A. Bendahmane

12 THz flat gain fiber optical parametric amplifiers with dispersion varying fibers.

We report a fiber-optic parametric amplifier with ultra-broad and flat gain band by using a longitudinally tailored optical fiber. The parametric amplifier has been designed from realistic numerical simulations combined with an inverse algorithm to obtain a flat and wide gain band through fiber dispersion management. We experimentally report ~12 THz gain bandwidth on the Stokes side of the pump with a gain ripple as low as 7 dB and a mean gain up to ~60 dB. Experimental results show good agreement with numerical predictions for different pump powers and wavelength detuning.

Experimental dynamics of Akhmediev breathers in a dispersion varying optical fiber

We investigate experimentally the dynamics of Akhmediev breathers in an optical fiber with a longitudinally tailored dispersion that allows to nearly freeze the breather evolution near their point of maximal compression. Our results are in good agreement with numerical simulations.

Simultaneous scalar and cross-phase modulation instabilities in highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber.

We report the experimental observation of scalar and cross-phase modulation instabilities by pumping a highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber in the normal dispersion regime at 45° to its principal polarization axes. Five sideband pairs (two scalar and three vector ones) are observed simultaneously in the spontaneous regime, four of which have a large frequency shift from the pump, in the range 79-93 THz. These results are in excellent agreement with phase-matching arguments and numerical simulations.

Far-detuned cascaded intermodal four-wave mixing in a multimode fiber

We demonstrate far-detuned parametric frequency conversion processes in a few mode graded-index optical fibers pumped by a Q-switched picosecond laser at 1064 nm. Through a detailed analytical and numerical analysis, we show that the multiple sidebands are generated through a complex cascaded process involving inter-modal four-wave mixing. The resulting parametric wavelength detuning spans in the visible down to 405 nm and in the near-infrared up to 1355 nm.

Control of the soliton self-frequency shift dynamics using topographic optical fibers

We demonstrate that the dynamics of the soliton self-frequency shift can be accurately controlled by using tapered optical fibers with optimized longitudinal profile shape (that we term topographic fibers). The tapering profiles tailored for a targeted soliton spectral trajectory through dispersion and nonlinearity management are determined by an inverse algorithm. This control is demonstrated experimentally with topographic photonic crystal fibers fabricated directly on a drawing tower.

Kerr self-cleaning of pulsed beam in an ytterbium doped multimode fiber

We experimentally demonstrate that Kerr spatial self-cleaning of a pulsed beam can be obtained in an amplifying multimode optical fiber. An input peak power of 500 W only was sufficient to produce a quasi-single-mode emission from the double-clad ytterbium doped multimode fiber (YMMF) with non-parabolic refractive index profile. We compare the self-cleaning behavior observed in the same fiber with loss and with gain. Laser gain introduces new opportunities to achieve spatial self-cleaning of light in multimode fibers at a relatively low power threshold.

Observation of the stepwise blue shift of a dispersive wave preceding its trapping by a soliton

The trapping of a weak dispersive wave by an intense soliton is a complex process occurring at the early stage of supercontinuum generation. It is theoretically predicted to arise from multiple soliton-dispersive wave interactions, producing a stepwise frequency blue shift of the dispersive wave. We report here the first experimental evidence of this frequency blue shift using a tapered fiber which acts as a prism, allowing to disperse the blue spectral components in order to identify unambiguously each soliton-dispersive wave collision.

Emission of multiple dispersive waves from a single Raman-shifting soliton in an axially-varying optical fiber

We provide the experimental demonstration of the generation of multiple dispersive waves from a single soliton propagating in the vicinity of the first zero-dispersion wavelength of an axially-varying optical fiber. The fiber is designed such that the Raman-shifting soliton successively hits three times the longitudinally evolving zero-dispersion wavelength, which results in the emission of three distinct dispersive waves at different fiber lengths. These results illustrate how suitably controlled axially-varying fibers allow to tailor the soliton dynamics in a very accurate way.

Fiber-based ultrashort pulse delivery for nonlinear imaging using high-energy solitons

We present an approach for fiber delivery of femtosecond pulses relying on pulse breakup and soliton self-frequency shift in a custom-made solid-core photonic bandgap fiber. In this scheme, the fiber properties themselves ensure that a powerful Fourier-transform-limited pulse is emitted at the fiber output, hence doing away with the need for complex precompensation and enabling tunability of the excitation. We report high-energy soliton excitation for two-photon fluorescence microspectroscopy over a 100-nm range and multimodal nonlinear imaging on biological samples.

Optimal frequency conversion in the nonlinear stage of modulation instability.

We investigate multi-wave mixing associated with the strongly pump depleted regime of induced modulation instability (MI) in optical fibers. For a complete transfer of pump power into the sideband modes, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that it is necessary to use a much lower seeding modulation frequency than the peak MI gain value. Our experiment shows that, at such optimal modulation frequency, a record 95 % of the output pump power is frequency converted into the comb of sidebands, in good quantitative agreement with analytical predictions based on the simplest exact breather solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger ¨ equation.