The spectral broadening of a blue optical pulse and the modulation of a pulse waveform in a photonic crystal fiber by induced-phase modulation

By copropagating a fundamental pulse and a blue second-harmonic pulse from a Ti:Sapphire oscillator in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF), the spectral broadening of the blue second-harmonic pulse from 380 to 600 nm has been observed by use of induced-phase modulation (IPM) at a 78-MHz repetition rate. From the experimental and the calculated delay time dependence of spectral intensities, it was inferred that the largest spectral broadening was observed when the second-harmonic pulse interacted with the fundamental pulse near the input end of a PCF, where the fundamental pulse was compressed temporally due to self-phase modulation and negative group velocity dispersion. From the simulation, the mechanism of spectral broadening was clarified and the fission process of the fundamental pulse was shown to be influenced strongly by IPM.     

基于光纤中超短脉冲非线性传输机理与特定光谱选择技术的多波长飞秒激光的产生

高集成、高可靠性宽调谐飞秒激光源在超快光谱学、量子光学及生物成像等研究与应用领域具有重要价值.如在生物多光子显微成像中,具有适中能量的宽调谐飞秒激光源不仅可满足多种生物组织荧光激发所需的峰值功率与激发波长,而且也可以显著提升非线性荧光产生效率、成像分辨率以及增大成像穿透深度.采用自主研发的高可靠性全保偏光纤飞秒激光器作为抽运源,基于低色散光纤中高峰值功率飞秒激光脉冲非线性传输引起的光谱加宽机制,本文开展了多波长全光纤飞秒激光产生技术研究.通过采用中心波长在980, 1000,1050, 1070与1100 nm的带通滤波片选择性地对单模光纤输出光谱中最左边与最右边光谱旁瓣进行滤波,在上述中心波长处分别可获得203, 195, 196, 187与194 fs的激光输出.本文提出的基于全光纤飞秒激光脉冲在单模光纤中非线性传输引起的光谱加宽机制与特定光谱选择技术的实验方案为高集成、高可靠性宽调谐飞秒激光源的实现提供了新的研究途径.     

光子晶体光纤中自相位调制效应对超高斯脉冲传输的影响

为了研究光子晶体光纤的微结构对其非线性光传输特性的影响,利用超格子法和光子晶体光纤中的光传输方程,计算了光子晶体光纤中的高斯光脉冲和超高斯脉冲的自相位调制谱.计算结果表明：高斯光脉冲和超高斯光脉冲的高频端比低频端均有较大的频谱展宽,而高斯光脉冲的频谱比超高斯光脉冲的频谱具有更大的中心峰值；超高斯光脉冲较高斯光脉冲有较广的频谱范围,它们的自相位调制展宽范围均随着传输距离的增加而增大.这些现象均可以利用自陡峭效应的理论加以解释.与传统光纤相比,高斯光脉冲在传统光纤中所受自相位调制效应的影响较小.     

Combined self-phase modulation and amplification of femtosecond light pulses

The influence of depletable amplification, group velocity dispersion and self-phase modulation due to Kerr-type nonlinearity on pulse shaping in femtosecond pulse amplification has been calculated. With gain depletion which is typical for the last stage of multi-stage amplifiers, spectral broadening occurs which, under certain conditions, can be utilized for pulse compression. This spectral broadening as well as a predicted spectral shift is compared with experimental results.     

Kilowatt-peak-power, single-frequency, pulsed fiber laser near 2 μm

We generated single-frequency pulses at kilowatt peak power from an all-fiber Tm-doped master oscillator power amplifier system, which is the first report of this kind (to the best of our knowledge) of a laser in the 2 μm region. Compared with the laser linewidth of seed pulses, spectral broadening by a factor of 3 was observed with the amplified pulses. This was attributed to self-phase modulation in passive pigtail fibers of the components (isolator and wavelength division multiplexing) that were placed after the fiber amplifier. The short pulse width (~7 ns) of the kilowatt-level pulses prevents an onset of stimulated Brillouin scattering in the long fiber. When launching the pulses into several-meter single-mode fiber, significant nonlinear spectral broadening occurs due to modulation instability in the fiber. This reaction is beneficial for generation of a mid- and long-wavelength IR supercontinuum in nonlinear IR fibers.     

Detrimental effect of self-phase modulation on the performance of Brillouin distributed fiber sensors

We show that the spectral broadening of the pump pulse through self-phase modulation in a time-domain distributed Brillouin sensor has a considerably detrimental effect in the measurement, especially in the case of long distances and high-resolution pulses. Using 30 ns pump pulses with peak power of 276 mW, self-phase modulation leads to a doubling of the effective gain linewidth after some 20 km, which is equivalent to a contrast loss of 2dB in the measurement. The impact is higher for shorter pulses (higher resolution). The theoretical modeling is fully confirmed by experimental results.     

