Product Guide

WaveShaper
Family of Programmable
Optical Processors
WaveShaper—Family of Programmable Optical Processors

The WaveShaper™ family of Programmable Optical Processors provides a range of program-

mable optical filtering and switching options for optical R&D and production test applications.
Based on Finisar’s high-resolution, solid-state Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) optical engine,
the WaveShaper family provides extremely fine control of filter characteristics, including center
wavelength, bandwidth, shape, dispersion and attenuation. The WaveShaper family is used in
a wide variety of applications, including optical communications, pulsed lasers in the medical
and material processing area as well as optical sensors.

Mux/DeMux
Applications
Mux/DeMux and De-/Interleaving
The WaveShaper 4000S can serve as a
programmable Multiplexer/Demultiplexer or
Interleaver/De-Interleaver. It can incorporate
basically any channel spacing, including non-
equally spaced channels. It fully supports De-/Interleaving
Flexgrid™, the new approach to flexible Grid
network architectures. As it can operate in both
directions, it can be used as a wavelength splitter
as well as a combiner.

Filtering with arbitrary

spectral shapes
Filtering with variable bandwidth and with
Normalised Transfer Fundtion (dB)

arbitrary spectral shapes is of importance in 0

system test experiments. For example, the

-5
influence of cascading of optical filters on the
transmission quality can be investigated by 0
-10
programming the resulting filter shape into the -10
WaveShaper. 100GHz
90 GHz
-15 -20 80 GHz
70 GHz
60 GHz
Loss (dB)

50 GHz
-30
40 GHz
-20 30 GHz
Optical Comb Generation -60 -40 -20 -60 20 40 60 -40
20 GHz
10 GHz
Frequency Offset (GHz)
Generation of optical combs is key in a variety of -50

module and system test applications. For example,

-60
loading an amplifier with a representative power
spectrum is required for proper amplifier testing. -0.1 -0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02
-70
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1

Similar requirements exist for testing optical Frequency Offset (GHz)

systems involving amplified links. The WaveShaper

can create individual spectral lines – even with
shapes as if they were modulated.

Page 2
Dispersion Compensation
In system testing, verification of dispersion budgets
and verification of sensitivity of transmission
systems to group delay ripple (and other dispersion
imperfections) is of importance. Several members
of the WaveShaper family allow setting dispersion
values of up to 100 ps/nm (per 50 GHz channel)
as well as creating group delay ripple with high
spectral frequency.

Laser Pulse Compression,

Shaping and Generation 1

Pulsed Lasers are utilized in a large number of Power (normalized) 0.8

medical, material processing, communications and
other applications. Several of these applications 0.6

require very short optical pulses, for example when

0.4
athermal ablation is required. The WaveShaper
1000/SP allows dynamic compression of optical 0.2
pulses and therefore enables stable operation of
0
such laser pulses in the femtosecond regime. -10 -5 0 5 10

Certain other applications, in particular in the Time (ps)

communications area, require specific pulse shapes Rectangular pulse
(like rectangular for example) or particular bit
sequences. 1

0.5
Intensity (normalized)

0
1

0.5

0
1

0.5

Gain Equalization 0
-10 -5 0 5 10
In Communication system test beds a number of Time (ps)
parameters needs to be verified. This includes the Creation of pulse patterns: pulse sequences of
tolerance of the transmission system to spectral 1010, 0111, 1111 have been created from a single input pulse
shapes of the gain. The WaveShaper allows creating
such gain shapes with very high resolution (down WaveShaper 120 Gain Equalizer
to 0.01 dB attenuation steps) and therefore 10
Gain Flattening Performance

allows creation and also compensation of such

7.5
gain shapes.
ASE Filter Profile Flattened Trace
5
Measured Power (dB)

2.5

0
191.25 191.75 192.25 192.75 193.25 193.75 194.25 194.75 195.25 195.75
-2.5

-5

-7.5

-10
Frequency (THz)

Page 3
WaveShaper—Family of Programmable Optical Processors

Applications

Fourier Processing
Fourier processing is available in the WaveShaper
4000 and in the WaveShaper 16000 and allows the
user to split an input signal between multiple output
ports. Simple structures like wavelength-dependent
couplers and splitters (Figure 1) can be created Figure 1: Splitter
with user defined coupling ratios and frequency
dependencies. In addition to just splitting the power,
the phase of the signals in the different ports can
also be adjusted. This allows the user to create,
on the fly, more complex structures like delay line
interferometers (e.g. DPSK-Demodulator – shown in
Figure 2) or DQPSK-Demodulators with a variable,
easily-programmable, optical transfer function
(Figure 3).

