Optical generation of polarity- and shape-switchable ultrawideband pulses using a chirped intensity modulator and a first-order asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We propose and demonstrate a simple method to generate ultrawideband (UWB) pulses in the optical domain using a chirped intensity modulator and an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (AMZI). Polarity- and shape-switchable UWB Gaussian monocycle, doublet, and triplet pulses with fractional bandwidths of 158%, 134%, and 100% and center frequencies of 6.52, 9.78, and 10.1 GHz are experimentally generated by controlling the dc bias of the intensity modulator and adjusting the polarization controller in the AMZI. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America