Self-similar propagation of high-power parabolic pulses in optical fiber amplifiers

Kruglov, V. I.; Peacock, Anna C.; Dudley, John M.; Harvey, J.D.

doi:10.1364/ol.25.001753

Cited by 225 publications

(114 citation statements)

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“…In addition to the vast literature on optical solitons 18 , optical similaritons have recently emerged as a new class of nonlinear waves 19 . Other researchers [20][21][22][23] have demonstrated their existence in fibre amplifiers. These results have extended earlier predictions of parabolic pulse propagation in passive fibres by Anderson and colleagues 24 and experiments on amplification at normal dispersion 25 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Soliton–similariton fibre laser

2010

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Rapid progress in passively mode-locked fibre lasers 1-6 is currently driven by the recent discovery of new mode-locking mechanisms, namely, the self-similarly evolving pulse (similariton) 7 and the all-normal-dispersion (dissipative soliton) regimes 8,9 . These are fundamentally different from the previously known soliton 10 and dispersion-managed soliton (stretched-pulse) 11 regimes. Here, we report a fibre laser in which the mode-locked pulse evolves as a similariton in the gain segment and transforms into a regular soliton in the rest of the cavity. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of similaritons in the presence of gain, that is, amplifier similaritons, within a laser cavity. The existence of solutions in a dissipative nonlinear cavity comprising a periodic combination of two distinct nonlinear waves is novel and likely to be applicable to various other nonlinear systems. For very large filter bandwidths, our laser approaches the working regime of dispersionmanaged soliton lasers; for very small anomalous-dispersion segment lengths it approaches dissipative soliton lasers.Passively mode-locked fibre lasers are being used in a diverse range of applications, including optical frequency metrology 12,13 , material processing 14 and terahertz generation 15 . Historically, major advances in laser performance have followed the discovery of new mode-locking regimes [1][2][3][4][5][6]16 , so there is always a strong motivation to search for new regimes.The physics of mode-locked fibre lasers comprises a complex interaction of gain, dispersion and nonlinear effects 17 . Such lasers are a convenient experimental platform for the study of nonlinear waves subject to periodic boundary conditions and dissipative effects. These characteristics profoundly alter the behaviour of nonlinear waves, so this area of research is interesting in its own right. In addition to the vast literature on optical solitons . These similaritons existed in segments of the cavity without any gain and loss to avoid the large spectral broadening that is characteristic of amplifier similaritons. Formation of a self-consistent solution in a laser cavity requires the compensation of spectral broadening, which has proved to be non-trivial 5 . Despite numerical predictions of their existence dating back almost a decade 26 , amplifier similaritons had yet to be observed in a laser cavity.Here, we present our experimental and theoretical work demonstrating an entirely new mode-locking regime, in which the pulse propagates self-similarly in the gain fibre with normal dispersion, and following spectral filtering, gradually evolves into a soliton in the rest of the cavity, where the dispersion is anomalous. All mode-locked lasers to date have had a single type of nonlinear wave propagating within the cavity; however, in our laser, distinctly different similariton and soliton pulses co-exist, demonstrating that transitions between these are possible. Remarkably, this construct is extremely robust against perturbations. Although the pulse expe...

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confidence: 99%

Soliton–similariton fibre laser

2010

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“…1 Such a parabolic pulse can be analytically described as an approximate solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with normal dispersion and gain in the large-amplitude (or small-dispersion) limit. [1][2][3][4][5] Note that the self-similar parabolic approximation is applied only in the central part of the pulse. A more accurate mathematical description that matches the parabolic core with the pulse tails has been presented in Ref.…”

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Theory of parabolic pulse generation in tapered fiber

