Abstract

In the soliton laser, as constructed by Mollenauer et al [1, 2], a length of optical fibre incorporated within the optical feedback loop of a KC1:T1 colour centre laser, causes temporally compressed pulses to be re-injected into the master cavity thereby stimulating the production of shorter pulses from the colour centre laser. Although a number of stable operating points were observed for this laser [2], the pulse returning from the fibre was always as short or shorter than that produced by the composite cavity laser. However, our experiments seem to show that even pulses broadened by passage through a length of fibre and re-injected into the main laser, can still produce- significant pulse narrowing of the colour centre laser output.

© 1988 Optical Society of America