Effect of Phase Noise on the Frequency Calibration of a Tunable Laser by Heterodyne Signal Filtering

Using a frequency comb as frequency reference to calibrate the instantaneous frequency of a tuning laser allows high spectral resolution and a wide calibration range. To obtain the instantaneous frequency of the laser under test, a classical method consists in filtering the heterodyne signal between the frequency comb and the tunable laser with a narrow bandpass filter. For free-running femtosecond lasers, the phase noise of the comb lines affects the instantaneous frequency of the heterodyne signal and the envelope of the filtered calibration signal. In this paper, the characteristics of the frequency calibration signal envelope is analyzed by modeling. Three different filters are used to determine the envelope characteristics. Simulation results show that the probability density function (pdf) of the envelope amplitude tend to be a uniform distribution at higher phase noise level. At low tuning speed, the pdf distributions are the same at symmetric frequency positions of the passband of the filter. At high tuning speed, their distributions become different. The standard deviation of the center of mass becomes larger at higher phase noise level and higher tuning speed

An Optoelectronic Equivalent Narrowband Filter for High Resolution Optical Spectrum Analysis

To achieve a narrow bandwidth optical filter with a wide swept range for new generation optical spectrum analysis (OSA) of high performance optical sensors, an optoelectronic equivalent narrowband filter (OENF) was investigated and a swept optical filter with bandwidth of several MHz and sweep range of several tens of nanometers was built using electric filters and a sweep laser as local oscillator (LO). The principle of OENF is introduced and analysis of the OENF system is presented. Two electric filters are optimized to be RBW filters for high and medium spectral resolution applications. Both simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the OENF principle and the results show that the power uncertainty is less than 1.2% and the spectral resolution can reach 6 MHz. Then, a real-time wavelength calibration system consisting of a HCN gas cell and Fabry–Pérot etalon is proposed to guarantee a wavelength accuracy of ±0.4 pm in the C-band and to reduce the influence of phase noise and nonlinear velocity of the LO sweep. Finally, OSA experiments on actual spectra of various optical sensors are conducted using the OENF system. These experimental results indicate that OENF system has an excellent capacity for the analysis of fine spectrum structures

An Optoelectronic Equivalent Narrowband Filter for High Resolution Optical Spectrum Analysis

To achieve a narrow bandwidth optical filter with a wide swept range for new generation optical spectrum analysis (OSA) of high performance optical sensors, an optoelectronic equivalent narrowband filter (OENF) was investigated and a swept optical filter with bandwidth of several MHz and sweep range of several tens of nanometers was built using electric filters and a sweep laser as local oscillator (LO). The principle of OENF is introduced and analysis of the OENF system is presented. Two electric filters are optimized to be RBW filters for high and medium spectral resolution applications. Both simulations and experiments are conducted to verify the OENF principle and the results show that the power uncertainty is less than 1.2% and the spectral resolution can reach 6 MHz. Then, a real-time wavelength calibration system consisting of a HCN gas cell and Fabry–Pérot etalon is proposed to guarantee a wavelength accuracy of ±0.4 pm in the C-band and to reduce the influence of phase noise and nonlinear velocity of the LO sweep. Finally, OSA experiments on actual spectra of various optical sensors are conducted using the OENF system. These experimental results indicate that OENF system has an excellent capacity for the analysis of fine spectrum structures