Pedestal-Free Pulse Source for High Data Rate Optical Time-Division Multiplexing Based on Fiber-Optical Parametric Processes

In this paper, an RF-driven pedestal-free cavity-less 40 GHz pulse source for generation of high-speed optical time-division multiplexing signal is presented. The pulse source is based on pulse compression by means of self-phase modulation in combination with subsequent filtering. Further compression and pedestal removal of the pulse was achieved in one-pump fiber-optic parametric amplifier seeded by a continuous-wave laser source. The obtained idler pulses were characterized by a full-width at half-maximum pulsewidth of 1.2 ps and an SNR of 36 dB. Generation of 320 Gb/s data stream with a ${\rm Q}$-factor of 20 dB is successfully demonstrated using the proposed pulse source.