Pulse Shaping
Overview: By modulating the phase and/or amplitude of the spectral components of broadband femtosecond pulses, it is possible to generate arbitrarily shaped ultrafast optical waveforms. These pulse shaping techniques enable precise control over the pulse shape in both the time domain and frequency domain, which is crucial for optimizing digital communication performance. Applications for this technology include optical pulse shaping in optical communications, biomedical optical imaging, high power laser amplifiers, nonlinear optics, quantum control, and laser-electron beam interactions.

The typical implementation utilizes a grating to spatially separate frequency components of a femtosecond pulse onto a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM). This configuration enables transform-limited pulses to be reshaped into complex waveforms with desired spectral phase characteristics. The SLM can simultaneously introduce a phase bias and act as a diffraction grating to control the phase and amplitude—essential for precise pulse shaping filter design. The reflected light from the SLM is recombined to form a short-duration, highly controlled optical pulse.

These shaped pulses can be used to tune excitation in CARS microscopes, for spectroscopy, machining and laser marking, nonlinear microscopy, and wireless communication systems, where minimizing intersymbol interference (ISI) is critical. Implementing matched filtering and low pass filters in conjunction with pulse shapers can help achieve zero ISI conditions in baseband or carrier communication applications.

Critical Requirements: This market demands high phase stability, low bit error rate, and fine resolution such that a single SLM can modulate the phase and amplitude of digital pulses. 2D SLMs are ideal when the lateral resolution matches the bandwidth of the input pulse, allowing for pulse design that meets stringent Nyquist ISI criterion. The columns of the SLM act as pulse shapers or shaping filters, enabling simultaneous amplitude modulation and phase control for perfect reconstruction of the desired output pulse.