54-fs, 10-GHz soliton generation from a polarization-maintaining dispersion-flattened dispersion-decreasing fiber pulse compressor

A 10-GHz train of nearly transform-limited 54-fs soliton pulses was generat ed by adiabatic compression of the output of a mode-locked fiber laser with a polarization-maintaining dispersion-flattened dispersion-decreasing fibe r. The peak-to-pedestal ratio exceeded 23 dB. At high input powers, the pul se width was reduced to as short as 43 fs, although the wings of the pulse were degraded and the jitter increased. The compression properties are diff erent for the two polarization axes, owing to their different dispersion ch aracteristics. The output polarization exhibits no drift. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.