Patent ID: 6901177

Claim:
A top hat pulse generator receiving a continuous wave optical signal at a first wavelength and a pulsed optical signal at a second wavelength and generating top hat optical pulses at the first wavelength, said top hat pulse generator comprising: an optical coupler having a first side with a first arm and a second arm and a second side having a third arm and a fourth arm, the first arm adapted to receive said continuous wave optical signal and to launch said continuous wave optical signal into said third arm and said fourth arm; an optical fiber having a first end and a second end, said first end disposed to receive optical energy from said third arm and to transmit optical energy to said third arm and said second end disposed to receive optical energy from said fourth arm and to transmit optical energy to said fourth arm, said optical fiber having a positive dispersion supporting optical solitons; an optical filter receiving optical energy from said second arm; and a control pulse coupler positioned to launch optical energy into the optical fiber, said control pulse coupler having an input adapted to receive said pulsed optical signal; wherein said pulsed optical signal has an optical peak power and the optical peak power is controlled to that of a first order soliton.