Improvement of the fiber raman soliton laser for femtosecond optical pulse generation

Femtosecond optical pulses generated from a synchronously pumped fiber Raman soliton laser (FRASL) have been shown to have large excess noise and high background light (i.e., the pedestal) levels. In this paper, to improve the FRASL, the operation characteristics of the FRASL are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that real femtosecond soliton oscillation in the FRASL can be obtained only when the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) effect in the fibers is suppressed and proper choices of both the Stokes oscillation wavelength and the pump power level are required for the SSFS suppression in the FRASL. By using a tunable all-fiber Raman ring laser, optical pulses as short as 400 fs with a low white AM noise level of -120 dBc / Hz have been generated from the compact FRASL with SSFS suppression. Based on the theoretical analyses, we propose to use an intracavity saturable absorber to prevent the generation of high-level Stokes background light in the FRASL, and the feasibility of this method is shown by numerical simulations.     

Nonlinear Dynamics of Wave Fields in Nonresonant Media: From Envelope Solitons toward Video Solitons

We analyze a new class of soliton solutions for a wave field, which describes propagation of soliton-like structures of a circularly polarized electromagnetic field comprising a finite number of field-oscillation periods in a transparent nonresonant medium. The considered solutions feature a smooth transition from the soliton solutions of Schröodinger type, which correspond to long pulses with a large number of field oscillations, to extremely short, virtually single-cycle video pulses. We show that such solutions can also be important for linearly polarized laser fields. The structural stability of few-optical-cycle solitons is demonstrated numerically, including the case of their collision. Based on stability analysis and with allowance for the genealogic relation between the obtained wave solitons and the solitons of the nonlinear Schröodinger equation, we argue that the former solitons can play the same fundamental role in the nonlinear dynamics of the considered wave fields. In particular, it is shown by numerical simulations that the few-optical-cycle solutions turn out to be the basic elementary components of such a dynamical process as the temporal compression of an initially long pulse to a pulse of very short duration. In this case, the minimum duration of a compressed pulse is determined by soliton structures of about minimal duration.     

Optimizational 6-bit all-optical quantization with soliton self-frequency shift and pre-chirp spectral compression techniques based on photonic crystal fiber

In this paper, we optimize a proposed all-optical quantization scheme based on soliton self-frequency shift(SSFS)and pre-chirp spectral compression techniques. A 10m-long high-nonlinear photonic crystal fiber(PCF) is used as an SSFS medium relevant to the power of the sampled optical pulses. Furthermore, a 10m-long dispersion flattened hybrid cladding hexagonal-octagonal PCF(6/8-PCF) is utilized as a spectral compression medium to further enhance the resolution. Simulation results show that 6-bit quantization resolution is still obtained when a 100m-long dispersion-increasing fiber(DIF)is replaced by a 6/8-PCF in spectral compression module.     

Soliton self-frequency shift decelerated by self-steepening

Self-steepening of ultrashort light pulses is shown to reduce the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) induced by the Raman effect in an optical fiber. We derive an analytical expression for the SSFS that conserves the number of photons and allows the SSFS to be calculated for arbitrary frequency profiles of fiber dispersion and Raman gain without a numerical solution of the pulse evolution equation. The accuracy of this analytical approach to SSFS calculation is tested by numerical simulations based on the generalized nonlinear Schr?dinger equation.     

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation generation in the irregular point of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation(CR) is generated by the soliton self-frequency shift(SSFS) in the irregular point of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber(HC-PCF) in our laboratory.The impacts of pump power and wavelength on the CR are investigated,and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed.When the average power of the 120 fs pump pulse increases from 500 mW to 700 mW,the Raman soliton shifts from 2210 nm to 2360 nm,the output power of the CR increases by 2.3 times,the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 539 nm to that of the residual pump is calculated to be 24.32:1,the width of the output optical spectrum at the visible wavelength broadens from 35 nm to 62 nm,and the conversion efficiency η of the CR in the experiment can be above 32%.     

一种基于非线性光纤环镜开关特性的超短光孤子产生方法

提出了一种利用非线性光纤环镜的开关特性将连续波同时转化为亮孤子和暗孤子的新方法 ,即让连续波和另一波长的调制脉冲串共同耦合入光纤环镜 ,交叉相位调制使得一部分连续波被环镜透射 ,其余部分被反射 ;再让透射波和反射波分别在反常色散光纤和正常色散光纤中传输 ,自相位调制和群速度色散之间的相互作用使得透射波和反射波分别演化为亮、暗孤子。数值计算表明 ,该方法不仅可产生脉宽比调制脉冲窄、重复频率比调制脉冲高的亮孤子和暗孤子 ,而且几乎可将全部的连续波能量转化为孤子能量。     

Polarization-dependent efficient Cherenkov radiation at visible wavelengths in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber cladding

Efficient Cherenkov radiation (CR) is experimentally generated by a soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) in a knot of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF). When the angle of the half-wave plate is rotated from 0° to 45° , the Raman soliton shifts from 2227 to 2300 nm, the output power of the CR increases 8.15 times, and the maximum output power ratio of the CR at 556 nm to the residual pump is estimated to be 20:1. The width of the output optical spectrum at visible wavelengths broadens from 25 to 45 nm, and the conversion efficiency of the CR can be above 28%. Moreover, the influences of the pump polarization and wavelength on the CR are studied, and the corresponding nonlinear processes are discussed.     

