Directly Generated Gaussian-Shaped Optical Frequency Comb for Microwave Photonic Filtering and Picosecond Pulse Generation

Using only electro-optic modulators, we generate a high-quality 41-line 10-GHz Gaussian-shaped optical frequency comb. We use this comb to demonstrate apodized microwave photonic filters with a 40-dB mainlobe-to-sidelobe suppression ratio without the need of a pulse shaper. Further, our Gaussian-shaped comb has an approximately quadratic phase, which allows for compression into a high-quality pulse train via propagation in single-mode fiber.