Abstract

The shaping of ultrafast optical pulses by Fourier optics techniques has advanced to the point that complicated transform-limited pulse shapes may be readily crafted with femtosecond precision.^1-3 The use of arbitrary optical pulse shapes in communications and spectroscopy offers new opportunities and unprecedented flexibility in experimental design. Optical communications systems will benefit from effective per pulse serial modulation rates of 10 THz or greater obtained by parallel modulation in the frequency domain. Spectroscopic applications benefit from the unprecedented control over the temporal optical field amplitude and phase that frequency domain modulation provides.

© 1988 Optical Society of America