Encoding and Decoding of Femtosecond Pulses for Code-Division Multiple Access

Abstract
We demonstrate spreading of femtosecond optical pulses into low intensity pseudo-noise bursts by performing spectral phase encoding. Subsequent decoding of the spectral phases restores the original pulse. Encoding and decoding of coherent ultrashort pulses is proposed as the basis for an ultrahigh-speed code-division multiple-access communications network, and the bit error rate of the proposed network is evaluated as a function of data rate, number of users, code length, and receiver threshold.