Abstract

A source that exploits both soliton shaping and broadband high gain within a single fibre environment is particularly appealing. Recently, Smith et at [1], demonstrated this simple idea with a mode–locked erbium fibre laser. Short picosecond structures with temporal spectral and power characteristics consistent with fundamental soliton shaping were observed. An important feature of the experiment was that only a short length of high gain single mode erbium doped fibre was used. This limit contrasts with previous studies [2] and leads to soliton behaviour that is significantly different from that commonly associated with propagation in long fibres with low gain [3]. The results presented here form part of a theoretical study aimed at understanding the stable behaviour of solitons reported in this short length high gain limit.

© 1991 Optical Society of America