Abstract

Ultrashort laser pulses have always had a central place in the study of high-speed phenomena as well as in applications involving very high data rates. Here, we present an application of femtosecond laser pulses that is not directly related to high speed, but rather makes use of the large spectral bandwidth of short pulses. Conventionally, wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) systems utilize a separate laser for each WDM channel. For systems with many channels the wavelength of each laser then needs to be controlled and stabilized individually to assure that the emission wavelength coincides with the pre-assigned WDM channels. This need for multiple, frequency-stabilized sources is a considerable problem for any WDM systems.

© 1995 Optical Society of America