The Kentech Arbitrary Waveform Gernerator (AWG) has been designed for applications in laser pulse shaping, it may however, find applications in other fields.

This first generation device can generate arbitrary waveforms within the following contraints:-

280 samples at 100ps intervals, each sample is in the range 0 to 8 volts into 50Ω and defined by an 12 bit word. each sample has a rise/fall time of 200ps indicating that the samples overlap. The output wave form can be triggered at up to 10kHz, with 25ps jitter.

The output is designed to drive fibre optic light modulators of the Mach-Zender. These are made by JD Uniphase, Photline and others.The ability to provide an arbitrary waveform enables laser pulse shaping to compensate for amplifier saturation as well as to provide a desired output shape.

We now have a second generation model with fewer samples and are planning to build integrated sytems with the modulator and its bias circuitry integrated into the AWG.