Spectral processor based on arrayed waveguide grating and free-space manipulation is capable of arbitrary filtering at record metrics of 0.8GHz resolution over 200GHz span. Narrowband coherent drop-demultiplexing and controlled optical shaping is demonstrated in unison with digital sub-banding.
IntroductionLinear optical signal processing operations can assist optical communications in performing myriads of operations such as wavelength multiplexing, wavelength selective switching (WSS), and complex spectral filtering for channel selection, dispersion compensation, and signal shaping. Adaptive filtering operations are particularly of interest, enabling tuning of the center wavelength, bandwidth, dispersion compensation level and signal formats. Performing these operations with a spatial light modulator (SLM) operating on spatially dispersed light has been demonstrated [1-3]. These and similar experiments are based on a WSS platform, using a dispersive free-space optics arrangement with a bulk diffraction grating and lenses, and replacing a micro-mirror SLM [4] with a liquid-crystal on silicon (LCoS) SLM [5]. The performance of these instruments is set by the spectral resolution of the dispersing arrangement (typically 8-10GHz) and the pixel pitch determining spectral addressability (few GHz). Improved performance metrics can be obtained by replacing the bulk diffraction grating with an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) [6,7], which is designed to provide higher dispersion values over a finite free spectral range (FSR). In this work we demonstrate ×10 improvement in the photonic spectral processor performance,