Ultrasensitive and Ultrafast Photonic Waveform Measurement Using Quasi-Phase-Matched Waveguide Nonlinear Optics

在过去的十到十五年里，超快光学领域以一种真正革命性的方式取得了进展。现在有几个研究小组正在产生持续时间只有几飞秒的可见光和近红外脉冲，相当于几个光学周期；并且已经开发出适用于这种极短时间尺度的复杂的全光学波形测量和处理方法。与此同时，光波通信领域也取得了革命性的进展。然而，推动电子设备的速度大大超过40 Gb/s的水平预计是非常具有挑战性的。这就产生了所谓的“电子瓶颈”，因为光信号的固有速度可能比现有的电子设备快得多。因此，全光方法在光波通信中变得越来越重要。本提案的目标是将超快光学领域的复杂全光学方法应用于光波系统，重点是非线性光学测量技术。实现这一目标所必需的基础研究挑战涉及追求非线性光学灵敏度的数量级改进，这是与实际光波系统典型的低功率水平和非常高重复率的兼容性所必需的。为了进一步发展超快非线性光学测量技术，PI组建了一个协同团队，由普渡大学的Weiner小组和斯坦福大学的Fejer小组组成。Weiner小组在基于超快光波信号中时间、频率和空间自由度之间关系的强大信号处理方法方面处于世界领先地位。Fejer团队在二阶非线性光学材料和器件方面处于世界领先地位，包括提供数量级效率提高的非线性光波导和可工程化的准相位匹配结构，为光子信号处理和测量开辟了丰富的新可能性。因此，他们的团队提出将超快光学测量技术的灵敏度提高几个数量级，同时首次设计非线性结构，以优化效率、带宽和时间分辨率之间的权衡。更广泛的影响PI的工作旨在提供新的测量技术，使超快光波通信进一步发展，通过支持推动我们经济发展的信息技术革命，有可能产生重大的社会效益。为了促进我们的成果快速转移到工业，PI设想与合作伙伴合作，如测试和测量仪器的领先开发商安捷伦实验室。该研究还具有光通信之外的更广泛影响的潜力，例如，通过建立方法，为高度结构化飞秒光信号的测量提供数量级的灵敏度增强，这些信号目前在超快光学科学研究中广泛使用。这个研究项目将为学生在尖端技术领域的广泛培训提供极好的机会，同时提供丰富学生教育经验的团队合作机会。

0401515WeinerThe field of ultrafast optics has advanced in a truly revolutionary manner over the last ten to fifteen years. Several groups are now generating pulses only a few femtoseconds in duration in the visible and near-infrared, equal to just a few optical cycles; and sophisticated all-optical methods for waveform measurement and processing applicable to this extremely short time scale have been developed. Largely in parallel, the field of lightwave communications has also advanced in a revolutionary manner. However, pushing the speed of electronics significantly beyond the 40 Gb/s level is expected to be very challenging. This gives rise to the so-called "electronics bottleneck," since the inherent speed of optical signaling can be much faster than the available electronics. For this reason all-optical approaches are becoming increasingly important in lightwave communications. The goal of this proposal is to adapt sophisticated all-optical methods from the field of ultrafast optics for use in lightwave systems, with a strong emphasis on nonlinear optical measurement technologies. A fundamental research challenge necessary to attain this goal involves the pursuit of orders of magnitude improvement in nonlinear optical sensitivity, which is necessary for compatibility with the low power levels and very high repetition rates typical of practical lightwave systems. In order to substantially advance the state-of-the-art in ultrafast nonlinear optical measurement technology, the PI has formed a synergistic team comprising the Weiner group at Purdue University and the Fejer group at Stanford University. The Weiner group is a world leader in powerful signal processing approaches based on relationships between the time, frequency, and spatial degrees of freedom in ultrafast lightwave signals. The Fejer group is a world leader in second-order nonlinear optical materials and devices, including nonlinear optical waveguides that provide orders of magnitude increases in efficiency and engineerable quasi-phase-matched structures that open up rich new possibilities for photonic signal processing and measurement. As a result their team proposes to realize orders of magnitude improvement in the sensitivity of ultrafast optical measurement techniques, while for the first time engineering the nonlinear structure to permit optimization of the trade-offs between efficiency, bandwidth, and temporal resolution. Broader impactThe PI's work, aimed at providing new measurement technologies enabling further advances in ultrafast lightwave communications, has the potential for significant societal benefit, by acting to support the information technology revolution that fuels so much of our economy. To catalyze rapid transfer of our results to industry, the PI envisions collaborations with partners such as Agilent Laboratories, a leading developer of test and measurement instrumentation. The research also has the potential for broader impact beyond optical communications, e.g., by establishing approaches providing orders of magnitude sensitivity enhancements for measurement of the highly structured femtosecond optical signals that are now in broad use within ultrafast optical science research. This research project should furnish excellent opportunities for broad student training in areas of cutting-edge technology, while providing teaming opportunities that will enrich the students' educational experience.