Generation of Stable Peak-Power Similaritons through Gain-Managed Nonlinearity

Abstract

Fiber lasers and amplifiers offer attractive alternatives to conventional solid-state systems. However, generation of high-energy ultrashort laser pulses in fibers faces challenges due to the complex interplay of multiple nonlinear effects arising due to pulse confinement within a small fiber core and also limitations imposed by the gain bandwidth of the available active fibers. The discovery of self-similar amplification and gain-managed nonlinear amplification (GMNA) pulse propagation regimes in fibers with normal dispersion suggests that these challenges can be turned into an advantage. Here we show that pulses generated in the GMNA regime are, in fact, the realization of the idealized similariton-type pulses in realistic fibers with limited gain bandwidth. Our analytical and numerical results show how one should shape the fiber gain as a function of propagation length to achieve constant peak power similariton-like pulses with steadily increasing energy, the pulse bandwidth exceeding the gain bandwidth, and the nearly linear frequency chirp allowing for efficient pulse compression to its Fourier limit. Absent Raman nonlinearities, these pulses can reach $μ$J level energies in standard single-mode fibers, representing a tenfold increase in pulse energy compared to the best currently available nonlinear amplifiers. Our results have significant implications for the fundamental understanding of nonlinear wave dynamics and for the advancement of fiber laser technology, supporting the reliable generation of high-energy pulses for practical use in areas such as micromachining, metrology, and bioimaging.