Femtosecond pulse shaping

Generation of sequences of ultrashort optical pulses is key in realizing ultra high speed optical networks, Optical Code Division Multiple Access (OCDMA) systems, chemical and biological reaction triggering and monitoring etc.

The ability to produce trains of pulses with femtosecond or picosecond separation implies transmission of optical information at very high speeds.

The modulating function in pulse shapers may be in time domain or a frequency domain (obtained by Fourier transform of time profile of pulse).

However, application of direct pulse shaping technique on a femtosecond time scale faces the same problem as direct femtosecond pulse measurement: electronics speed limitations.

[2] Michelson interferometer can be regarded as direct space-to-time pulse shaper since position of the moving mirror is directly transferred to the inter-pulse delay of the output pulse pair.