Time-space-conversion Optical Signal Processing Using Arrayed-waveguide Grating and its Applications to Communication and Information Processing Systems

Abstract

Ultra-short optical pulse shaping based on time-to-space conversion has been widelydemonstrated by usingfree-space optics with diffraction grating pairs and lenses. We have proposed time-to-space conversion opticalsignal processing using an arrayed-waveguide grating. The arrayed-waveguide grating system has the advantagesof a long time window, and well suites to handle subpico-to several picosecond pulses. Moreover, it iscompact, compatible with fiber optics, and can be integrated with functional photonic devices. We introduceseveral applications of this technology to terabit communication systems, such as pulse shaping, dispersioncompensation, differential processing, optical phase-shift keying detection and optical CDM encoder and decoder.