Abstract

Traditional amplifiers employ an external power source to multiply the incoming signal carrier through an active gain process [1]. In addition to amplifying the signal, this process introduces various forms of noise and distortion, such as amplified spontaneous emission noise (ASE), pulse-to-pulse intensity fluctuations, and timing-jitter. Recently, we reported on a noiseless passive amplification technique for repetitive waveforms without using active gain [2, 3]. Our technique employs lossless repetition-rate division of the input periodic waveform (pulse) train through a dispersion-induced Talbot effect, inherently leading to energy amplification of the input individual waveforms. When inputting a noisy train, this technique can reduce pulse-to-pulse intensity fluctuations, timing-jitter, enhance the extinction ratio, and reduce ASE fluctuations by a desired factor to improve signal quality. In our presentation, we show experimental and numerical data of passive amplification and all the various ways it mitigates noise. In this abstract, we highlight how Talbot amplification can reduce ASE noise similar to a real-time averaging process.

© 2015 IEEE