Phase-matching-induced near-chirp-free solitons in normal-dispersion fiber lasers

摘要

Direct generation of chirp-free solitons without external compression in normal-dispersion fiber lasers is a long-term challenge in ultrafast optics.We demonstrate near-chirp-free solitons with distinct spectral sidebands in normaldispersion hybrid-structure fiber lasers containing a few meters of polarization-maintaining fiber.The bandwidth and duration of the typical mode-locked pulse are 0.74 nm and 1.95 ps,respectively,giving the time-bandwidth product of 0.41 and confirming the near-chirp-free property.Numerical results and theoretical analyses fully reproduce and interpret the experimental observations,and show that the fiber birefringence,normal-dispersion,and nonlinear effect follow a phase-matching principle,enabling the formation of the near-chirp-free soliton.Specifically,the phasematching effect confines the spectrum broadened by self-phase modulation and the saturable absorption effect slims the pulse stretched by normal dispersion.Such pulse is termed as birefringence-managed soliton because its two orthogonal-polarized components propagate in an unsymmetrical“X”manner inside the polarization-maintaining fiber,partially compensating the group delay difference induced by the chromatic dispersion and resulting in the selfconsistent evolution.The property and formation mechanism of birefringence-managed soliton fundamentally differ from other types of pulses in mode-locked fiber lasers,which will open new research branches in laser physics,soliton mathematics,and their related applications.