Optimizing pulse compressibility in completely all-fibered Ytterbium chirped pulse amplifiers for in vivo two photon laser scanning microscopy.

A simple and completely all-fiber Yb chirped pulse amplifier that uses a dispersion matched fiber stretcher and a spliced-on hollow core photonic bandgap fiber compressor is applied in nonlinear optical microscopy. This stretching-compression approach improves compressibility and helps to maximize the fluorescence signal in two-photon laser scanning microscopy as compared with approaches that use standard single mode fibers as stretcher. We also show that in femtosecond all-fiber systems, compensation of higher order dispersion terms is relevant even for pulses with relatively narrow bandwidths for applications relying on nonlinear optical effects. The completely all-fiber system was applied to image green fluorescent beads, a stained lily-of-the-valley root and rat-tail tendon. We also demonstrated in vivo imaging in zebrafish larvae, where we simultaneously measure second harmonic and fluorescence from two-photon excited red-fluorescent protein. Since the pulses are compressed in a fiber, this source is especially suited for upgrading existing laser scanning (confocal) microscopes with multiphoton imaging capabilities in space restricted settings or for incorporation in endoscope-based microscopy.

Optimization and characterization of highly nonlinear fiber for broadband optical time lens applications.

We demonstrate simple and intuitive methods, for dispersion optimization and characterization of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) for use in four-wave-mixing (FWM) based time lens applications. A composite dispersion-flattened HNLF is optimized for high bandwidth time lens processing, by segmentation to mitigate FWM impairments due to dispersion fluctuations. The fiber is used for FWM conversion of 32 WDM-channels with 50 GHz spacing in a time lens, with -4.6 dB total efficiency, and <1 dB per-channel efficiency difference. The novel characterization method is based on two tunable continuous-wave lasers. The method is experimentally verified to predict the spectral output profile of time lenses for broadband multicarrier input, with detailed numerical simulations for support.

Detailed characterization of CW- and pulsed-pump four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear fibers.

We present a quantitative comparison of continuous-wave- (CW) and pulsed-pump four-wave mixing (FWM) in commercially available highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs), and suggest properties for which the CW- and pulsed-pump FWM bandwidths are limited in practice. The CW- and pulsed-pump parametric gain is characterized experimentally for several HNLFs with various dispersion properties, including zero-dispersion wavelength fluctuations, and the results are interpreted in conjunction with detailed numerical simulations. It is found that a low third-order dispersion (TOD) is essential for the pulsed-pump FWM bandwidth. However, an inverse scaling of the TOD with the dispersion fluctuations leads to different CW-optimized fibers, which depend only on the even dispersion orders.

Sub-100 fs pulses from an all-polarization maintaining Yb-fiber oscillator with an anomalous dispersion higher-order-mode fiber.

We present an Yb-fiber oscillator with an all-polarization-maintaining cavity with a higher-order-mode fiber for dispersion compensation. The polarization maintaining higher order mode fiber introduces not only negative second order dispersion but also negative third order dispersion in the cavity, in contrast to dispersion compensation schemes used in previous demonstrations of all-polarization maintaining Yb-fiber oscillators. The performance of the saturable absorber mirror modelocked oscillator, that employs a free space scheme for coupling onto the saturable absorber mirror and output coupling, was investigated for different settings of the intracavity dispersion. When the cavity is operated with close to zero net dispersion, highly stable 0.5-nJ pulses externally compressed to sub-100-fs are generated. These are to our knowledge the shortest pulses generated from an all-polarization-maintaining Yb-fiber oscillator. The spectral phase of the output pulses is well behaved and can be compensated such that wing-free Fourier transform limited pulses can be obtained. Further reduction of the net intracavity third order dispersion will allow generating broader output spectra and consequently shorter pulses, without sacrificing pulse fidelity.

Wavelength-selective switch with direct few mode fiber integration.

The first realization of a wavelength-selective switch (WSS) with direct integration of few mode fibers (FMF) is fully described. The free-space optics FMF-WSS dynamically steers spectral information-bearing beams containing three spatial modes from an input port to one of nine output ports using a phase spatial light modulator. Sources of mode dependent losses (MDL) are identified, analytically analyzed and experimentally confirmed on account of different modal sensitivities to fiber coupling in imperfect imaging and at spectral channel edges due to mode clipping. These performance impacting effects can be reduced by adhering to provided design guidelines, which scale in support of higher spatial mode counts. The effect on data transmission of cascaded passband filtering and MDL build-up is experimentally investigated in detail.

