Photonic ultrawideband monocycle pulse generation using a single electro-optic modulator

Opt Lett. 2008 Feb 1;33(3):288-90. doi: 10.1364/ol.33.000288.

Abstract

A compact approach to photonic-assisted ultrawideband (UWB) monocycle pulse generation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the wavelength dependence of the half-wave voltage of a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM). By employing a single MZM with dual-wavelength injection at around 1310 and 1550 nm, a pair of polarity-reversed monocycle pulses with the full width at half-maximum of about 80 ps and the fractional bandwidth of greater than 160% can be generated. The experiment results agree well with the theoretical prediction. The simple setup and the convenience to control the monocycle pulse polarity are favorable for future applications.