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Optics Express

Distortion reduction in Slow Light systems based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

Thomas Schneider, Ronny Henker, Kai-Uwe Lauterbach, Markus Junker

Published May 22, 2008• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show a simple method to reduce the distortions in SBS based slow light systems. The distortion reduction is simply based on a broadening and adaptation of the gain bandwidth. However, a broadened gain reduces the achievable fractional delay which cannot be compensated by higher pump powers. Here we will show that this compensation can be done by additional loss spectra. With the presented method low distortions for high fractional pulse delays are possible. We show the theory and experimental verifications of our method. For Gaussian pulses with a fractional delay of 1 Bit we achieved a distortion reduction of around 23%.

DOI
10.1364/oe.16.008280

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We show a simple method of time delay enhancement in slow-light systems based on the effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering. The method is based on the reduction of the absolute Brillouin gain by a loss produced by an additional pump laser. With this method we achieved pulse delays of nearly 100 ns in a standard single-mode fiber. In the presented approach the delay or acceleration of optical signals is decoupled from their amplification or attenuation, which allows the adaptation of the pulse amplitudes to the given application.

Optics Letters•Jan 10, 2007•44 citations
We show a simple method to reduce the distortions in SBS based slow light systems. The distortion reduction is simply based on a broadening and adaptation of the gain bandwidth. However, a broadened gain reduces the achievable fractional delay which cannot be compensated by higher pump powers. Here we will show that this compensation can be done by additional loss spectra. With the presented method low distortions for high fractional pulse delays are possible. We show the theory and experimental verifications of our method. For Gaussian pulses with a fractional delay of 1 Bit we achieved a distortion reduction of around 23%.
The manipulation of the group velocity of optical signals (slow and fast light) has many possible applications in telecommunications, sensing, nonlinear optics, and so on. The exploitation of the effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is of special interest for the alteration of the group velocity in optical fibers, since it just requires standard telecom equipment and low-to-moderate optical power. However, each delay in one single, low-gain SBS-based slow-light system is accompanied by a pulse broadening. This is a result of the inherent Kramers–Kronig relations among the gain, the phase change, and the accompanied group velocity. For an ideal flat gain, the phase change is nonideal, and for an ideal phase change the gain curve leads to a broadening. Furthermore, if the gain bandwidth is adapted to the signal by broadening, the delay will be reduced. Thus the signal broadening can be reduced by several methods for one single low-gain slow-light system, but it cannot be zero. Here, we will show how a zero-broadening SBS-based slow light can be achieved with several methods. The basic idea is a reshaping of the original pulse in a second stage by saturation of the SBS system, or by the superposition of two gains. As will be shown, all of these systems show an almost ideal overall gain and phase function over the bandwidth of the pulses. Thus, SBS-based slow light with a delay bandwidth product of 1 bit and zero distortion is possible.
To change the group velocity of optical signals has a lot of possible applications in telecommunications, sensing, nonlinear optics and so on. Especially the exploitation of the effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in optical fibers is of special interest since it just requires standard telecom equipment and low to moderate optical power. However, each delay in one single, low-gain SBS based slow-light system is accompanied by pulse broadening. This is a result of the inherent Kramers-Kronig relations between the gain, the phase-change and the accompanied group velocity. For an ideal flat gain the phase-change is non-ideal, and for an ideal phase-change the gain curve leads to a broadening. Furthermore, if the gain bandwidth is broadened in order to adapt it to the signal, the delay will be reduced. Thus, for one single low-gain slow-light system the broadening can be reduced by several methods but it cannot be zero. Here we will show how a zero-broadening SBS based slow-light system can be achieved by two different methods. The basic idea is a reshaping of the original pulse by an adapted gain in a second stage. This adaptation is achieved by the superposition of two Gaussian gain profiles or by a single saturated gain. As will be shown, these systems show an almost ideal over-all gain and phase function over the bandwidth of the pulses. Thus, SBS based slow-light with a delaybandwidth product of more than 1 bit and zero distortion is possible.
We describe a methodology for designing the optimal gain profiles for gain-based, tunable, broadband, slow-light pulse delay devices based on stimulated Brillouin scattering. Optimal gain profiles are obtained under system constraints such as distortion, total pump power, and maximum gain. The delay performance of three candidate systems: Gaussian noise pump broadened (GNPB), optimal gain-only, and optimal gain+absorption are studied using Gaussian and super-Gaussian pulses. For the same pulse bandwidth, we find that the optimal gain+absorption medium improves the delay performance by 2.1 times the GNPB medium delay and 1.3 times the optimal gain-only medium delay for Gaussian pulses. For the super-Gaussian pulses the optimal gain-only medium provides a fractional pulse delay 1.8 times the GNPB medium delay.
We analyse the stimulated Brillouin scattering （SBS） slow light using double broadband pumps in a single mode fiber. A new SBS gain spectrum tailoring method is proposed using two Gaussian-shaped broadband pumps with different powers and spectral widths, and the central frequency interval of them is carefully set at two Brillouin frequency shifts to make sure that the gain of one pump has the same center with the loss of the other. The top of the gain spectrum of the strong pump beam can be counteracted by the loss spectrum of the weak pump beam to construct a flat top gain spectrum. We give the optimized conditions of the laser powers and spectral widths between two broadband pumps to obtain a flat gain. Distortions of signal pulse under this flat top gain are studied and compared with that obtained using a single broadband pump. We find that the flat top gain profile can effectively reduce the pulse distortions.
Different Slow-light systems have been discussed and developed as a powerful tool to reduce the group velocity of optical signals during the last years. It has enjoyed much recent interest because of the potential system applications in optical telecommunication and information systems. Especially the nonlinear effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) has become important for fiber based Slow-light systems. But, the SBS also has two challenges. First, the maximum time delay is limited due to the saturation of the Brillouin amplification process and second, the delay of the pulses is accompanied by pulse distortions (pulse shape broadening). For these aspects the shape of the Brillouin spectrum is of special interest. In this article a system is presented which allows the optimisation of the Brillouin spectrum. Simulations and first measurements show how the time delay can be enhanced with a simultaneous reduction of the pulse distortions.
We show a simple method of time delay enhancement in slow-light systems based on the effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering. The method is based on the reduction of the absolute Brillouin gain by a loss produced by an additional pump laser. With this method we achieved pulse delays of nearly 100 ns in a standard single-mode fiber. In the presented approach the delay or acceleration of optical signals is decoupled from their amplification or attenuation, which allows the adaptation of the pulse amplitudes to the given application.