Optical pulse compression using the temporal Radon-Wigner transform

The temporal Radon-Wigner transform (RWT), which is the squared modulus of the fractional Fourier transform (FRT) for a varying fractional order p, is here employed as a tool for pulse compression applications. To synthesize the compressed pulse, a selected FRT irradiance is optically produced employing a photonic device that combines phase modulation and dispersive transmission. For analysis purposes, the complete numerical generation of the RWT with 0 < p < 1 is proposed to select the value of p required for pulse compression. To this end, the amplitude and phase of the signal to be processed should be known. In order to obtain this information we use a method based on the recording of two different FRT irradiances of the pulse. The amplitude and phase errors of the recovered signal, which are inherent to the recording process, are discussed in connection with the RWT production. Numerical simulations were performed to illustrate the implementation of the proposed method. The technique is applied to compress signals commonly found in fiber optic transmission systems, such as chirped gaussian pulses, pulses distorted by second and third-order dispersion and nonlinear self-modulated pulses. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.