Reconfigurable time-domain spectral shaping of an optical pulse stretched by a fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate a method for spectrally shaping optical pulses that is readily reconfigurable and can produce variable filter functions. This practical technique relies on a compact and robust 3.86-m-long linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating that chromatically disperses the pulse to similar to 30 ns. We then shape the pulse envelope, and thus the pulse spectrum, with a programmable arbitrary waveform generator and an amplitude modulator to obtain several filter functions. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes: 050.2770, 060.2430, 070.2590.