50 Gbit/s无源光网络（PON）标准已趋于完善，后50 Gbit/s PON时代的技术标准尚属空白，亟待开展相关研究以推动整个产业链从系统、模块和芯片等方面提前进行布局。文章判断单波长200 Gbit/s速率和相干技术将会是继50 Gbit/s PON之后下一代PON系统的两大关键特征。单波长200 Gbit/s速率对运营商具备更大的吸引力，而强度调制/直接检测（IM/DD）技术难以持续满足200 Gbit/s速率下系统对Class C＋等级功率预算的要求，需要采用灵敏度更高的相干技术。然而PON系统是一种典型的点对多点（P2MP）拓扑架构，将相干技术下沉到PON还有许多关键技术需要攻克，其中，涉及PON系统设备和媒体访问控制（MAC）芯片的架构重构、相干PON光模块的单纤双向（Bi-Di）技术改造、突发模式的相干发送与接收技术以及相干PON系统的波长管控技术。时分复用（TDM）仍然是实现P2MP传输的推荐方式，在TDM基础之上可以叠加新的复用维度，例如子载波复用（SCM）。新复用维度的引入给PON系统带来了灵活性，但同时也增加了设计的复杂度，将会颠覆当前的PON系统架构。叠加了SCM的相干PON系统将不再采用数字化接口方式与光模块进行连接，光模块本身需要具备高度线性驱动和调制能力。此外，用户侧光模块需要具备瞬时开关能力，以避免对其他用户造成干扰，因此需要开发新型的支持突发控制功能的相干光芯片。考虑到上行P2MP的突发相干接收环境，需要从系统层面实现对多个用户激光器的波长管控，避免上行方向因多用户波长快速切换造成的局端频偏估算偏差问题。综上，将相干技术应用于PON将会是一个全新的复杂系统工程，难以直接继承现有相干系统架构，需要匹配P2MP的应用需求，从芯片、模块和设备多个方面实现技术创新。

相比于传统的强度调制/直接检测（IM/DD）系统，相干系统具有更高的容量和功率预算，能更好地满足高容量无源光网络（PON）的需求。近年来，如何将相干应用于PON场景以更好地支撑未来高带宽业务已成为研究热点。文章从系统架构、相干简化、上行突发模式检测以及灵活PON 4个方面对相干PON关键技术研究现状进行了总结，并展望提出了激光共享上下行滤波器组多载波（FBMC）-PON和半导体光放大器（SOA）电流调控灵活PON方案。

We report a Yb-doped all-fiber laser system generating burst-mode pulses with high energy and high peak power at a GHz intra-burst repetition rate. To acquire the uniform burst envelope, a double-pre-compensation structure with an arbitrary waveform laser diode driver and an acoustic optical modulator is utilized for the first time. The synchronous pumping is utilized for the system to reduce the burst repetition rate to 100 Hz and suppress the amplified spontaneous emission effect. By adjusting the gain of every stage, uniform envelopes with different output energies can be easily obtained. The intra-burst repetition rate can be tuned from 0.5 to 10 GHz actively modulated by an electro-optic modulator. Optimized by timing control of eight channels of analog signal and amplified by seven stages of Yb-doped fiber amplifier, the pulse energy achieves 13.3 mJ at 0.5 ns intra-burst pulse duration, and the maximum peak power reaches approximately 3.6 MW at 48 ps intra-burst pulse duration. To the best of our knowledge, for reported burst-mode all-fiber lasers, this is a record for output energy and peak power with nanosecond-level burst duration, and the widest tuning range of the intra-burst repetition rate. In particular, this flexibly tunable burst-mode laser system can be directly applied to generate high-power frequency-tunable microwaves.

Laser processing with high-power ultrashort pulses, which promises high precision and efficiency, is an emerging new tool for material structuring. High repetition rate ultrafast laser highlighting with a higher degree of freedom in its burst mode is believed to be able to create micro/nanostructures with even more variety, which is promising for electrochemical applications. We employ a homemade high repetition rate ultrafast fiber laser for structuring metal nickel (Ni) and thus preparing electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for the first time, we believe. Different processing parameters are designed to create three groups of samples with different micro/nanostructures. The various micro/nanostructures not only increase the surface area of the Ni electrode but also regulate local electric field and help discharge hydrogen bubbles, which offer more favorable conditions for HER. All groups of the laser-structured Ni exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity for HER in the alkaline solution. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the overpotential at 10 mA cm ^{- 2} can be decreased as much as 182 mV compared with the overpotential of the untreated Ni (-457 mV versus RHE).

Narrowband microwave generation with tuneable frequency is demonstrated by illuminating a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) with a burst-mode fibre laser. The whole system is composed of a high-power linearly polarized burst-mode pulsed fibre laser and a linear-state PCSS. To obtain a high-performance microwave signal, a desired envelope of burst is necessary and a pulse pre-compensation technique is adopted to avoid envelope distortion induced by the gain-saturation effect. Resulting from the technique, homogenous peak power distribution in each burst is ensured. The maximum energy of the laser burst pulse reaches 200 μJ with a burst duration of 100 ns at the average power of 10 W, corresponding to a peak power of 4 kW. When the PCSS is illuminated by the burst-mode fibre laser, narrowband microwave generation with tuneable frequency (0.80–1.12 GHz) is obtained with a power up to 300 W. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first demonstration of frequency-tuneable narrowband microwave generation based on a fibre laser. The high-power burst-mode fibre laser reported here has great potential for generating high-power arbitrary microwave signals for a great deal of applicable demands such as smart adaptive radar and intelligent high-power microwave systems.