Optical Arbitrary Waveform Generator On a Monolithic InP Chip with Continuously Extendable Duration based on Novel Ultra-High-Resolution Diffraction G

The proposed project will undertake the research, design, and development of key concepts and technologies for extended duration optical arbitrary waveform generator (OAWG) over large bandwidth, based on a monolithically integrated high-speed optoelectronic chip with a unique integrated ultimate-resolution super-compact grating (URSCG). The proposed OAWG is capable of continuously extendable duration without time aperture limit for the arbitrary waveform, referred to as unlimited-time-duration optical arbitrary-waveform generator (UTD-OAWG). Phase II will focus on the realization of a fully working UTD-OAWG chip and module with driver circuits. It will involve research and devlopment of the proposed URSCG based UTD-OAWG chip and its module packaging with driver circuit board. The proposed UTD-OAWG chip has the following advantages: (1) It provides a monolithically integrated chip with spectral channel decomposition, channel’s amplitude and phase modulations, and spectral re-composition functionalities all integrated on a cm-size Indium Phosphide (InP) chip; (2) It provides an OAWG with high modulation speed of 10G to 40GHz; (3) It will be capable of covering wide optical bandwidth of up to 1THz with 1psec time resoultion for the arbitrary opticsl waveform; (4) It will be capable of high-bit resolution up to 256 levels (8 bits) for the amplitude and phase modulations.