Real-time Optical Monitoring System Based on Frequency-to-Time Mapping Concept

Real-time optical monitoring of waveform frequency content with high speed will play a key role in future optical communication systems. Dispersive Fourier transformation (D-FTM) or frequency-to-time mapping method enables real-time spectral analysis of short isolated pulse-like signals but cannot be applied to continuous waveforms. Here, we propose, for the first time, a real-time optical monitoring (RTOM) system for dynamic spectral analysis of incoming telecommunication data streams over broad frequency bands, employing a temporal periodic sampling and dispersive delay scheme.