Simultaneous multiwavelength real-time optical spectrum analysis

We propose a technique for performing a real-time Fourier transformation simultaneously over all the channels of a multiwavelength signal traveling in a single optical fiber. The technique requires only the reflection of the original signal in an appropriately designed structure of superimposed chirped fiber gratings. The potential and the limitations of superimposed fiber-grating structures for implementing known applications of fiber gratings over various multiwavelength channels (including the application proposed herein) are analytically and numerically studied. To demonstrate our proposal we design a real-time optical spectrum analyzer operating on three different wavelength channels. Numerical calculations show that the design works properly, and we use joint time-frequency signal representations to get a better understanding of the physical processes that determine the behavior of the system. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.