More complex functions, such as the all-optical Figure 2: Delay Line Interferometer
Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) filter shown in
Figure 4 can also be easily created.

The Fourier Processing algorithms have been 194.8 194.9 195 195.1 Frequency (THz)
developed with the support of leading edge 0
research groups (see e.g. Reference 3 on page 10).
Transmitted Power (dB)

The capabilities of Fourier processing on the -5

WaveShaper 4000 can be best described as “just
like an Optical FPGA”, where an optical functional
element (component) can be created within a -10 Port 1
Port 2
fraction of a second just by uploading a definition
Port 3
table. The ability to easily generate complex Port 4
-15
interferometric structures simplifies many areas of
research which require an arbitrary optical transfer
function, including the ability to share (or combine) -20
power between multiple ports. Fourier processing
is built into the WaveManager Application Suite
-25
and supported on all new WaveShaper 4000
and WaveShaper 16000 programmable optical Figure 3: Optical transfer function of a DQPSK demodulator generated
processors. Upgrades are available for existing units. in a WaveShaper 4000S using the Fourier processor software

Figure 4: Optical transfer function of an all-optical DFT filter with 15 GHz FSR

Page 4
Products WaveShaper 100S
Tunable Optical Filter
Fully programmable, DWDM tunable optical filter with user-selectable band-pass (flat-top)
and Gaussian filter shapes. The filter bandwidth is programmable in 1 GHz increments from
10 GHz up to 1000 GHz, with the center frequency programmable in 1 GHz increments over
the whole C- band. Ideal for production test applications.

-10
Gaussian

Band Pass
-20

-30

-40

-50

-60
-250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250
Frequency Offset (GHz)

WaveShaper 120S
Gain Equalizer
Programmable equalizer which allows arbitrary attenuation shapes with 0.01 dB resolution
in the range of 0 -10 dB over the whole C- band. Optimized for gain flattening of high-
performance EDFAs. Gridless operation for next-generation transmission system development.

WaveShaper 120 Gain Equalizer

Gain Flattening Performance
10

7.5

ASE Filter Profile Flattened Trace

5
Measured Power (dB)

2.5

0
191.25 191.75 192.25 192.75 193.25 193.75 194.25 194.75 195.25 195.75
-2.5

-5

-7.5

-10
Frequency (THz)

Page 5
WaveShaper—Family of Programmable Optical Processors

Available for C-,

Products WaveShaper 1000S L- and C+L band
Programmable Optical Filter
Supports arbitrary user-generated channel and filter shapes. The bandwidth can be set from
10 GHz to about 5 THz with 1 GHz increments for the standard C- or L-band version of the 1000S.
The X version – which covers the C+L band – supports filter bandwidths from 20 GHz to 9 THz.
The required filter shape (both amplitude and phase) can be generated by the user and then
loaded into the WaveManager software which translates the user specification into the required
optical shape. Band-stop and optical comb filters are also supported as is optical power control
over a range of 30 dB for all filter types.

WaveShaper 4000S Available for C-,

L- and C+L band
Multiport Optical Processor
Extends the capability of the WaveShaper 1000S including the ability to direct different portions
of the signal to different output ports with different, arbitrary user-generated channel shapes for
each port.

All members of the WaveShaper 4000 family support Fourier processing. This new function allows
splitting the signal at one wavelength between multiple output ports, as described in more
detail on page 4.

-5
Attenuation (dB)

-10

-15

-20
-0.05 -0.04 -0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Frequency Offset (THz)

-5
Attenuation (dB)

-10

-15

-20

-25
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Frequency Offset (THz)

Example filter shapes generated with WaveShaper

1000/4000 programmable optical processor

Page 6
Products WaveShaper 16000S
Multiport Optical Processor
The WaveShaper 16000S Multiport Optical Processor is a programmable wavelength-selective
MxN optical switch and filter with control of filter shape and phase on each input/output port
combination. The instrument has a total number of 20 optical ports. These can be configured
by software commands to 1 x 19, 4 x 16, 8 x 12 or 10 x 10. All these port combinations work
bi-directional, therefore also 19 x 1, 16 x 4 and 12 x 8 are included.

