Quantitative measurement of timing and phase dynamics in a mode-locked laser

We present results of an experimental study of the timing and phase dynamics in a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. By measuring the response of two widely spaced comb lines to a sinusoidal modulation of the pump power, we determine quantitatively the response of both the central pulse time and the phase. Because of the distinct response of the pulse energy, central frequency, and gain to the modulation, we are able to distinguish their contributions to the timing and phase dynamics.     

Differential inhibition of postnatal brain,spinal cord and body growth by a growth hormone antagonist

Background  

Growth hormone (GH) plays an incompletely understood role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we use transgenic mice expressing a growth hormone antagonist (GHA) to explore the role of GH in regulating postnatal brain, spinal cord and body growth into adulthood. The GHA transgene encodes a protein that inhibits the binding of GH to its receptor, specifically antagonizing the trophic effects of endogenous GH.     

Polarization decorrelation in optical fibers with randomly varying elliptical birefringence

Polarization decorrelation in single-mode fibers with randomly varying elliptical birefringence is studied. It is found that the effects of ellipticity on the polarization decorrelation length depend on the relative sizes of the beat length and the autocorrelation length of the birefringence fluctuations in the fiber. However, the evolution of the differential group delay remains unaffected by ellipticity.     

Dispersion management in a harmonically mode-locked fiber soliton laser

Harmonically mode-locked Er-fiber soliton lasers have become a reliable source of high-repetition-rate picosecond pulses in high-speed communications and photonic analog-to-digital conversion systems because of their low-noise, dropout-free operation. We have fabricated such a laser with a strongly dispersion-managed cavity and modeled its operation, and we have found that dispersion management significantly extends the power range over which uninterrupted single-pulse production is attained and dramatically decreases the effects of amplified spontaneous emission on the phase noise of the laser.     

Interaction of nonlinearity and polarization mode dispersion

The derivation of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the Manakov-PMD equation is reviewed. It is shown that the usual scalar nonlinear Schrödinger equation can be derived from the Manakov-PMD equation when polarization mode dispersion is negligible and the signal is initially in a single polarization state as a function of time. Applications of the Manakov-PMD equation to studies of the interaction of the Kerr nonlinearity with polarization mode dispersion are then discussed.     

Laser emission study of the pressure dependence of the energy gap in tellurium

The pressure dependence of the band gap of tellurium has been precisely measured to 8 kbar in a study of the laser emission of an optically-pumped sample at liquid nitrogen temperatures. A large negative pressure tuning coefficient is observed along with an anomalous nonlinearity in the tuning. These measurements are compared to previous studies using other optical and electrical techniques and are related to current theoretical models of the band structure of tellurium.     

Periodic dispersion management in soliton wavelength-division multiplexing transmission with sliding filters

We compare the performance of dispersion-managed fibers with that of dispersion-decreasing fibers and of fibers with uniform dispersion in filtered soliton wavelength-division multiplexing transmission. Alternating-sign dispersion management allows us to achieve values of collision-induced timing jitter that are comparable with what can be achieved by use of dispersion-decreasing fiber and are lower for some parameter values.