An optical waveform pre-distortion method based on time domain fractional Fourier transformation

An optical waveform pre-distortion method is proposed in reducing the temporal broadening of pulse based on the optical implementation of time domain fractional Fourier transform (FRFT). Moreover, a new analysis of the dispersion and self-phase modulation effects is investigated. The simulation results show that prechirp coefficient and proper fractional orders of FRFT can be beneficial in mitigating pulse broadening.     

16 fs, 350 nJ pulses at 5 MHz repetition rate delivered by chirped pulse compression in fibers

We demonstrate a simple approach for broadening and compression of intense pulses at megahertz repetition rates by self-phase modulation in nonlinear photonic crystal fibers. In order to avoid damage by self-focusing, we positively chirp the input pulses, which allows coupling of significantly more energy into the fiber, while maintaining the same spectral bandwidth and compression as compared to the Fourier-limited case at lower energy. Using a commercial long-cavity Ti:sapphire oscillator with 55 fs, 400 nJ pulses at 5 MHz, we generate 16 fs, 350 nJ pulses, which is a factor of 4 more energy than possible with unchirped input pulses. Self-phase-modulated spectra supporting 11 fs duration are also shown with 350 nJ pulse energy. Excellent stability is recorded over at least 1 h.     

Sub-5-ps, multimegawatt peak-power pulses from a fiber-amplified and optically compressed passively Q-switched microchip laser

We report on high-energy picosecond pulse generation from a passively Q-switched and fiber-amplified microchip laser system. Initially, the utilized microchip lasers produce pulses with durations of around 100 ps at 1064 nm central wavelength. These pulses are amplified to energies exceeding 100 μJ, simultaneously chirped and spectrally broadened by self-phase modulation using a double stage amplifier based on single-mode LMA photonic crystal fibers at repetition rates of up to 1 MHz. Subsequently, the pulse duration of chirped pulses is reduced by means of nonlinear pulse compression to durations of 2.7 ps employing a conventional grating compressor and 4.7 ps using a compact compressor based on a chirped volume Bragg grating.     

Generation of single and multiple dissipative soliton in an erbium-doped fiber laser

We experimentally report on the generation of single and multiple dissipative soliton via nonlinear polarization rotation technique. The spectrum of the mode-locked dissipative soliton exhibits typical steep edges with a flat top; the pulse duration is 10.07 ps. It is found that with the pump power increasing from 110 mW to 161 mW, the top of the mode-locked spectrum becomes flater and the 3-dB spectral bandwidth is broadened, which indicates that the gain-dispersion effect is lowered under stronger pump. However, the full bandwidth of the spectrum is narrowed, which proves that the spectral filter effect increases and overcomes the effect of self-phase modulation induced spectral broadening. Such a phenomenon was not noticed nor reported before. Our experiment also demonstrates that the pulse interval is highly dependent on the input pump power: with pump power increasing, the pulse interval tends towards more uniform. So our observation qualitatively analyzes the relationship between mode-locked pulse characteristics and input pump power.     

Shorter and bandwidth-limited Nd: YAG laser pulses

Stable generation of 12 ps pulses in a passively mode-locked YAG system is reported using an intracavity etalon. It is also shown that self-phase modulation via the nonlinear index of YAG increases the frequency width of the laser emission; at low intracavity pulse energy < 200 μJ, chirp free pulses are observed.     

Energy Squeeze of Ultrashort Light Pulse by Kerr Nonlinear Photonic Crystals

Self-phase modulation can efficiently shape the spectrum of an optical pulse propagating along an optical material with Kerr nonlinearity. In this work we show that a one-dimensional Kerr nonlinear photonic crystal can impose anomalous spectrum modulation to a high-power ultrashort light pulse. The spectrum component at the photonic band gap edge can be one order of magnitude enhanced in addition to the ordinary spectrum broadening due to self-phase modulation. The enhancement is strictly pinned at the band gap edge by changing the sample length, the intensity or central wavelength of the incident pulse. The phenomenon is attributed to band gap induced enhancement of light-matter interaction.     

High-Power Extracavity Pulse Compression in Solid Materials

A novel technique for high-power extracavity pulse compression with a nonlinear solid material is demonstrated. Before spectral broadening by self-phase modulation in the solid material, a short filament generated in argon is used as a spatial filter, which works for a uniform spectrum broadening over the spatial profile. Compensated by chirped mirrors, a 15-fs pulse is generated from a 32-fs input laser pulse. A total transmission larger than 80% after the solid material is achieved.     