1x19 4x16 8x12 10x10

Covering the entire C-band, the WaveShaper 16000S combines precise control of filter
wavelength, bandwidth, shape and phase with the ability to switch and combine multiple
signals in an “Add” or “Drop” configuration. The WaveShaper 16000S also supports Fourier
processing in a 1x16 configuration.

MxN WSS are key components in next generation colorless, directionless (CD) ROADMs. Finisar’s
WaveShaper 16000S provides the ability to emulate a Flexgrid™-compatible WSS of various port
counts, as well as allowing arbitrary channel control and switching with much higher granularity
than the current standards requirements. The WaveShaper 16000S has been designed for
research and development applications in the advanced optical networking space. It provides
key functions which are critical in the areas of elastic and space division multiplexed optical
networks as well as software defined optical networking and OFDM.

The WaveShaper 16000 is programmable with user defined filter shapes either through the
WaveManager Application Suite which serves as Graphical User Interface (GUI) or through the
Application Programming Interface (API).

Operating the WaveShaper 16000 in a 4 x 16, 8 x 12 or 10 x 10 configuration is in terms of

functionality equivalent to cascading two 1 x N WaveShapers back to back. For example, the
4 x 16 configuration is similar to operating a 1 x 4 WaveShaper and a 1 x 16 WaveShaper back to
back. In order to prevent wavelength contention, the signals entering the WaveShaper through
the different input ports shall not spectrally overlap (one specific wavelength is only used at one
input port - other ports receive different wavelengths). Both, the GUI and the API ensure that
only those filter functions are accepted which do not lead to wavelength contention issues.

In next generation optical data centre interconnects and high performance computing the
programmable and integrated optical functions of the WaveShaper 16000S are highly desirable.

WaveShaper M-Series
For OEM Applications
The WaveShaper M-Series is the OEM version of the WaveShaper family of programmable optical
processors. It is designed for embedding into third party equipment and instrumentation. It
provides full WaveShaper functionality but with reduced size. Most of the benchtop WaveShaper
(S-Series) models are also available as M-Series module.

Page 7
WaveShaper—Family of Programmable Optical Processors

Products WaveShaper 1000S/SP

Programmable Single Polarization Filter
The WaveShaper 1000S/SP is a polarization maintaining version of the WaveShaper 1000
programmable filter. It transmits and processes the signal which is launched into the slow axis
of the input PM fiber. The signal being launched into the fast axis is not transmitted and will be
extinguished by more than 20 dB. Covering the entire C-band, the unit allows testing of single-
polarization telecommunications components such as lasers and modulators, as well as the
creation and shaping of short pulses down to the femtosecond regime in short-pulse fibre lasers.

Finisar also offers a WaveShaper 1000S/SP operating in the 1 µm wavelength window for pulsed
laser applications. Please find further details on www.finisar.com/instruments.

Extended Warranty
Most WaveShaper instruments are available with an extended warranty package. This package
has to be purchased at the time of the purchase of the instrument and extends the standard
warranty coverage of the first year also to the second and the third year. Please ask your sales
representative in case this is of interest to you.

WaveManager Software
Easy-to-use User Interface
All members of the WaveShaper family can be controlled
through the WaveManager Application Suite which provides
an intuitive user interface for real-time control of up to four
separate WaveShapers. The Flexgrid™ option simplifies the
emulation of flexible bandwidth WSS for advanced network
development.

The WaveManager software package can be downloaded

from www.finisar.com/instruments.

Upload (true) RedoAvailable

Block (false) UndoAvailable
reference in WSHAPER reference out Full API plus LabVIEW™ Drivers
CentreFrequency [THz] MAIN CurrentParameters
Bandwidth [THz] WaveShaperUpdated For Test Automation
Attenuation [dB] error (out) Control software is also provided for both Windows and
Port Unix (Linux) which allows full control of all aspects of
error (in) the WaveShaper functionality. A common API across
Shape:Frequency [THz] (0) all operating systems makes it easy to integrate the
Shape:Attenuation [dB] (0) WaveShaper functionality into the users system. LabVIEW™
Shape:Phase [rad] (0)
drivers are provided as well as bindings for common
SwitchType programming and scripting languages such as C, Visual
Basic, Python, etc.

