Optical Sinc-shaped Nyquist pulse source based on a single Mach-Zehnder modulator

We present a precise and flexible Sinc-shaped Nyquist pulse source based on a single Mach-Zehnder modulator. The use of multi-harmonic RF signals provides direct control on the Nyquist pulse train generation. The variable comb source is demonstrated by selecting the number of RF components used to drive the optical modulator, leading from 3 to 9 comb lines. Furthermore, different operating points are reported to show the multi-harmonic comb generator potential to provide near-perfect Nyquist pulse source with pure rectangular optical spectrum or with minimized insertion loss.