bright, symmetric, and legible focal spots with a large focal length of 315–380 μm depending on the operating wavelength. A high and average focusing efficiency of 70% was also obtained with varying wavelengths. It is believed the proposed fiber metalens may show great potential in applications including fiber laser configuration, machining, and fiber communication.

Phase-coherent lightwave communications with frequency combs

Fiber-optical networks are a crucial telecommunication infrastructure in society. Wavelength division multiplexing allows for transmitting parallel data streams over the fiber bandwidth, and coherent detection enables the use of sophisticated modulation formats and electronic compensation of signal impairments. Optical frequency combs can replace the multiple lasers used for the different wavelength channels. Beyond multiplexing, it has been suggested that the broadband phase coherence of frequency combs could simplify the receiver scheme by performing joint reception and processing of several wavelength channels, but an experimental validation in a fiber transmission experiment remains elusive. Here we demonstrate and quantify joint reception and processing of several wavelength channels in a full transmission system. We demonstrate two joint processing schemes; one that reduces the phase-tracking complexity and one that increases the transmission performance.

Frequency combs have the potential to be used as multi-wavelength sources in future optical communications through fiber. Here the authors demonstrate joint phase processing of multi-wavelength comb transmission, and show two schemes to improve performance and reduce complexity.

Free-running mode-locked laser based dual-comb spectroscopy

We present a real-time dual-comb spectrometer operated from a bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser in the wavelength range of 1.9 μm. Two pulsed signals emitted from a common cavity ensure mutual coherence and common mode noise rejection. The resulting spectrometer operates without any complex electronic feedback system.

Self-homodyne 24×32-QAM superchannel receiver enabled by all-optical comb regeneration using brillouin amplification

We demonstrate and characterize an all-optical self-homodyne (SH) frequency superchannel enabled by comb regeneration at the receiver. In order to generate the superchannel, we use a frequency comb with 26 carriers spaced by 25 GHz at the transmitter, from which 24 carriers are modulated with polarization-multiplexed 32 quadrature amplitude modulation (PM 32-QAM) data. To enable comb regeneration at the receiver side, the two central carriers remain unmodulated. High fidelity comb regeneration is achieved by filtering the two unmodulated carriers with an approximately 25 MHz wide optical filter based on Brillouin amplification before a parametric mixer. The carriers from the regenerated comb are then used as local oscillator for SH detection. We demonstrate that all 24 carriers can be detected with an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalty lower than 2.5 dB in a back-to-back scenario. We also demonstrate that the whole superchannel can be transmitted through 120 km of single-mode fiber (SMF) and be detected with bit-error rate (BER) below 0.015.

Multicoherence wavelength generation based on integrated twin-microdisk lasers

An effective method for multicoherence wavelength generation is experimentally demonstrated using an integrated twin-microdisk laser as a seeding source. Dual-wavelength lasing with variable wavelength spacing is achieved by adjusting injection currents independently. Using the integrated laser as a pump seed, we obtain multicoherence wavelength in a nonlinear optical fiber, which has a tunable frequency interval from 50 to 300 GHz. Ten waves with optical signal to noise ratio from 28 to 10 dB are produced at the frequency interval of 200 GHz and a pulse width of 1.2 ps. The high extinction ratio of the pulse trace indicates the high coherence in the mode-locked multiwavelength light source.

Widely time-dispersion-tuned fiber optical oscillator and frequency comb based on multiple nonlinear processes

An all-fiber optical oscillator based on three nonlinear processes, namely stimulated Raman scattering and broad-band and narrow-band optical parametric amplification, is presented and experimentally characterized. The wavelength tuning is achieved by means of the time-dispersion technique and spans over 160 nm. Through the same technique a fast tunable optical frequency comb has been realized exploiting cascaded four-wave mixing.

Comparison analysis of optical frequency comb generation with nonlinear effects in highly nonlinear fibers

We compare several schemes for broadband optical frequency comb (OFC) generation based on several nonlinear effects in highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). Cascaded four wave mixing (CFWM) and self-phase modulation (SPM) processes in HNLF are proved to be effective ways for spectrum broadening. We investigate some parameters affecting the performance of the output OFC in detail. When only CFWM occurs in the HNLF, broadband OFC can be generated with poor power flatness. When only SPM occurs in the HNLF, we obtain a 10 GHz OFC of 103 comb lines within 5-dB power deviation. When both CFWM and SPM simultaneously occur in the HNLF, we obtain a 10 GHz OFC of 143 comb lines within 4.5-dB power deviation. All the OFC generation schemes have the advantages of tunability of central wavelength and repetition frequency.

Enhancement of cascaded four-wave mixing via optical feedback

A scheme is proposed to enhance the cascaded four-wave mixing (CFWM) generation, by introducing an optical feedback to the input port. Experimental and numerical results show that more efficient CFWM generation can be obtained by the scheme. The number of CFWM products is increased, as well as the powers of most CFWM products are improved.

Spectral linewidth preservation in parametric frequency combs seeded by dual pumps

We demonstrate new technique for generation of programmable-pitch, wideband frequency combs with low phase noise. The comb generation was achieved using cavity-less, multistage mixer driven by two tunable continuous-wave pump seeds. The approach relies on phase-correlated continuous-wave pumps in order to cancel spectral linewidth broadening inherent to parametric comb generation. Parametric combs with over 200-nm bandwidth were obtained and characterized with respect to phase noise scaling to demonstrate linewidth preservation over 100 generated tones.

Modulation instability, Akhmediev Breathers and continuous wave supercontinuum generation

Numerical simulations of the onset phase of continuous wave supercontinuum generation from modulation instability show that the structure of the field as it develops can be interpreted in terms of the properties of Akhmediev Breathers. Numerical and analytical results are compared with experimental measurements of spectral broadening in photonic crystal fiber using nanosecond pulses.