Highly stable ultrabroadband mid-IR optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier optimized for superfluorescence suppression.

We present a 9 GW peak power, three-cycle, 2.2 microm optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification source with 1.5% rms energy and 150 mrad carrier envelope phase fluctuations.

All-optical self-switching in optimized phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating.

We experimentally demonstrate all-optical self-switching based on sub nanosecond pulse propagation through an optimized fiber Bragg grating with a pi phase-jump. The jump acts as a cavity leading to an intensity enhancement by factor 19. At pulse peak powers of 1.

Multi-wavelength synchronous pulse burst generation with a wavelength selective switch.

We demonstrate simultaneous pulse-shaping at different ports of a rapidly tunable wavelength selective switch at a base rate of 40 GHz, based on Fourier-domain pulse shaping. Various pulse bursts are generated and accurately characterized with a linear spectrographic method.

Tunable enhancement of a soliton spectrum using an acoustic long-period grating.

We demonstrate a scheme for tunable shaping of a soliton spectrum. Specifically, we show a local enhancement of 6 dB in the pulse spectrum by propagating the pulse through a fiber containing micro-bends generated by a flexural acoustic wave - an acoustic long-period grating (LPG) - followed by nonlinear propagation through uniform fiber. The location of the enhancement peak can be tuned by external control of the acoustic frequency of the LPG.

Tunable spectral enhancement of fiber supercontinuum.

We demonstrate tunable spectral enhancement of the supercontinuum generated in a microstructured fiber with a fiber long-period grating. The long-period grating leads to phase distortion and loss that, with subsequent high-intensity propagation in uniform fiber, evolves into an enhancement around the grating's resonant wavelengths. Wavelength tunability is achieved by varying the temperature or the ambient refractive index, and the spectral peak can be extinguished by immersing the grating in index-matching oil.

Narrowband supercontinuum control using phase shaping.

We study theoretically, numerically and experimentally the effect of self-phase modulation of ultrashort pulses with spectrally narrow phase features. We show that spectral enhancement and depletion is caused by changing the relative phase between the initial field and the nonlinearly generated components. Our theoretical results explain observations of supercontinuum enhancement by fiber Bragg gratings, and predict similar enhancements for spectrally shaped pulses in uniform fiber.

In-band OSNR and chromatic dispersion monitoring using a fibre optical parametric amplifier.

This paper presents an all-optical, in-band optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and chromatic dispersion monitor. We demonstrate monitoring over the 1 nm bandwidth of our signal, which is a 10 GHz pulse train of 8.8 ps pulses.

Nonlinear propagation effects in antiresonant high-index inclusion photonic crystal fibers.

We experimentally and numerically investigate femtosecond-pulse propagation in a microstructured optical fiber consisting of a silica core surrounded by airholes that are filled with a high-index fluid. This fiber combines the resonant properties of hollow-core bandgap fibers and the high nonlinearity of index-guiding waveguides. A range of nonlinear optical effects can be observed, including soliton propagation, dispersive wave generation, and a Raman self-frequency shift.