Bistable regimes in an optically injected mode-locked laser

We study experimentally the dynamics of quantum-dot (QD) passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers under external optical injection. The lasers demonstrated multiple dynamical states, with bifurcation boundaries that depended upon the sign of detuning variation. The area of the hysteresis loops grew monotonically at small powers of optical injection and saturated at moderate powers. At high injection levels the hysteresis decreased and eventually disappeared.

Two different operation regimes of fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation : passive mode-locking and multiwavelength emission

We have proposed and demonstrated a nonlinear polarization-rotation-based fiber laser with two different operation states: passive mode-locking and multiwavelength emission. The intensity-dependent transmission or loss induced by nonlinear polarization rotation accounts for the distinct operation regimes. Our experiment results indicate that both passively mode-locked pulses and continuous-wave multiwavelength can be generated from the same fiber laser just through adjusting polarizations. Another characteristic of the current multiwavelength laser is that the used periodic filter is a birefringence fiber filter, which facilitates all-fiber integration of the fiber laser, so it is a potential multifunction laser source with all-fiber configuration and convenient manipulation. © 2008 IEEE.

Quasi-separation of the biharmonic partial differential equation

In this paper, we consider analytical and numerical solutions to the Dirichlet boundary-value problem for the biharmonic partial differential equation on a disc of finite radius in the plane. The physical interpretation of these solutions is that of the harmonic oscillations of a thin, clamped plate. For the linear, fourth-order, biharmonic partial differential equation in the plane, it is well known that the solution method of separation in polar coordinates is not possible, in general. However, in this paper, for circular domains in the plane, it is shown that a method, here called quasi-separation of variables, does lead to solutions of the partial differential equation. These solutions are products of solutions of two ordinary linear differential equations: a fourth-order radial equation and a second-order angular differential equation. To be expected, without complete separation of the polar variables, there is some restriction on the range of these solutions in comparison with the corresponding separated solutions of the second-order harmonic differential equation in the plane. Notwithstanding these restrictions, the quasi-separation method leads to solutions of the Dirichlet boundary-value problem on a disc with centre at the origin, with boundary conditions determined by the solution and its inward drawn normal taking the value 0 on the edge of the disc. One significant feature for these biharmonic boundary-value problems, in general, follows from the form of the biharmonic differential expression when represented in polar coordinates. In this form, the differential expression has a singularity at the origin, in the radial variable. This singularity translates to a singularity at the origin of the fourth-order radial separated equation; this singularity necessitates the application of a third boundary condition in order to determine a self-adjoint solution to the Dirichlet boundary-value problem. The penultimate section of the paper reports on numerical solutions to the Dirichlet boundary-value problem; these results are also presented graphically. Two specific cases are studied in detail and numerical values of the eigenvalues are compared with the results obtained in earlier studies.

Quasi-lossless transmission using second-order Raman amplification and fibre Bragg gratings

A novel distributed amplification scheme for quasi-lossless transmission is presented. The system is studied numerically and shown to be able to strongly reduce signal power variations in comparison with currently employed schemes of similar complexity. As an example, variations of less than 3.1 dB for 100 km distance between pumps and below 0.42 dB for 60 km are obtained when using standard single-mode fibre as the transmission medium with an input signal average power of 0 dBm, and a total pump power of about 1.7 W. © 2004 Optical Society of America.

Quasi-lossless optical links for broad-band transmission and data processing

We present the first experimental implementation of a recently designed quasi-lossless fiber span with strongly reduced signal power excursion. The resulting fiber waveguide medium can be advantageously used both in lightwave communications and in all-optical nonlinear data processing. © 2005 IEEE.

Performance optimization of ultra-long Raman laser cavities for quasi-lossless transmission links

Performance optimization of ultra-long Raman laser links is studied theoretically and experimentally. We demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the signal power excursion by adjusting FBG reflectivity without compromising pump efficiency. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate an OSNR improvement of 4.3 dB in our system after 4000 km transmission by switching from conventional erbium-doped fibre amplifiers to quasi-lossless transmission. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two different operation regimes of fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation:passive mode-locking and multiwavelength emission

We have proposed and demonstrated a nonlinear polarization-rotation-based fiber laser with two different operation states: passive mode-locking and multiwavelength emission. The intensity-dependent transmission or loss induced by nonlinear polarization rotation accounts for the distinct operation regimes. Our experiment results indicate that both passively mode-locked pulses and continuous-wave multiwavelength can be generated from the same fiber laser just through adjusting polarizations. Another characteristic of the current multiwavelength laser is that the used periodic filter is a birefringence fiber filter, which facilitates all-fiber integration of the fiber laser, so it is a potential multifunction laser source with all-fiber configuration and convenient manipulation. © 2008 IEEE.

