Abstract

Recent advances in telecommunications have led to a number of impressive high speed transmission results with data transmission at rates as high as 100 GBit/s recently demonstrated [1]. As data rates increase the source requirements on repetition rate and pulse quality become more and more stringent and the ultimate limits of conventional laser sources e.g. gain-switched DFBs, mode-locked fiber lasers are rapidly being approached. The development of alternative high-frequency pulse generation techniques that can extend from 20-40 GHz to far higher frequencies (> 200 GHz) is thus of great practical relevance.

© 1994 Optical Society of America