Output characterization of a self-pulsating and aperiodic optical fiber source based on cascaded regeneration

We investigate the properties of a self-pulsating fiber cavity based on cascaded regeneration. The mechanisms that govern the number of oscillating pulses in the cavity, the pulse peak power, the pulse width, the wavelength tunability as well as the generation of sub-picosecond pulses are identified, analyzed and quantified. We find that the described self-pulsating cavity enables the oscillation of quasi transform-limited pulses with a pulsewidth of 4.8 ps at 1540.0 nm when using 0.4 nm non-Gaussian bandpass filters. Sub-picosecond pulses with an autocorrelation width of 471 fs are generated from the same self-pulsating source with modified bandpass filters and the addition of a chromatic dispersion compensator. The number of eigenpulses that oscillate simultaneously in the cavity can be adjusted from 0 up to 29,500 with proper cavity adjustment. This source has dual-wavelength output and can be tuned throughout the gain band of the amplifiers. (c) 2009 Optical Society of America