Supercontinuum generation using continuous-wave multiwavelength pumping and dispersion management

We experimentally demonstrate that continuous-wave supercontinuum generation in optical fibers can be significantly enhanced by using both multiwavelength pumping and dispersion management. We show by detailed spectral analysis that continuum enhancement is achieved mainly through a combination of Raman-assisted modulation instabilities, soliton compression, and dispersive wave generation. With this technique, an 800 nm wide (from 1.2 to 2.0 microm) 2 W supercontinuum source is reported that uses a three-wavelength pump and a dispersion-tailored four-optical fibers arrangement.     

色散渐减光纤的脉冲压缩研究

介绍了色散渐减光纤的绝热孤子压缩(ASC)过程，分析结果表明利用线性渐减的色散渐减光 纤(DDF)对飞秒基态孤子进行绝热压缩可以得到高质量的压缩脉冲，但用于压缩的DDF长度很 长，因此又提出DDF的高阶孤子(1＜N≤21)脉冲压缩技术，以在较短的DDF长度下获得 较大压缩比和高质量的压缩脉冲. 关键词： 色散渐减光纤 绝热孤子压缩 脉冲压缩 高阶孤子     

脉冲离散效应对光纤中基于交叉相位调制的脉冲压缩的影响

通过数值模拟，分析了脉冲离散效应对单模光纤正群速色区基于暗孤子交叉不相位调制的脉冲压缩的影响，并提出了减轻这种影响的办法，作者发现，即使暗孤子与被压缩脉冲的中心波长相差很小，离散效应对脉冲压缩的影响也很大，离散效应不仅导致脉冲压缩比的减小和压缩后脉冲峰值功率的降低，而且还导致脉冲压缩所需最佳光纤长度的增加以及压缩后的脉冲呈现不对称性，还发现，若采取本文提出了的非同步耦合法，则可以明显地弥补离散效应     

Acousto-Optic Solitons in Fibers

It is shown that the deceleration of light pulses down to the velocity of a sound value can be realized in a case of unidirectional parametric interaction of two electromagnetic waves with an acoustic one in the regime of forming three wave acousto-optic solitons. This nonlinear acousto-optic interaction can be realized in long distance systems like fibers. As the result of such an interaction, two types of acousto-optic envelope solitons can propagate in fibers. Modulation of the amplitude of the electromagnetic pump wave can control the soliton velocity.     

Controlling hot electrons by wave amplification and decay in compressing plasma

Through particle-in-cell simulations, it is demonstrated that a part of the mechanical energy of compressing plasma can be controllably transferred to hot electrons by preseeding the plasma with a Langmuir wave that is compressed together with the medium. Initially, a wave is undamped, so it is amplified under compression due to plasmon conservation. Later, as the phase velocity also changes under compression, Landau damping can be induced at a predetermined instant of time. Then the wave energy is transferred to hot electrons, shaping the particle distribution over a controllable velocity interval, which is wider than that in stationary plasma. For multiple excited modes, the transition between the adiabatic amplification and the damping occurs at different moments; thus, individual modes can deposit their energy independently, each at its own prescribed time.     

Cascade compression induced by nonlinear barriers in propagation of optical solitons

We investigate the nonlinear tunneling of optical solitons through both dispersion and nonlinear barriers by employing the exact solution of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients. The extensive numerical simulations show that the optical solitons can be efficiently compressed when they pass through adequate engineered nonlinear barriers. A cascade compression system in a dispersion decreasing fiber with nonlinear barriers on an exponential background is proposed and the cascade compression of optical pulses is further investigated in detail. Finally, the stability to various initial perturbations of the cascade compressed optical soliton and the interaction between two neighboring compressed solitons were investigated too.     

色散渐减光纤组成的环形镜对高阶孤子的理想压缩

利用数值模拟方法证明,采用色散渐减光纤组成的非线性光纤环形镜不仅可压缩高阶光孤子,而且能有效地消除压缩后脉冲的底座、提高光脉冲的输出能量.研究表明,对于一确定的色散渐减光纤,只要选取不同环形镜长度,即可对不同阶数的高阶孤子进行理想压缩.且孤子阶数越高,所需最佳环形镜长度越短、压缩后光脉冲的峰值强度越大、能量透射率越低.研究同时发现,环形镜的功率分束比存在一最佳值,在此值下所得压缩后的光脉冲不仅具有较大的峰值及能量透射率,且不含底座.     

