Picosecond soliton pulse compressor based on dispersion decreasing fibre

The authors report the adiabatic compression of 2-4 ps pulses from a passively mode-locked all-fibre soliton ring laser operating at 1557 nm down to 230 fs in a 1.6 km dispersion decreasing fibre. (DDF). The advantages of this means of soliton compression lie in its simplicity and the stable, high-quality, polarisation-insensitive compression it provides. In the authors´ opinion DDF pulse compressors have great potential for use in conjunction with various mode-locked fibre soliton lasers, ultimately extending their operating range well down into the sub-100 fs regime.