Doping management for high-power fiber lasers: 100 W, few-picosecond pulse generation from an all-fiber-integrated amplifier

Thermal effects, which limit the average power, can be minimized by using low-doped, longer gain fibers, whereas the presence of nonlinear effects requires use of high-doped, shorter fibers to maximize the peak power. We propose the use of varying doping levels along the gain fiber to circumvent these opposing requirements. By analogy to dispersion management and nonlinearity management, we refer to this scheme as doping management. As a practical first implementation, we report on the development of a fiber laser-amplifier system, the last stage of which has a hybrid gain fiber composed of high-doped and low-doped Yb fibers. The amplifier generates 100?W at 100?MHz with pulse energy of 1 μJ. The seed source is a passively mode-locked fiber oscillator operating in the all-normal-dispersion regime. The amplifier comprises three stages, which are all-fiber-integrated, delivering 13?ps pulses at full power. By optionally placing a grating compressor after the first stage amplifier, chirp of the seed pulses can be controlled, which allows an extra degree of freedom in the interplay between dispersion and self-phase modulation. This way, the laser delivers 4.5?ps pulses with ～200 kW peak power directly from fiber, without using external pulse compression.     

单模光纤脉冲展宽效应实验研究

利用时间分辨率为2ps的扫描相机和实时处理系统研究了当脉宽为15ps波长为1.06μm的Nd:YAG激光脉冲在单模光纤中传输时,光纤中自相位调制(SPM),正群速色散(GVD)和受激喇曼散射(SRS)引起的联合非线性效应。     

Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power,pulse duration and spectral width of a cw mode-locked picosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report on a cw mode-locked non-critically phase matched KTP optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a picosecond Ti:Sapphire laser. High average signal output power of up to 950 mW over a large tuning range has been achieved. For this OPO the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power, pulse duration and spectral bandwidth has been investigated. The measured data are in good agreement with the results of a numerical simulation using a split-step Fourier method which considers the group-velocity mismatch, the group-velocity dispersion and the self-phase modulation. The numerical simulation also describes the measured strong pump depletion and its influence on the OPO output and efficiency.     

正常色散平坦光纤中皮秒抽运脉冲超连续谱的形成研究

研究了皮秒抽运脉冲在正常色散平坦光纤中超连续谱的形成过程，分析了脉冲演化过程中光波分裂的产生及其所显示的四波混频对超连续谱特性的影响.结果表明：脉冲初期光谱展宽由自相位调制效应主导，此后由于光谱中心区域能量在色散作用下不断向旁瓣转移，自相位调制效应逐渐减弱而四波混频作用增强，光谱会再度显著展宽.超连续谱的噪声特性与光谱演化状态密切相关，是光谱特征结构对抽运脉冲强度噪声响应的动态表征. 关键词： 正常色散平坦光纤 自相位调制 四波混频 超连续谱     

高非线性光子晶体光纤中飞秒脉冲的传输特性和超连续谱产生机制的实验研究及模拟分析

用实验和数值模拟两种方法研究了高非线性光子晶体光纤中飞秒激光脉冲的传输特性和超连续谱的产生机理，给出了抽运脉冲在三种不同中心波长情况下输出光谱展宽并形成超连续谱的实际测量及理论模拟结果.研究表明：在零色散波长抽运时，光谱展宽以自相位调制为主，同时三阶色散的影响明显，传输脉冲在时域内出现振荡次峰.而在反常色散区抽运时，光谱展宽的初期以自相位调制为主，随后根据抽运功率的不同孤子自频移、高阶光孤子的裂变和四波混频效应会逐渐增强，进而成为光谱展宽的主要原因.与此相应，在时域中能明显看到孤子的形成和红移，飞秒传输脉 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 高非线性光子晶体光纤 飞秒脉冲激光 超连续谱     

Efficient shortening of self-chirped picosecond pulses in a high-power CO(2) amplifier

We report a factor-of-6 shortening of the 240-ps (FWHM) pulses in a triple-pass, 2.5-atm CO(2) amplifier. This technique is based on the self-phase modulation of a 10-mum pulse in a plasma after the first pass of amplification, followed by narrowing of this chirped pulse during further amplification. Subsequently, strong power broadening provides the necessary bandwidth to amplify 40-ps pulses to terawatt power levels.     

The production and measurement of ultrashort pulses in a ruby layer

The two-photon flourescence from a whole pulse train is measured photoelectrically for a variety of laser conditions. A compound mode-locking solution containing DDI and DCI is found to reduce pulse lengths. An etalon which cancels gain-narrowing also has this effect. Intensity-dependent variations are found in the two-photon fluorescence profile which suggest a threshold for self-phase modulation.