Optical amplifier with tailored dispersion for energy scaling of similaritons

Abstract

We propose an optical amplifier composed of fibers with varying normal group velocity dispersion (GVD) for picosecond pulse amplification. The analytical analysis defines the optimal axial distribution of dispersion that results in shaping of the parabolic pulses with controllable chirp. The proposed cascaded all-fiber pulse amplifier employs fiber gain segments with exponential increase of normal dispersion separated by the passive fiber sections with decreasing normal GVD. The cascaded amplifier allows us to prevent an excessive broadening of the pulse spectrum and, therefore, offers an attractive potential for energy scaling of similariton pulses.