SBIR Phase I: High-Bandwidth Photonic Arbitrary Waveform Generation using Low-Bandwidth Spectral Shaping

美国国家科学基金会SBIR第一阶段提案1249014-要求摘要此小型企业创新研究计划(SBIR)第一阶段项目提高了任意波形生成(AWG)能力，用于高带宽操作，这些高带宽操作在电信、测试和测量、遥感以及其他需要更高带宽但当前电子设备无法实现的技术中至关重要。这一新的创新采用光纤存储环来干涉组合许多低带宽输入波形，以合成高带宽输出波形。这项技术利用了稳定的光纤激光器和电信组件的进步，硬件包括商业现成的光子学和低带宽电子设备。之前的努力已经成功地展示了这种设备的概念，并导致了一项正在申请中的专利。该SBIR项目通过设备工程解决基本的一致性问题，使带宽扩展到25 GHz以上，并降低光子组件中的噪声，从而将这一创新解决方案推向可行的商业产品。衡量成功的标准是综合带宽、时隙和信号保真度。这种用于宽带AWG的光子方法具有高带宽(100 GHz)、长波形持续时间(10微秒)和高保真(40dBSFDR)的潜力。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力为充分利用从微波到太赫兹频率的电磁频谱提供了变革性进展的潜力。特别是，这种方法非常适合于弥合单个相干源的良好发展的连续AM或PM调制产生的波形与建议的频率阵列控制合成方法之间存在的技术差距。这项技术提供了高光谱分辨率、长时间孔径和高带宽的独特组合，在测试和测量设备、电信、信号处理和新一代信息技术中有着广泛的应用，这些技术利用了光纤的全部信息容量，超出了当前的能力。灵活、复杂、宽带的光波形的产生可以为自由空间光通信提供新的范例，同时也适用于扩频和低截获概率的应用。该项目还旨在研究相干光信号反复再放大所固有的基本噪声问题，提供与满足我们现代信息时代快速增长的需求直接相关的见解。此外，本项目开发的相干光存储环技术还将有利于其他一些潜在的应用，如宽带频谱分析和光学振荡器的超高精度表征。

NSF SBIR Phase I Proposal 1249014 - Request for Abstract This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I project advances arbitrary waveform generation (AWG) capabilities for high bandwidth operation essential in technologies such as telecommunications, test and measurement, remote sensing, and others where higher bandwidths are demanded but cannot be achieved with current electronic devices. This new innovation employs an optical fiber storage ring to interferometrically combine many low-bandwidth input waveforms to synthesize high-bandwidth output waveforms. This technology exploits advances in stable fiber lasers and telecommunications components with hardware comprised of commercial off-the-shelf photonics and low-bandwidth electronics. Prior efforts have successfully demonstrated the device concept and led to one patent pending. This SBIR project addresses fundamental coherence issues through device-engineering that enables bandwidth extension above 25 GHz, and noise reduction in the photonic components, moving this innovative solution towards a viable commercial product. Metrics for success are combined bandwidth, time aperture, and signal fidelity. This photonic method for wideband AWG offers the potential for high bandwidth (100 GHz), long waveform durations (10 microseconds), with high fidelity (40 dB SFDR). The broader impact/commercial potential of this project offers the potential for transformative advances in full utilization of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning microwave to terahertz frequencies. In particular, this approach is ideally suited to bridge the technological gap that exists between waveform generation by well-developed continuous AM or PM modulation of individual coherent sources and by proposed methods of controlled synthesis of frequency arrays. This technology provides a unique combination of high spectral resolution, long time aperture, and high bandwidth that has broad application in test and measurement devices, telecommunications, signal processing, and next-generation information technologies that exploit the full information capacity of optical fiber beyond the current capabilities. Generation of agile, complex, wideband optical waveforms can enable new paradigms for free space optical communications, while also applicable to spread spectrum and low probability of intercept applications. This project also aims to investigate fundamental noise issues inherent to repeated re-amplification of coherent optical signals, providing insights directly relevant to meeting the rapidly increasing needs of our modern information age. Furthermore, the coherent optical storage ring technology developed in this project will benefit a number of other potential applications such as wideband spectrum analysis and ultra-high precision characterization of optical oscillators.