Ultrawideband monocycle pulse generation based on delayed interference of π/2 phase-shift keying signal.

We propose a scheme to generate ultrawideband (UWB) monocycle pulses using delayed interference of a π/2 phase-shift keying (PSK) signal. The PSK signal is generated with an optical phase modulator. A fiber-based delay interferometer is used to provide the delay together with a ±π/2 phase shift between the signals in its two arms before the interference. The two opposite phase shifts correspond to the generation of a pair of polarity-reversed UWB monocycle pulses. The full width at half maximum of the pulses is ~68 ps and the 10 dB fractional bandwidth is 168%.