AN INTERPRETATION OF THE SPECTRAL MEASUREMENT OF OPTICAL PULSE-TRAIN NOISE

The validity of inferring statistical quantities, such as the variance of pulse jitter, from optical pulse train spectra is discussed in relation to a cyclostationary model. This cyclostationary model is derived from a low frequency, low noise approximation to a complete constant pulse shape model. It is shown that in order to gain information on the inherent timing jitter from the power spectrum, extra information on the optical signal is required.