Opto-electronic generation of low-jitter pulsed signals

Summary form only given. In an actively mode-locked laser, the pulse-to-pulse jitter is ultimately limited by the phase noise of the mode-locking microwave source. On the other hand, opto-electronic oscillators (OEO) using fiber delay lines have been shown capable of generating microwave frequency with extremely low phase noise. Therefore, one can take advantage of the low phase noise of an OEO for ultra-low jitter pulse generation. In this paper, we describe the development of a new low-jitter pulse generator by combing the two technologies. In this approach, the optical oscillator (mode-locked EDFL) and the microwave oscillator (OEO) are coupled through a common Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator as an integrated pulse generator, thus named a coupled opto-electronic oscillator.