Pulse-by-pulse programmable synthesis of ultrafast optical waveforms
Abstract
Programmable control of individual pulses in a high-repetition-rate (typically MHz) ultrafast pulse train is a long-standing goal for optical arbitrary waveform synthesis. Here, we report a programmable pulse-by-pulse shaper that enables deterministic spectral-temporal control of ultrafast pulses at a repetition rate of ∼ 20~MHz. By synchronizing an FPGA-driven electro-optic modulation on the stretched waveform in a temporal 4f shaping system, the regime writes pulse-index-dependent spectral phase profiles onto individual pulses. We demonstrate three levels of programmable ability: zero-order phase coding that maps pulse-by-pulse phase sequences into double-slit-like spectral-temporal interference; first-order phase programming that produces arbitrary temporal trajectories with deterministic delay; and fractional-order phase engineering that generates programmable temporal breathing. By launching the shaped pulse train into a nonlinear fiber stage, the programmed temporal breathing is converted into one spectral breathing. We further construct a phase-level-dependent regime map of nonlinear spectral breathing, revealing transitions from weak single-envelope breathing to multi-peak spectral splitting and strongly breathing merged-spectrum dynamics, in agreement with numerical simulations. This pulse-by-pulse spectral-temporal synthesis platform establishes pulse index as a programmable degree of freedom for ultrafast pulse shaping and provides a route toward real-time and pulse resolved optical arbitary waveform synthesis.
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BibTeX
@misc{liu2026pulsebypulse,
title = {{Pulse-by-pulse programmable synthesis of ultrafast optical waveforms}},
author = {Shilong Liu and Gabriel Demontigny and Émile Dessureault and Stéphane Virally and Denis V. Seletskiy},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.06894},
eprint = {2609.06894},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06894},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Pulse-by-pulse programmable synthesis of ultrafast optical waveforms
AU - Shilong Liu
AU - Gabriel Demontigny
AU - Émile Dessureault
AU - Stéphane Virally
AU - Denis V. Seletskiy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.06894
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06894
AB - Programmable control of individual pulses in a high-repetition-rate (typically MHz) ultrafast pulse train is a long-standing goal for optical arbitrary waveform synthesis. Here, we report a programmable pulse-by-pulse shaper that enables deterministic spectral-temporal control of ultrafast pulses at a repetition rate of ∼ 20~MHz. By synchronizing an FPGA-driven electro-optic modulation on the stretched waveform in a temporal 4f shaping system, the regime writes pulse-index-dependent spectral phase profiles onto individual pulses. We demonstrate three levels of programmable ability: zero-order phase coding that maps pulse-by-pulse phase sequences into double-slit-like spectral-temporal interference; first-order phase programming that produces arbitrary temporal trajectories with deterministic delay; and fractional-order phase engineering that generates programmable temporal breathing. By launching the shaped pulse train into a nonlinear fiber stage, the programmed temporal breathing is converted into one spectral breathing. We further construct a phase-level-dependent regime map of nonlinear spectral breathing, revealing transitions from weak single-envelope breathing to multi-peak spectral splitting and strongly breathing merged-spectrum dynamics, in agreement with numerical simulations. This pulse-by-pulse spectral-temporal synthesis platform establishes pulse index as a programmable degree of freedom for ultrafast pulse shaping and provides a route toward real-time and pulse resolved optical arbitary waveform synthesis.
ER -