| Presented in this thesis is a study of the Temporal Talbot effect within the context of return-to-zero data communication systems. First, we examine its features and limitations subject to realistic input conditions. We consider three independent impairments in the incident pulse train: excessively broad pulse width, amplitude noise, and timing jitter. In addition to determining and quantifying the effects of all these impairments, we demonstrate a beneficial, mitigating effect of the Talbot self-imaging process on the two last ones. We then demonstrate a novel, tunable pulse repetition multiplier using cascaded fiber Bragg gratings, with an output repetition rate exceeding 100 GHz. We finalize our study on the system level by exploring and characterizing the Talbot effect for all-optical clock recovery. Two distinct implementations are considered, one with fiber Bragg gratings and the second with single-mode fiber. The latter also allows us to perform a proof-of-principle demonstration of simultaneous clock recovery at two wavelengths. |
