Timing jitter of solitons compressed in dispersion-decreasing fibers

It is shown that timing jitter owing to the Gordon-Haus (G-H) effect of solitons that are compressed adiabatically in dispersion-decreasing fibers (DDF's) is approximately determined by total dispersion and initial conditions, which are independent of compression dynamics. As a result the established theory for G-H jitter is still applicable. Timing jitter near the levels predicted by theory is observed in pulses from a regeneratively mode-locked fiber laser compressed in a DDF.