100 Gbit/s WDM transmission at 2 µm: transmission studies in both low-loss hollow core photonic bandgap fiber and solid core fiber.

We show for the first time 100 Gbit/s total capacity at 2 µm waveband, using 4 × 9.3 Gbit/s 4-ASK Fast-OFDM direct modulation and 4 × 15.7 Gbit/s NRZ-OOK external modulation, spanning a 36.3 nm wide wavelength range. WDM transmission was successfully demonstrated over 1.15 km of low-loss hollow core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) and over 1 km of solid core fiber (SCF). We conclude that the OSNR penalty associated with the SCF is minimal, while a ~1-2 dB penalty was observed after the HC-PBGF probably due to mode coupling to higher-order modes.

High peak-power monolithic femtosecond ytterbium fiber chirped pulse amplifier with a spliced-on hollow core fiber compressor.

We demonstrate a monolithic Yb-fiber chirped pulse amplifier that uses a dispersion matched fiber stretcher and a spliced-on hollow core photonic bandgap fiber compressor. For an output energy of 77 nJ, 220 fs pulses with 92% of the energy contained in the main pulse, can be obtained with minimal nonlinearities in the system. 135 nJ pulses are obtained with 226 fs duration and 82 percent of the energy in the main pulse. Due to the good dispersion match of the stretcher to the hollow core photonic bandgap fiber compressor, the duration of the output pulses is within 10% of the Fourier limited duration.

Optical chopper-based re-circulating loop for few-mode fiber transmission.

An optical chopper-based re-circulating loop is presented for emulating long-haul transmission using few-mode fiber (FMF). A proper functioning of the loop is verified by transmission of three-mode-division multiplexed × 128 Gb/s DP-QPSK over more than 1000 km of FMF.

20 × 960-Gb/s Space-division-multiplexed 32QAM transmission over 60 km few-mode fiber.

We show transmission of 20 wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) × 960-Gb/s space-division-multiplexed 32QAM modulated channels (spectral efficiency (SE) of 15 bits/s/Hz) over 60 km of few-mode fiber (FMF) with inline few-mode EDFA (FM-EDFA). Soft-decision FEC was implemented and used to achieve error-free transmission.

Generation of high fidelity 62-fs, 7-nJ pulses at 1035 nm from a net normal-dispersion Yb-fiber laser with anomalous dispersion higher-order-mode fiber.

Fiber oscillators operating in the normal dispersion regime allow generating high energy output pulses. The best stability of such oscillators is observed when the intracavity dispersion is close to zero. Intracavity dispersion compensation in such oscillators can be achieved using a higher-order mode fiber, which substantially reduces the higher order dispersion compared to all-normal dispersion oscillators or oscillators using intracavity gratings for dispersion compensation. Using this approach, we are able to obtain relatively high energy pulses, with high fidelity. Our modeling based on an analytic approach for oscillators operating in the normal dispersion regime predicts that at intermediate pulse energies an almost flat chirp can be obtained at the oscillator output enabling good pulse compression with a grating compressor close to Fourier limited duration. Here, we present a mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber oscillator with a higher-order mode fiber operating in the net normal-dispersion regime, delivering 7.2 nJ pulses that can be dechirped down to 62 fs using a simple grating compressor.

Demonstration of amplified data transmission at 2 µm in a low-loss wide bandwidth hollow core photonic bandgap fiber.

The first demonstration of a hollow core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) suitable for high-rate data transmission in the 2 µm waveband is presented. The fiber has a record low loss for this wavelength region (4.5 dB/km at 1980 nm) and a >150 nm wide surface-mode-free transmission window at the center of the bandgap. Detailed analysis of the optical modes and their propagation along the fiber, carried out using a time-of-flight technique in conjunction with spatially and spectrally resolved (S2) imaging, provides clear evidence that the HC-PBGF can be operated as quasi-single mode even though it supports up to four mode groups. Through the use of a custom built Thulium doped fiber amplifier with gain bandwidth closely matched to the fiber's low loss window, error-free 8 Gbit/s transmission in an optically amplified data channel at 2008 nm over 290 m of 19 cell HC-PBGF is reported.

Field demonstration of mode-division multiplexing upgrade scenarios on commercial networks.

