A GeSi avalanche photodetector grown on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) passive waveguide is demonstrated. The absorption layer of the detector consisits of alternating layers of 66 Ge0. 44Si0. 56 and 480 Si on SOI substrate. The thick SOI waveguide couples the light from an optical fiber into the GeSi/Si strain-limited thin absorption region. The detector exhibits low dark current, sharp breakdown and an external responsivity of 0. 2 A/W at 1. 3 µm wavelength.

The system uses spectral shaping of a supercontinuum source followed by wavelength-to-time mapping to generate ultra wideband RF waveforms with arbitrary modulation. It employs an adaptive computer control to mitigate the non-ideal features inherent in the optical source and in the spectrum modulation process. As proof of concept, ultra-wideband frequency hopped CDMA waveforms are demonstrated.

We report on the first demonstration of single sideband (SSB) modulated time stretch system. In addition, we present an analytical model relating the system performance to the phase and amplitude mismatches in the SSB modulator. The results show that, fortuitously, the system is tolerant to such mismatches. In particular, using commercially available components,the dispersion induced power penalty can be kept below 2.5 dB over 4-20 GHz bandwidth for any stretch factor. The experiments demonstrate 120 Gsample/s real-time capture of a 20 GHz SSB-modulated microwave signal.