Higher-order soliton compression with pedestal suppression in nonlinear optical loop mirrors constructed from dispersion decreasing fibers

Compression of higher-order solitons in nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLMs) constructed from dispersion decreasing fibers (DDFs) is investigated numerically. Results show that when compared to a soliton-effect pulse compressor in which only a piece of DDF is used, a NOLM constructed from a DDF not only suppresses pulse pedestals but also significantly reduces frequency chirps of the compressed pulse. Furthermore, since both compression and pedestal suppression are realized in the same loop, the novel compressor not only is simpler and more compact but also less affected by higher-order effects as compared with the recently reported techniques based on DDF. For a given input pulse, there is an optimum loop length at which the best trade-off among the compression factor, pulse quality, and output peak power can be obtained. The proposed scheme works well for a broad range of input soliton orders. 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 42.65.R; 42.81.D; 42.81