Abstract

The exact resonance of pump and Stokes with the Raman transition is essential for successful generation of Raman solitons.¹ Even slight detuning (~1 % of the Raman linewidth) leads to rapid soliton decay. Viewed in frequency space, this is due to an asymmetric gain profile for the injected Stokes seed. Through the frequency dependence of gain and Raman dispersion, this leads to the rapid growth of an out-of-phase component of the Stokes beam, which does not participate in the transient reversal of pump depletion. The asymmetric gain profile can be compensated by suitably modifying the total phase shift of the injected seed, resulting in an enhancement of those frequency components that see lower gain. We show that almost complete soliton stability can be achieved this way.

© 1988 Optical Society of America