Fundamentals of stable continuum generation at high repetition rates

A continuum generated from highly nonlinear seed pulses (N/spl Gt/1) propagating in a medium with only self-phase modulation (SPM) or with SPM and anomalous dispersion is highly sensitive to the noise of the input pump pulse. The combination of SPM and normal dispersion improves the stability. However, more efficient spectral broadening schemes are desirable for generating a broad-band continuum at gigahertz rates. The adiabatic compression of weakly nonlinear pulses (N/spl sime/1) via the soliton effect efficiently generates a broad-band continuum that is robust against noise. Detailed characterization of continuum generation in several different fibers is reported.

[1]  M. Nakazawa,et al.  Ultrastable harmonically and regeneratively modelocked polarisation-maintaining erbium fibre ring laser , 1994 .

[2]  V. Zakharov,et al.  Exact Theory of Two-dimensional Self-focusing and One-dimensional Self-modulation of Waves in Nonlinear Media , 1970 .

[3]  K. Bergman,et al.  Broad-band high-repetition-rate source for spectrally sliced WDM , 1999, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[4]  Dietrich Marcuse,et al.  An alternative derivation of the Gordon-Haus effect , 1992 .

[5]  Suzuki,et al.  High-order solitons and the modulational instability. , 1989, Physical review. A, General physics.

[6]  M. Saruwatari,et al.  Pulse-width tunable, self-frequency conversion of short optical pulses over 200 nm based on supercontinuum generation , 1994 .

[7]  Y. Takushima,et al.  Generation of over 140-nm-wide super-continuum from a normal dispersion fiber by using a mode-locked semiconductor laser source , 1998, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[8]  Agrawal,et al.  Nonlinear pulse distortion in single-mode optical fibers at the zero-dispersion wavelength. , 1986, Physical review. A, General physics.

[9]  M. Nishimura,et al.  Generation of ultra-broad-band supercontinuum by dispersion-flattened and decreasing fiber , 1998, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[10]  Daniel R. Grischkowsky,et al.  Optical pulse compression based on enhanced frequency chirping , 1982 .

[11]  N. Doran,et al.  Generation and stabilization of short soliton pulses in the amplified nonlinear Schrödinger equation , 1988 .

[12]  M. Nakazawa,et al.  Timing jitter of solitons compressed in dispersion-decreasing fibers. , 1998, Optics letters.

[13]  H. Takara,et al.  3 Tbit/s (160 Gbit/s/spl times/19 ch) OTDM/WDM transmission experiment , 1999, OFC/IOOC . Technical Digest. Optical Fiber Communication Conference, 1999, and the International Conference on Integrated Optics and Optical Fiber Communication.

[14]  H. Haus,et al.  Random walk of coherently amplified solitons in optical fiber transmission. , 1986, Optics letters.

[15]  M. Saruwatari,et al.  Multi-WDM-channel, Gbit/s pulse generation from a single laser source utilizing LD-pumped supercontinuum in optical fibers , 1994, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[16]  Y. Takushima,et al.  10-GHz, over 20-channel multiwavelength pulse source by slicing super-continuum spectrum generated in normal-dispersion fiber , 1999, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[17]  Charles V. Shank,et al.  Compression of optical pulses chirped by self-phase modulation in fibers , 1984 .

[18]  Robert R. Alfano,et al.  The Supercontinuum Laser Source , 1989 .

[19]  Ken-ichi Kitayama,et al.  325 nm bandwidth supercontinuum generation at 10 Gbit/s using dispersion-flattened and non-decreasing normal dispersion fibre with pulse compression technique , 1998 .

[20]  M. Nakazawa,et al.  Random evolution and coherence degradation of a high-order optical soliton train in the presence of noise. , 1999, Optics letters.

[21]  R. Stolen,et al.  Extreme picosecond pulse narrowing by means of soliton effect in single-mode optical fibers. , 1983, Optics letters.

[22]  H. Kubota,et al.  Generation of a 170 fs, 10 GHz transform-limited pulse train at 1.55 mu m using a dispersion-decreasing, erbium-doped active soliton compressor , 1994 .

[23]  Toshio Morioka,et al.  1 Tbit/s (100 Gbit/s × 10 channel) OTDM/WDM transmission using a single supercontinuum WDM source , 1996 .

[24]  V. A. Semenov,et al.  A single-mode fiber with chromatic dispersion varying along the length , 1991 .

[25]  Toshio Morioka,et al.  Flatly broadened supercontinuum spectrum generated in a dispersion decreasing fibre with convex dispersion profile , 1997 .

[26]  Heinz P. Weber,et al.  Ultrashort pulse propagation, pulse breakup, and fundamental soliton formation in a single-mode optical fiber , 1987 .

[27]  Masataka Nakazawa,et al.  Generation of 10 GHz pulse trains at 16 wavelengths by spectrally slicing a high power femtosecond source , 1996 .

[28]  Toshio Morioka,et al.  Transform-limited, femtosecond WDM pulse generation by spectral filtering of gigahertz supercontinuum , 1994 .

[29]  S. Kawanishi,et al.  Multiwavelength picosecond pulse source with low jitter and high optical frequency stability based on 200 nm supercontinuum filtering , 1995 .

[30]  Hirokazu Kubota,et al.  Analyses of coherence-maintained ultrashort optical pulse trains and supercontinuum generation in the presence of soliton–amplified spontaneous-emission interaction , 1999 .

[31]  Eiji Yoshida,et al.  Coherence Degradation in the Process of Supercontinuum Generation in an Optical Fiber , 1998 .

[32]  Toshio Morioka,et al.  Continuously Tunable Optical Pulse Generation Utilizing Supercontinuum in an Optical Fiber Pumped by an Amplified Gain-Switched LD Pulses , 1993 .

[33]  David J. Richardson,et al.  Picosecond soliton pulse compressor based on dispersion decreasing fibre , 1992 .

[34]  S V Chernikov,et al.  Generation of a train of fundamental solitons at a high repetition rate in optical fibers. , 1989, Optics letters.

[35]  A. Hasegawa.  Solitons in optical communications , 1995 .

[36]  H. H. Chen,et al.  Nonlinear pulse propagation in the neighborhood of the zero-dispersion wavelength of monomode optical fibers. , 1986, Optics letters.

[37]  Y. Sasaki,et al.  Fabrication of low dispersion single-mode fibers over a wide spectral range , 1981 .

[38]  Yuji Kodama,et al.  Solitons in optical communications , 1995 .

[39]  M. Nakazawa,et al.  An efficient 0.04-nm apodized fiber Bragg grating and its application to narrow-band spectral filtering , 1997, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[40]  M.J. Guy,et al.  A duration-tunable, multiwavelength pulse source for OTDM and WDM communications systems , 1997, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[41]  Govind P. Agrawal,et al.  Nonlinear Fiber Optics , 1989 .

[42]  K. Tamura,et al.  Femtosecond soliton generation over a 32-nm wavelength range using a dispersion-flattened dispersion-decreasing fiber , 1999, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.