Self-Similar Evolution of Parabolic Pulses in a Laser

Abstract

Self-similar propagation of ultrashort, parabolic pulses in a laser resonator is observed theoretically and experimentally. This constitutes a new type of pulse shaping in mode-locked lasers: in contrast to the well-known static (solitonlike) and breathing (dispersion-managed soliton) pulse evolutions, asymptotic solutions to the nonlinear wave equation that governs pulse propagation in most of the laser cavity are observed. Stable self-similar pulses exist with energies much greater than can be tolerated in solitonlike pulse shaping, and this has implications for practical lasers.

Discrete family of dissipative soliton pairs in mode-locked fiber lasers

“…For the simulation we use parameters closely related to previous experiments at a carrier wavelength of 1030 nm [22,23,27]. The length of the absorber and the smallsignal loss were adjusted to a modulation depth of 30%, the relaxation time of the fast, but noninstantaneous, SA is 500 fs, its saturation energy amounts to 16.7 pJ and the respective saturation power to P sat = 33.4 W. The output loss is equal to 30%.…”

“…g(z) is the saturable gain of the doped fiber and T 1 is the dipole relaxation time (inverse linewidth of the parabolic gain). Assuming that the conditions are close to stationarity, the gain can be approximated by [27] g(z)…”

Picosecond pulses from wavelength-swept continuous-wave Fourier domain mode-locked lasers

“…This means an FDML laser has a pulse shaper inherently built in. It should be emphasized that this method of ultrashort pulse generation is fundamentally different from conventional mode locking, such as the well-known soliton mode locking and stretched-pulse (dispersion-managed) solutions to the Haus master equation 25 , as well as the recently discovered all-normal-dispersion 26 , similariton 27 and solitonsimilariton 28 regimes. Besides the fact that this concept might be an attractive candidate for future high-energy, low repetition rate semiconductor pulse lasers, our findings, that is, the measured compression factor, also provide valuable insight into the coherence of the FDML output.…”

Generation of dark solitons by interaction between similaritons in Raman fiber amplifiers

“…Moreover, their linear chirp facilitates efficient temporal compression [3,[18][19][20]. Combination of a similariton amplifier with an optical feedback has resulted in a new regime of laser mode-locking that is likely to have major implications for the development of high-power ultrashort pulse laser oscillators [21]. Recent experimental studies have also taken advantage of the similariton characteristics to propose new methods for optical pulse synthesis [22], for 10 GHz telecom multiwavelength sources [23] or for optical regeneration of telecom signal [24].…”