We demonstrate three possible scenarios for upgrading current single-mode transmission networks with high capacity few-mode fiber technology using mode-division multiplexing (MDM). The results were obtained from measurements over a number of field-deployed single-mode fiber links with an additional experimental in-line amplified few-mode fiber link. The results confirm the viability of employing MDM using few-mode fiber technology to gradually replace legacy optical systems.

Polarization-maintaining higher-order mode fiber module with anomalous dispersion at 1 µm.

This Letter demonstrates a polarization-maintaining higher-order mode fiber module that has anomalous dispersion at 1 µm. The group velocity dispersion of the module is measured, showing a split of the two polarization axes. The excellent polarization-maintaining properties of the relevant fiber modes for the higher-order mode fiber are likewise demonstrated employing a new simple method for the measurement of the beat length of higher-order modes at a single wavelength. The higher-order fiber module is intended for group velocity dispersion compensation.

High-fidelity, 160 fs, 5 µJ pulses from an integrated Yb-fiber laser system with a fiber stretcher matching a simple grating compressor.

Although femtosecond microjoule Yb-fiber systems are attractive because of a straightforward power scalability, they inherently suffer from a lowered pulse fidelity as a result of complex dispersion and nonlinearity management. Here, we present an integrated Yb-fiber system delivering high-fidelity microjoule pulses compressible down to 160 fs. The system uses a dispersion compensating fiber stretcher that is specially designed to match the dispersion of a 1480 lines/mm grating compressor. Performance analysis suggests the further possibility of scaling the pulse energy to tens of microjoules without pulse quality deterioration using this dispersion management scheme.

First demonstration and detailed characterization of a multimode amplifier for Space Division Multiplexed transmission systems.

We present the first demonstration of a multimode (two mode-group) erbium-doped fiber amplifier for Space Division Multiplexed (SDM) applications and demonstrate various design and performance features of such devices. In particular we experimentally demonstrate that differential modal gains can be controlled and reduced both by fiber design and control of the pump field distribution. Using a suitably designed fiber we demonstrate simultaneous modal gains of ~20 dB for different pair-wise combinations of spatial and polarization modes in an EDFA supporting amplification of 6 distinct modes.

Visible continuum generation using a femtosecond erbium-doped fiber laser and a silica nonlinear fiber.

Supercontinuum extending to visible wavelengths is generated in a hybrid silica nonlinear fiber pumped at 1560 nm by a femtosecond, erbium-doped fiber laser. The hybrid nonlinear fiber consists of a short length of highly nonlinear, germano-silicate fiber (HNLF) spliced to a length of photonic crystal fiber (PCF). A 2 cm length of HNLF provides an initial stage of continuum generation due to higher-order soliton compression and dispersive wave generation before launching into the PCF. The visible radiation is generated in the fundamental mode of the PCF.

Performance comparison of 40 Gb/s ULH transmissions using CSRZ-ASK or CSRZ-DPSK modulation formats on UltraWave fiber (TM) fiber.

In this work we present extensive comparisons between numerical modelling and experimental measurements of the transmission performance of either CSRZ-ASK or CSRZ-DPSK modulation formats for 40-Gb/s WDM ULH systems on UltraWave(TM) fiber spans with all-Raman amplification. We numerically optimised the amplification and the signal format parameters for both CSRZ-DPSK and CSRZ-ASK formats. Numerical and experimental results show that, in a properly optimized transmission link, the DPSK format permits to double the transmission distance (for a given BER level) with respect to the ASK format, while keeping a substantial OSNR margin (on ASK modulation) after the propagation in the fiber line. Our comparison between numerical and experimental results permits to identify what is the most suitable BER estimator in assessing the transmission performance when using the DPSK format.

Demonstration of massive wavelength-division multiplexing over transoceanic distances by use of dispersion-managed solitons.

By combining a special dispersion map that has nearly constant path-average dispersion, a hybrid amplification scheme involving backward-pumped Raman gain, and sliding-frequency guiding filters, we have demonstrated massive wavelength-division multiplexing at 10 Gbits/s per channel, error free (bit-error rate,

Direct continuous-wave measurement of n(2) in various types of telecommunication fiber at 1.55 microm.

A method for measuring the nonlinear refractive index of optical fibers with an error of less than 5% is demonstrated. The technique is based on measuring the nonlinear phase shift experienced by a dual-frequency beat signal, permitting a simple, highly sensitive, accurate, repeatable, and easily automated measurement procedure and sampling. Measurements of the nonlinear coefficient in standard telecommunication, dispersion-shifted, and a number of dispersion-compensated fibers are presented.