2007

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We examine similarities and differences between high-power parabolic pulse generation in an active medium and in tapered fiber with decreasing normal dispersion. Using a realistic tapered fiber design, we demonstrate the possibility of parabolic pulse generation without an external pump and determine the limitations of this approach. © 2007 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.2280, 060.4370, 060.5530, 320.5540. High-power pulse propagation in optical fiber is strongly affected by nonlinear phenomena. Mastering these nonlinear effects can result in the development of new attractive techniques for optical signal generation, processing, and manipulation. In the normal dispersion regime, nonlinear-dominated optical pulse broadening generally leads to wave breaking that manifests itself as waveform steepening with subsequent growing oscillations at the pulse tails. However, there is an interesting class of breakingfree pulses with a parabolic profile in the energycontaining core that can propagate in a stable selfsimilar manner, holding a certain relation (scaling) among changing pulse power, width, and chirp. 1 Such a parabolic pulse can be analytically described as an approximate solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with normal dispersion and gain in the large-amplitude (or small-dispersion) limit. [1][2][3][4][5] Note that the self-similar parabolic approximation is applied only in the central part of the pulse. A more accurate mathematical description that matches the parabolic core with the pulse tails has been presented in Ref. 6. Parabolic pulses (PPs) have recently attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential importance for high-power femtosecond lasers, 7-9 applications in spectral broadening and supercontinuum generation, 10,11 and all-optical signal processing and regeneration. 12,13 Generation of PPs by using an optical fiber amplifying medium (e.g., Er-doped fiber amplifiers, Ybdoped fiber, or passive optical fibers with distributed Raman amplification) has been successfully demonstrated in a number of recent publications (see, e.g., Refs. 14 and 15 and references therein). Breakingfree optical pulse amplification is beneficial for highpower lasers and similar applications. However, there is a range of physical and technical problems (e.g., telecommunication signal processing) where high signal power is not required and the most valuable features are the specific parabolic pulse shape and chirp. An active medium, inevitably, introduces amplified spontaneous emission noise. Therefore, taking into account a variety of possible applications, it is of interest to examine other approaches to PP generation. A simple alternative method for generation of PPs in a passive device by means of a dispersion-decreasing fiber (DDF) was proposed in Ref. 16. The first experiments 17,18 confirmed the possibility of PP generation in DDF. It was pointed out in Ref. 16 that in a system described by the ideal lossless NLSE with dispersion decreasing as D͑z͒ = D͑0͒ / ͑1+⌫ 0 z͒ (hyp...

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“…(1)) used in the previous section was based on the assumption of a constant longitudinal gain and neglects several effects which can affect the shape of the output pulse, such as the longitudinal dependence of the gain profile [4,17] or the dispersion of the Raman gain [31,32]. For a more accurate modelization of our experimental results, we present now simulations using the generalized extended NLSE [31] that rigorously includes the Raman amplification process through an appropriate integral term, as well as effects such as higherorder dispersion terms and self-steepening :…”

Section: Use Of a More Realistic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The application of self-similarity techniques to the study of nonlinear pulse propagation has been the subject of much recent interest in the context of parabolic pulse generation in optical fiber amplifiers with normal group-velocity dispersion (GVD) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Such pulses, also called optical similaritons, represent a new class of solutions to the non-linear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with gain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of dark solitons by interaction between similaritons in Raman fiber amplifiers

Finot¹,

Dudley²,

Millot³

2006

Optical Fiber Technology

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: We present a new method to generate dark soliton trains by exploiting the interaction between two time-delayed optical similaritons with the same wavelength. The temporal overlap of two similariton pulses creates a sinusoidal beating which subsequently evolves into an ultrahigh repetition-rate train of dark solitons through the combined effects of normal dispersion, non-linearity and adiabatic Raman gain. The experimental results are in good agreement with numerical predictions. We also investigate how the the repetition rate of the dark soliton train depends on the time separation between the initial pulses, the initial pulse energy, and the Raman gain. Finally, we numerically study the interaction between three similaritons of the same wavelength.

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Self-similar propagation of high-power parabolic pulses in optical fiber amplifiers

Cited by 225 publications

References 10 publications

Soliton–similariton fibre laser

Soliton–similariton fibre laser

Theory of parabolic pulse generation in tapered fiber

Generation of dark solitons by interaction between similaritons in Raman fiber amplifiers

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