Observation of chirped soliton dynamics at lambda = 1.55 microm in a single-mode optical fiber with frequency-resolved optical gating.

We present an experimental observation of the dynamics of an initially chirped optical soliton at 1.55microm that is propagating through a single-mode optical fiber, using frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG). FROG permits observation of both the amplitude and the phase profiles of ultrashort pulses, providing complete information on the pulse evolution. The features that are detected, which include what is believed to be the first experimental observation of phase slips, are in quantitative agreement with numerical simulations that employ the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

Power enhancement with super-Gaussian sliding-frequency guiding filters.

I show with numerical simulations that higher-order sliding filters, especially super-Gaussian filters, can produce dramatic power enhancement of optical solitons, similar to that of dispersion-managed solitons. This approach should allow smaller timing jitter without sacrificing the signal-to-noise ratio.