Parabolic pulse generation around 1550 nm in dispersion decreasing comb-like profiled fibre is experimentally demonstrated. A six-segment comb profile based on two types of highly nonlinear fibre with normal dispersion is used to reshape 190 fs pulses into 540 fs linearly chirped parabolic pulses after a propagation distance of only 1.7 m. Frequency resolved optical gating is used to measure the output pulse intensity and chirp, and the experimental results are in good quantitative agreement with numerical simulations

In this paper we propose an efficient technique for micromachining lithium niobate that is used in Ti-diffused waveguides. The use of Focused Ion Beam (FIB) etching allows obtaining homogeneous periodic microstructures. Bragg gratings with a period of 1.05 m and an aspect ratio of 6:1 (depth-to-half period ratio) have been achieved. A reflectivity greater than 95% associated with a bandwidth at half maximum of about 100 nm within a window centered at 1550 nm, is demonstrated for a Bragg grating of period 3=18 m and a length of 144 m, in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

Parabolic pulses from a similariton amplifier at 1550 nm are compressed using a two-stage fiber compressor employing linear compression in photonic bandgap fiber and soliton effect compression in highly nonlinear fiber. Precise optimization of the compressor design using frequency resolved optical gating allows the generation of minimally chirped pulses as short as 20 fs. This duration corresponds to only four optical cycles of the underlying electric field at this wavelength.