Abstract

Soliton formation in femtosecond lasers was first reported in a colliding-pulse-mode-locked (CPM) dye laser when amplitude modulation of the modelocked pulse sequence at the soliton frequency was observed together with a characteristic triple-peaked autocorrelation profile.¹ Complementary spectral evidence for the simultaneous propagation of dispersive and solitonic waves was provided by studies of a similar CPM laser.² It has been shown theoretically³ that the simultaneous production of soiitonic and dispersive waves displaces the pulse spectrum towards the region of anomalous dispersion and spectral splitting around the point of zero dispersion is observed.

© 1994 Optical Society of America