Pulse-by-pulse programmable synthesis of ultrafast optical waveforms

Abstract:Programmable control of individual pulses in a high-repetition-rate (typically MHz) ultrafast pulse train is a long-standing goal for optical arbitrary waveform synthesis. Here, we report a programmable pulse-by-pulse shaper that enables deterministic spectral-temporal control of ultrafast pulses at a repetition rate of $\sim$ 20~MHz. By synchronizing an FPGA-driven electro-optic modulation on the stretched waveform in a temporal 4$f$ shaping system, the regime writes pulse-index-dependent spectral phase profiles onto individual pulses. We demonstrate three levels of programmable ability: zero-order phase coding that maps pulse-by-pulse phase sequences into double-slit-like spectral-temporal interference; first-order phase programming that produces arbitrary temporal trajectories with deterministic delay; and fractional-order phase engineering that generates programmable temporal breathing. By launching the shaped pulse train into a nonlinear fiber stage, the programmed temporal breathing is converted into one spectral breathing. We further construct a phase-level-dependent regime map of nonlinear spectral breathing, revealing transitions from weak single-envelope breathing to multi-peak spectral splitting and strongly breathing merged-spectrum dynamics, in agreement with numerical simulations. This pulse-by-pulse spectral-temporal synthesis platform establishes pulse index as a programmable degree of freedom for ultrafast pulse shaping and provides a route toward real-time and pulse resolved optical arbitary waveform synthesis.

Optics (physics.optics); Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

arXiv:2609.06894 [physics.optics]

(or arXiv:2609.06894v1 [physics.optics] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.06894 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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