Low distortion, continuously tunable, positive and negative time delays by slow and fast light using stimulated Brillouin scattering

We demonstrate a single optical timing module that can provide both tunable delay and advancement with low distortion using a reconfigurable gain medium based on stimulated Brillouin scattering. Dual-stage intensity modulation method is used to achieve optimized gain profiles for both slow- and fast-light operation. Using 6.5 ns Gaussian pulses, we demonstrate a continuous temporal adjustment from a fractional advancement of 0.31 to a fractional delay of 0.82, giving more than a full pulse width of total tunability.