| Arbitrary optical waveform generation (AOWG) is an emerging field in fiber optic communications. AOWG provides for the precise and independent control of the magnitude and phase of an optical signal. This control is used to demonstrate the generation of new optical signals that call be used for passive optical device characterization, a novel optical modulation format, the jitter characterization of an all-optical clock recovery module, and the investigation and enhancement of AOWG using Raman scattering in an optical fiber.; AOWG has been implemented with lithium niobate dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DDMZM), lithium niobate dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators (DPMZM), and electroabsorption modulators (EAM). The characterization of EAMs for AOWG and other conventional applications is therefore critical to predicting the performance of an optical waveform generator. New methods for measuring the change in phase of the optical signal from an EAM, also known as the optical phase transfer function (OPTF), as the result of some applied stimulus to the EAM are presented.; While AOWG currently involves applying electrical signals to an EAM, the control of one optical signal by another using cross absorption modulation (XAM) in an EAM is of interest for optical signal processing in general. To that end, the initial specification, design, and testing of an EAM to enhance XAM has been carried out in collaboration with McMaster university and CMC Microsystems. |
