Fourier information optics for the ultrafast time domain.

Ultrafast photonic signal processing based on Fourier optics principles offers exciting possibilities to go beyond the processing speeds of electronics technologies for applications in high-speed fiber communications and ultrawideband wireless. I review our recent work on processing of ultrafast optical signals via conversion between time, space, and optical frequency (Fourier) domains. Specific topics include optical arbitrary waveform generation, application of optical pulse shaping technologies for wavelength-parallel compensation of fiber transmission impairments and for experimental studies of optical code-division multiple-access communications, and application of photonic methods for precompensation of dispersion effects in wireless transmission of radio-frequency signals over ultrawideband antenna links.