On-chip optical pulse shaper for arbitrary waveform generation

We propose and demonstrate a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) on-chip optical pulse shaper based on four-tap finite impulse response. Due to different width designs in phase region of each tap, the phase differences for all taps are controlled by an external thermal source, resulting in an optical pulse shaper. We further demonstrate optical arbitrary waveform generation based on the optical pulse shaper assisted by an optical frequency comb injection. Four different optical waveforms are generated when setting the central wavelengths at 1533.78 nm and 1547.1 nm and setting the thermal source temperatures at 23 °C and 33 °C, respectively. Our scheme has distinct advantages of compactness, capability for integrating with electronics since the integrated silicon waveguide is employed. (atomic and molecular physics)