Page 8
WaveSketch
WaveSketch is an exciting capability which
enables users of all versions of the WaveShaper
120, 1000, 4000 and 16000 to manually create
filter shapes using a ‘drag and drop’ graphical
interface. As both, the loss and the phase (only
for 1000, 4000 and 16000) of the filter curve is
manipulated on the screen, the WaveShaper
transfer function is updated in real time thus
allowing, for example, continuous adjustments
to eliminate drift in system test applications. The
figure on the right shows a WaveSketch screenshot
in which defined points can be added, deleted or
modified as required. The filter shapes generated
in WaveSketch can be saved in the WaveShaper
*.wsp format and then re-used in either
WaveSketch or WaveManager. WaveSketch is part
of the installation package of the WaveManager
Application Suite.

Screenshot of WaveSketch application showing user-defined filter shape created by the

WaveSketch drag and drop interface

WaveShaper Videos on YouTube

Learn more about the family of WaveShaper instruments by viewing video product
demonstrations on Finisar’s YouTube channel, available at bit.ly/XdGnTg. Alternatively you may
access these videos by searching for “Finisar” and “WaveShaper” on www.youtube.com.

Application Notes
A number of application notes are available on www.finisar.com/instruments. They contain valuable information and guidelines on how to make
most use of the WaveShaper instrument:

• Creating Simple Filter Shapes in Excel LabVIEW and MATLAB

• Dispersion Trimming
• Filter Bandwidth Definition
• Group Delay Ripple Compensation
• Pulse Burst Generation
• Automated Gain Flattening

Page 9
WaveShaper—Family of Programmable Optical Processors

WaveShaper - How does it work?

The WaveShaper family is based on Finisar’s Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technology. As shown schematically in the figure below, the input signal
is dispersed by a conventional grating before its spectral components hit the LCoS optical processor. This LCoS processor consists of a matrix of
reflective liquid crystal elements. By applying voltages to these matrix elements, they can add individual phase shifts to the reflected signals which
allows beam steering of the signal components hitting the LCoS processor. As the wavelengths are separated on the LCoS chip the control of each
wavelength is independent of all others and can be switched or filtered without interfering with other wavelengths. As a result, the structure offers
spectral attenuation, dispersion and optical switching capabilities which are available in the WaveShaper family.

LCoS Optical
Processor

Spatial
Divergence

Conventional
Grating Spectral
Dispersion

Cylindrical
Mirror

References
1. “Spectral modeling of channel band shapes in wavelength selective switches”, Cibby Pulikkaseril, Luke A. Stewart, Michaël A. F. Roelens,
Glenn W. Baxter, Simon Poole, and Steve Frisken, Optics Express, Vol. 19, Issue 9, pp. 8458-8470 (2011)
2. “LCOS based WaveShaper technology for optical signal processing and performance monitoring”, Schröder, J. et al, Proc OECC 2012, Korea,
July 2012
3. “An optical FPGA: Reconfigurable simultaneous multi-output spectral pulse-shaping for linear optical processing”, Jochen Schröder; Michaël
A. F. Roelens; Liang B. Du; Arthur J. Lowery; Steve Frisken; Benjamin J. Eggleton, Optics Express, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 690-697 (2013)

