Broadband photonic arbitrary waveform generation using a frequency agile laser at 15 μm

We use a pulse-compression chirp-transform algorithm to generate broadband photonic arbitrary waveforms. A phase-locked frequency agile laser provides the needed broadband frequency scans. We theoretically show and experimentally demonstrate that the residual laser frequency errors do not significantly alter the waveform generation. The experiment exhibits features such as the operation at the telecom wavelength of 1.5 mu m, the counterpropagating, crossed-polarized beam configuration, and the storage of the initial waveform in the active medium. The last specificity gives access to large time-bandwidth product values. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America