Flat-Top Pulse Generation by the Optical Fourier Transform Technique for Ultrahigh Speed Signal Processing

This paper reports on the generation of 1.6-ps full-width at half-maximum flat-top pulses by the optical Fourier transform technique, and the utilization of these pulses in a 320-Gb/s demultiplexing experiment. It is demonstrated how a narrow pulse having a 15-nm wide third-order super-Gaussian spectral intensity profile is mapped into a flat-top pulse resembling its spectrum by simple propagation in SMF. Theoretical and experimental descriptions are given on flat-top pulse generation, and an experimental validation of the systems performance of the pulses is carried out, demonstrating a benefit in terms of timing tolerance.