Page 10
 WaveShaper Specifications
Specifications guaranteed except where stated as typical (typ).
1000S, 1000M 1000S/L, 1000M/L 1000S/X, 1000M/X 1000S/SP,
Model 120M, 120S 100M, 100S 16000S
4000S, 4000M 4000S/L, 4000M/L 4000S/X, 4000M/X 1000M/SP Note 1
191.250 THz to 191.250 THz to 186.350 THz to 187.275 THz to 191.250 THz to
Operating Frequency Range 196.275 THz 196.275 THz 191.000 THz 196.275 THz 196.275 THZ
(1527.4 nm to (1527.4 nm to (1569.6 nm to (1527.4 nm to (1527.4 nm to
1567.5 nm) 1567.5 nm) 1608.7 nm) 1600.8 nm) 1567.5nm)
10 GHz - 5 THz 10 GHz - 4.65 THz
Filter Bandwidth 5 THz 10 GHz - 1000 GHz 20 GHz to 9 THz 10 GHz – 5 THz
(0.08 – 40 nm) (0.08 - 35 nm)
Filter Shape Arbitrary Band-pass, Gaussian Arbitrary
Frequency Setting Resolution ±1 GHz (±8 pm)
Filter Frequency Setting Accuracy ±2.5 GHz (±20 pm) ± 5 GHz ±2.5 GHz
Control Note 2
Bandwidth Setting Resolution n/a ±1 GHz (±8 pm)
Bandwidth Setting Accuracy n/a ±5 GHz (±40 pm) ± 10 GHz ±5 GHz
Bandwidth Setting Repeatability n/a ±2.5 GHz (±20 pm) ± 5 GHz ±2.5 GHz
Group Delay Control Range n/a -25 ps to +25 ps -15 ps to +15 ps -25 ps to +25 ps
Attenuation Control Range 0 to 10 dB n/a 0 to 35 dB
Attenuation Setting Resolution 0.01 dB n/a 0.01 dB
Attenuation Setting Accuracy ±1.0 dB n/a ±1.0 dB from 0 to 10 dB, ±10 % from 10 to 30 dB
Settling Time <500 ms
Connector Interface FC/PC, FC/APC LC/APC FC/PC, FC/APC FC/APC
Optical Ports 1x1 (1000) 1x19, 4x16, 1x1 (1000)
Port Configurations 1x1
1x4 (4000) 8x12, 10x10 1x4 (4000)
Insertion Loss 6.5 dB (typ. 4.5 dB)
Insertion Loss Non-Uniformity 0.7 dB (typ. 0.5 dB) 0.7 dB (typ. 0.5 dB) Note 3 1 dB (typ) 0.7 dB (typ. 0.5 dB)
Loss
PDL 0.7 dB (typ. 0.3 dB) 1 dB (typ) n/a
Return Loss >25 dB
Optical Max Total Input Optical Power +27 dBm
Power Max Optical Power per 50 GHz channel +13 dBm
Operating Temperature 15 to 35 0C
Environment
Operating Humidity 10 to 90 %
Communications Interface USB 2.0
Electrical
Power Consumption <50 VA

Note 1: Measured on signal in slow axis

Page 11

Note 2: Measured over 60 GHz passband on a 100 GHz flat-top filter unless specified.
Note 3: Specification is valid over the frequency range of 187.0 to 191.0 THz. From 186.35 to 187.0 THz the insertion loss non-uniformity is <1.0 dB max.
Configuration Guide
Wavelength
Order Code Description Housing option Connector type
band
WaveShaper 100S WS-AA-0100S-ZZ-H Tunable Optical Filter C Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-0100S-RM-H Tunable Optical Filter C Rackmount FC/APC
WaveShaper 120S WS-AA-0120S-ZZ-H Programmable Gain Equalizer C Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-0120S-RM-H Programmable Gain Equalizer C Rackmount FC/APC
WaveShaper 1000S WS-AA-1000S-ZZ-H Programmable Optical Filter C Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-1000S-ZZ-F Programmable Optical Filter C Benchtop FC/UPC
WS-AA-1000S-LB-H Programmable Optical Filter L Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-1000S-LB-F Programmable Optical Filter L Benchtop FC/UPC
WS-AA-1000S-XB-H Programmable Optical Filter C+L Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-1000S-RM-H Programmable Optical Filter C Rackmount FC/APC
WS-AA-1000S-SP-H Programmable Single Polarization Filter C Benchtop FC/APC
WaveShaper 4000S WS-AA-4000S-ZZ-H Multiport Optical Processor C Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-4000S-ZZ-F Multiport Optical Processor C Benchtop FC/UPC
WS-AA-4000S-LB-H Multiport Optical Processor L Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-4000S-XB-H Multiport Optical Processor C+L Benchtop FC/APC
WS-AA-4000S-RM-H Multiport Optical Processor C Rackmount FC/APC
WaveShaper 16000S WS-AA-16000S-ZZ-D Multiport Optical Processor C Benchtop LC/APC
WS-AA-16000S-RM-D Multiport Optical Processor C Rackmount LC/APC

Configurations for the M-Series of instruments and further configurations of the S-Series of instruments are available upon request.

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trademark of Finisar Corporation. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. 09/15