Photonic Generation of Arbitrary Waveforms with Tunable Repetition Rate Based on Fractional Temporal Talbot Effect

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a photonic approach to generate arbitrary waveforms with a tunable repetition rate based on fractional temporal Talbot effect. With the use of optical real-time Fourier transformation, arbitrary waveform generation is enabled by shaping the spectral of the optical signal. By specifically designing the dispersion parameter, fractional temporal Talbot effect is caused, which can be leveraged to tune the repetition rate of the waveforms. An experiment is performed, two rectangular waveforms with a repetition rate of 10.28 GHz and 15.42 GHz, and a triangular waveform with a repetition rate of 10.28 GHz are experimentally generated. The proposed approach holds great advantages including simple structure, tunable repetition rate, and low requirement on the input signal.