Tunable Supercontinuum Generated in a Yb~(3+)-Doped Microstructure Fiber Pumped by Ti:Sapphire Femtosecond Laser

We experimentally demonstrate that a tunable supercontinuum(SC) can be generated in a Yb3+-doped microstructure fiber by the concept of wavelength conversion with a Ti:sapphire femtosecond(fs) laser as the pump.Experimental results show that an emission light around 1040 nm in an anomalous dispersion region is first generated and amplified by fs pulses in the normal dispersion region. Then, SC spectra from 1100 to 1380 nm and 630 to 840 nm can be achieved by combined effects of higher-order soliton fission and Raman soliton self-frequency shift in the anomalous dispersion region and self-phase modulation, dispersive wave, and four-wave mixing in the normal dispersion region. It is also demonstrated that the 20 nm change of pump results in a 280 nm broadband shift of soliton and the further red-shift of soliton is limited by OH-absorption at 1380 nm.     

Supercontinuum generation in the irregular point of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Broadband supercontinuums (SC) are generated by soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) in our laboratory. With the pump works at 810 nm when the pump power increase from 400 to 600 mW, the Raman Soliton shifts from 2089 to 2215 nm, the bandwidth of SC increases from 2213 to 2320 nm. The ultra-violet part of SC is below 180 nm, and the mid-infrared part of SC exceeds 2500 nm. Moreover, the influence of pump power on SC is also analyzed.     

Velocity bunching in travelling wave accelerator with low acceleration gradient

We present the analytical and simulated results of our study of the influence of the acceleration gradient in the velocity bunching process, which is a bunch compression scheme that uses a travelling wave accelerating structure as a compressor. Our study shows that the bunch compression application with low acceleration gradient is more tolerant to phase jitter and more successful in obtaining a compressed electron beam with symmetrical longitudinal distribution and low energy spread. We also present a transverse emittance compensation scheme to compensate the emittance growth caused by the increase of the space charge force in the compressing process, which is easy to adjust for different compression factors.     

级联单模光纤中初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲压缩的影响

采用两段级联单模光纤对高阶孤子脉冲进行压缩。两段光纤具有不同的反常色散值,当高阶孤子脉冲在第一段光纤中获得最大程度压缩时,通过转换色散值不同的光纤,使压缩脉冲继续以高阶孤子的形式在第二段光纤中再次被压缩。每段光纤的长度都进行了优化,使得脉冲在每段光纤中都获得最大程度的压缩。基于非线性薛定谔方程,数值研究了初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲压缩的影响。研究结果表明,初始啁啾对高阶孤子脉冲的压缩有重要影响。与无初始啁啾时的情形相比,正的初始啁啾能增强每段光纤中脉冲的压缩效果,降低压缩脉冲的基座能量,而负初始啁啾的影响则相反。随着初始啁啾参量Cp的增大,脉冲在每段光纤中的压缩因子均增加,而基座能量、最优光纤长度均减小。     

Asymmetric W-shaped and M-shaped soliton pulse generated from a weak modulation in an exponential dispersion decreasing fiber

We study localized waves on continuous wave background in an exponential dispersion decreasing fiber with two orthogonal polarization states. We demonstrate that asymmetric W-shaped and M-shaped soliton pulse can be generated from a weak modulation on continuous wave background. The numerical simulation results indicate that the generated asymmetric soliton pulses are robust against small noise or perturbation. In particular, the asymmetric degree of the asymmetric soliton pulse can be effectively controlled by changing the relative frequency of the two components. This character can be used to generate other nonlinear localized waves, such as dark–antidark and antidark–dark soliton pulse pair, symmetric W-shaped and M-shaped soliton pulse. Furthermore, we find that the asymmetric soliton pulse possesses an asymmetric discontinuous spectrum.     

Spatiotemporal evolution of continuous-wave field and dark soliton formation in a microcavity with normal dispersion

Stable dark soliton and dark pulse formation in normally dispersive and red-detuned microcavities are investigated by numerically solving the normalized Lugiato-Lefever equation. The soliton essence is proved by fitting the calculated field intensity profile with the analytical formula of a dark soliton. Meanwhile, we find that a dark soliton can be generated either from the nonlinear evolution of an optical shock wave or narrowing of a locally broad dark pulse with smoother fronts. Explicit analytical expression is obtained to describe the oscillatory fronts of the optical shock wave. Furthermore,from the calculation results, we show that for smaller frequency detunings, e.g., α 3, in addition to the dark soliton formation, a single dark pulse with an oscillatory dip can also arise and propagate stably in the microcavity under proper pump detuning and pump strength combination. The existence region together with various field intensity profiles and the corresponding spectra of single dark pulse are demonstrated.