Chapter 6 - Pulse Compression

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the study of pulse-compression techniques, the theory behind them, and the experimental issues related to them. It presents the basic idea and introduces the two kinds of compressors commonly used for pulse compression: first, the grating-fiber compressors that use a fiber with normal group velocity dispersion (GVD) followed by a grating pair, and second, the soliton-effect compressors that make use of higher-order solitons forming when self-phase modulation (SPM) and anomalous GVD occur simultaneously. It focuses on the technique of chirped pulse amplification and is devoted to dispersion-managed fiber compressors. It also describes several other nonlinear techniques that use optical fibers for pulse compression including cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing. Pulse compressors based on nonlinear fiber optics can be classified into two broad categories: grating-fiber and soliton-effect compressors. Early pulse-compression studies made use of both normal and anomalous GVD, depending on the technique through which frequency chirp was initially imposed on the pulse. In the case of negatively chirped pulses, pulses were transmitted through liquids or gases such that they experienced normal GVD. In the case of positively chirped pulses, a grating pair was found to be most suitable for providing anomalous GVD.