title: Multi-wavelength source using low drive-voltage amplitude modulators for optical communications.
abstract: A simple and cost-effective technique for generating a flat, square-shaped multi-wavelength optical comb with 42.6 GHz line spacing and over 0.5 THz of total bandwidth is presented. A detailed theoretical analysis is presented, showing that using two concatenated modulators driven with voltages of 3.5 V(pi) are necessary to generate 11 comb lines with a flatness below 2dB. This performance is experimentally demonstrated using two cascaded Versawave 40 Gbit/s low drive voltage electro-optic polarisation modulators, where an 11 channel optical comb with a flatness of 1.9 dB and a side-mode-suppression ratio (SMSR) of 12.6 dB was obtained.
authors.forename: Tadhg
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: Fatima C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Garcia Gunning
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Jeff D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bull