Signal power excursion and pump efficiency in quasi-lossless ultra-long Raman laser links

Performance optimisation of ultra-long Raman laser links is studied theoretically and experimentally. We observe that it is possible to reduce signal power excursion by adjusting FBG reflectivity without compromising pump efficiency.

42.6Gb/s RZ-ASK transmission over 2500km using quasi-lossless transmission spans

Here, for the first time, we experimentally demonstrate optical data transmission through such quasi-lossless fibre spans, which provide an entirely different nonlinear propagation regime to conventionally EDFA/Raman amplified systems. We demonstrate 42.6 Gb/s transmission over 2500 km of SMF-28 with an 82 km span length, and investigate the optimisation of the system in terms of launch power and nonlinear tolerance. Our results show the first ever data transmission experiment using an ultra-long Raman laser to provide quasi-lossless conditions in the transmission fibre. For a span length of 82 km we have shown 2500 km transmission over SMF-28 fibre at 42.6 Gb/s. Our quasi-lossless configuration had 6 dB lower optimum power and improved nonlinear tolerance compared with a conventional EDFA only system.

Optical phase conjugation for dispersion and nonlinearity compensation in a 1600km, 42 Gb/s quasi-lossless system

We experimentally investigate a long-distance, high-bit-rate transmission system which combines optical-phase-conjugation with quasi-lossless amplification. Comparison with a conventional system configuration demonstrates the possibility of obtaining both dispersion compensation and improved nonlinear tolerance using proposed scheme.

Quasi-lossless spans for broadband transmission and data processing

We present the first experimental implementation of a recently designed quasi-lossless fibre span with strongly reduced signal power excursion. The resulting fibre waveguide medium can be advantageously used both in lightwave communications and in all-optical nonlinear data processing.

Quasi-lossless data transmission with ultra-long Raman fibre laser based amplification

The project consists of an experimental and numerical modelling study of the applications of ultra-long Raman fibre laser (URFL) based amplification techniques for high-speed multi-wavelength optical communications systems. The research is focused in telecommunications C-band 40 Gb/s transmission data rates with direct and coherent detection. The optical transmission performance of URFL based systems in terms of optical noise, gain bandwidth and gain flatness for different system configurations is evaluated. Systems with different overall span lengths, transmission fibre types and data modulation formats are investigated. Performance is compared with conventional Erbium doped fibre amplifier based system to evaluate system configurations where URFL based amplification provide performance or commercial advantages.

Fatty acid composition, antioxidants and lipid oxidation in chicken breasts from different production regimes

Chicken breast from nine products and from the following production regimes: conventional (chilled and frozen), organic and free range, were analysed for fatty acid composition of total lipids, preventative and chain breaking antioxidant contents and lipid oxidation during 5 days of sub-ambient storage following purchase. Total lipids were extracted with an optimal amount of a cold chloroform methanol solvent. Lipid compositions varied, but there were differences between conventional and organic products in their contents of total polyunsaturated fatty acids and n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and n-6:n-3 ratio. Of the antioxidants, a-tocopherol content was inversely correlated with lipid oxidation. The antioxidant enzyme activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase varied between products. Modelling with partial least squares regression showed no overall relationship between total antioxidants and lipid data, but certain individual antioxidants showed a relationship with specific lipid fractions.

All-fiber passively mode-locked Tm-doped NOLM-based oscillator operating at 2-μm in both soliton and noisy-pulse regimes

A self-starting all-fiber passively mode-locked Tm-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear loop mirror (NOLM) is demonstrated. Stable soliton pulses centered at 2017.33 nm with 1.56 nm FWHM were produced at a repetition rate of 1.514 MHz with pulse duration of 2.8 ps and pulse energy of 83.8 pJ. As increased pump power, the oscillator can also operate at noise-like (NL) regime. Stable NL pulses with coherence spike width of 341 fs and pulse energy of up to 249.32 nJ was achieved at a center wavelength of 2017.24 nm with 21.33 nm FWHM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first 2 μm region NOLM-based mode-locked fiber laser operating at two regimes with the highest single pulse energy for NL pulses. © 2014 Optical Society of America.

Conversion of a chirped Gaussian pulse to a soliton or a bound multisoliton state in quasi-lossless and lossy optical fiber spans

The formation of single-soliton or bound-multisoliton states from a single linearly chirped Gaussian pulse in quasi-lossless and lossy fiber spans is examined. The conversion of an input-chirped pulse into soliton states is carried out by virtue of the so-called direct Zakharov-Shabat spectral problem, the solution of which allows one to single out the radiative (dispersive) and soliton constituents of the beam and determine the parameters of the emerging bound state(s). We describe here how the emerging pulse characteristics (the number of bound solitons, the relative soliton power) depend on the input pulse chirp and amplitude. © 2007 Optical Society of America.