Provided is an optical pulse-generator and an optical pulse-generating method which are capable of generating an optical pulse train with an arbitrary pattern. An optical pulse-generator 1 includes a first optical modulator 21 configured to modulate input light using a first modulation signal SIG1 to generate optical pulses, a second optical modulator 41 configured to perform a modulation operation using a second modulation signal SIG2 synchronizing with the first modulation signal SIG1 and having a signal pattern that is set to output only specific part of the optical pulses, and a dispersion compensator 30 configured to compensate a chirp of the optical pulse output from the first optical modulator 21.

A first directional coupler branching input light into a cross-port path having a branching ratio and a bar-port path having a branching ratio 1-. A first arm propagating light from the cross-port path of the first directional coupler; a second arm propagating light from the bar-port path of the first directional coupler. A second directional coupler outputting output light acquired by combining the light being input from the first arm and the light being input from the second arm at the cross-port branching ratio and the bar-port branching ratio 1-. A phase modulation unit providing a phase difference between the light propagating through the first arm and the light propagating through the second arm. and 1-, and and 1- are determined such that an parameter being a chirp parameter is a negative value.

A generator device for generating an arbitrary optical pulse pattern includes: a light source to provide primary laser pulses, a distributor to provide a plurality of primary optical pulses by distributing light of the primary laser pulses (LB00.sub.k) into a plurality of branches, a combiner to form an output signal by combining modulated optical signals from the branches, and a controller unit to provide control signals for controlling optical modulators of the branches, wherein a first branch comprises a first optical modulator to form a first modulated optical signal from primary optical pulses of the first branch, wherein a second branch comprises a second optical modulator to form a second modulated optical signal from primary optical pulses of the second branch, and wherein a propagation delay of the second branch is different from a propagation delay of the first branch.

A novel method for producing a novel electro-optic Terahertz (THz) emission and detection device is disclosed. The resulting end product from this production method is a unique electro-optic THz emission and detection device that includes thin film optical waveguides made from an electro-optic material on a low dielectric constant substrate. An optical circuit fabricated utilizing this production method may be a straight waveguide, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a periodically-poled straight waveguide, or a periodically-poled Mach-Zehnder device. The low dielectric constant substrate allows the THz signal velocity to match the optical signal velocity. For a straight waveguide and a Mach-Zehnder modulator sensor structure, phase matching is achieved between a radio-frequency (RF)/THz signal and an optical signal by utilizing a waveguide geometry design or a periodic poling structure, which enables an ultra-high-speed device for generation and detection of Terahertz (THz) e-fields.