Analysis of spatial-temporal converters for all-optical communication links.

We analyze parallel-to-serial transmitters and serial-to-parallel receivers that use ultrashort optical pulses to increase the bandwidth of a fiber-optic communication link. This method relies on real-time holographic material for conversion of information between spatial and temporal frequencies. The analysis reveals that the temporal output of the pulses will consist of chirped pulses, which has been verified experimentally. When the signal pulses are transmitted along with a reference pulse, the distortions of the received signal, caused by dispersion and other factors in the fiber, are canceled because of the phase-conjugation property of the receiver. This self-referencing scheme simplifies the receiver structure and ensures perfect timing for the serial-to-parallel conversion.