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Pulse Propagation Modeling

Definition: working with physical models describing the propagation of ultrashort pulses e.g. in lasers or optical fibers

German: Modellierung der Pulsausbreitung

Categories: light pulses, methods, physical foundations

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Cite the article using its DOI: https://doi.org/10.61835/ywa

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When propagating in transparent optical media, the properties of ultrashort light pulses can undergo complicated changes. Typical physical effects influencing pulses are:

Of course, different effects can act simultaneously, and often interact in surprising ways. For example, chromatic dispersion and Kerr nonlinearity can lead to soliton effects.

Relevance of Pulse Propagation Effects

Pulse propagation effects as mentioned above are relevant in various kinds of situations. Some examples are:

animated spectrogram showing higher-order soliton evolution
Figure 1: This animated spectrogram shows how a third-order soliton evolves in a fiber. Solitons of higher orders exhibit even more complicated behavior. The image has been generated with the RP ProPulse software.

Techniques for Modeling of Pulse Propagation

Depending on the situation, different kinds of physical modeling techniques are required. Some of the most important ones are shortly described in the following:

  • The Haus Master equation is an analytical tool mainly for calculating the steady-state pulse properties obtained in mode-locked lasers. It can be seen as a generalization of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.
  • Soliton perturbation theory describes the propagation of soliton pulses which can be subject to gain or loss, spectral filtering, etc. A number of dynamic equations describe the evolution of the basic parameters of solitons under the influence of various effects. Also, the so-called continuum is included, i.e. a temporally broad background radiation with which a soliton can interact. Soliton perturbation theory can be used, e.g., to describe the generation of Kelly sidebands.
  • Models based on second-order moments of the complex electric field of a pulse [5] can also greatly reduce the number of dynamic variables. However, they are applicable only as long as the pulse shapes remain relatively simple. A difficulty is that it is not always obvious where the parameter region with a reasonable accuracy ends. The advantage of a significantly faster computation (compared with a full numerical simulation) becomes less important as the power of computers is increasing.
  • Numerical techniques are available for simulating pulse propagation in more general cases. A straightforward approach applicable e.g. to mode-locked lasers describes a short pulse with an array of complex amplitudes in the time or frequency domain. Linear effects such as dispersion are easily treated in the frequency domain, whereas nonlinear interactions are often (but not always) more conveniently handled in the time domain. As required, switching between both domains can be done with a fast Fourier transform algorithm (FFT techniques).
  • A special case is the symmetrized split-step Fourier method, used particularly for pulse propagation in fibers [11]. The (weak) dispersive and nonlinear effects corresponding to short fiber pieces are alternately applied. The numerical errors associated with the finite longitudinal step size can be minimized with a special symmetrization technique, which allows for higher accuracies without excessively increased computation times. Automatic step size control can be very important for computational efficiency.
  • Still more refined techniques take into account the transverse spatial variation as well. They can be used, e.g., to investigate Kerr lens mode locking or filamentation phenomena.
  • For propagation in multimode waveguides, it is often advantageous to describe the optical field as a superposition of propagation modes, which can be coupled e.g. via nonlinearities.

By applying statistical techniques, pulse propagation models can also be used to investigate noise phenomena [7].

Tutorials and Case Studies

See our tutorials Modeling of Fiber Amplifiers and Lasers.

The following case studies are available, which discusses some aspects of pulse propagation modeling:

  • Pulse compression in a fiber
  • We explore how we can spectrally broaden light pulses by self-phase modulation in a fiber and subsequently compress the pulses using a dispersive element. A substantial reduction in pulse duration by more than an order of magnitude is easily achieved, while the pulse quality is often not ideal.
  • Numerical experiments with soliton pulses in fibers
  • We investigate various details of soliton pulse propagation in passive fibers, using numerical simulations.
  • Collision of soliton pulses in a fiber
  • We let two soliton pulses collide in a fiber. Surprisingly, they survive such collisions, even if we involve solitons of higher order.
  • Solitons in a fiber amplifier
  • We investigate to which extent soliton pulses could be amplified in a fiber amplifier, preserving the soliton shape and compressing the pulses temporally.
  • Parabolic pulses in a fiber amplifier
  • We explore the regime of parabolic pulse amplification in an Yb-doped single-mode fiber. We find reasonable operation parameters and investigate various kinds of limitations, e.g. concerning the nonlinear pulse compression.
  • Erbium-doped fiber amplifier for rectangular nanosecond pulses
  • Specifically, we deal with deformations of the pulse shape due to gain saturation. These can be minimized by pre-distorting the input pulses.
  • Raman scattering in a fiber amplifier
  • We investigate the effects of stimulated Raman scattering in an ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier, considering three very different input pulse duration regimes. Surprisingly, the effect of Raman scattering always gets substantial only on the last meter, although the input peak powers vary by two orders of magnitude.

Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains five suppliers for pulse propagation modeling software. Among them:

Bibliography

[1]P. V. Mamyshev and S. V. Chernikov, “Ultrashort-pulse propagation in optical fibers”, Opt. Lett. 15 (19), 1076 (1990); https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.15.001076
[2]G. P. Agrawal, “Optical pulse propagation in doped fiber amplifiers”, Phys. Rev. A 44 (11), 7493 (1991); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.44.7493
[3]H. A. Haus et al., “Structures for additive pulse mode locking”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8 (10), 2068 (1991); https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.8.002068
[4]P. L. François, “Nonlinear propagation of ultrashort pulses in optical fibers: total field formulation in the frequency domain”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8 (2), 276 (1991); https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.8.000276
[5]M. Potasek et al., “Analytic and numerical study of pulse broadening in nonlinear dispersive fibers”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3 (2), 205 (1992); https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.3.000205
[6]D. Marcuse, “RMS width of pulses in nonlinear dispersive fibers”, IEEE J. Lightwave Technol. 10 (1), 17 (1992); https://doi.org/10.1109/50.108730
[7]R. Paschotta, “Noise of mode-locked lasers. Part I: numerical model”, Appl. Phys. B 79, 153 (2004)“,”http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00340-004-1547-x; R. Paschotta, “Noise of mode-locked lasers. Part II: timing jitter and other fluctuations”, Appl. Phys. B 79, 163 (2004); https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-004-1548-9
[8]B. Burgoyne et al., “Nonlinear pulse propagation in optical fibers using second order moments”, Opt. Express 15 (16), 10075 (2007); https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.15.010075
[9]Y.-H. Chen et al., “Accurate modeling of ultrafast nonlinear pulse propagation in multimode gain fiber”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 40 (10), 2633 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.500586
[10]C. R. Phillips, M. Jankowski, N. Flemens and M. M. Fejer, “General framework for ultrafast nonlinear photonics: unifying single and multi-envelope treatments [Invited]”, Opt. Express 32 (5), 8284 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.513856
[11]G. P. Agrawal, Nonlinear Fiber Optics, 4th edn., Academic Press, New York (2007)
[12]R. Paschotta, tutorial “Passive Fiber Optics
[13]R. Paschotta, tutorial “Passive Fiber Optics”, Part 12: Ultrashort Pulses and Signals in Fibers
[14]R. Paschotta, tutorial “Modeling of Fiber Amplifiers and Lasers”, part 7
[15]R. Paschotta, tutorial “Modeling of Pulse Amplification

(Suggest additional literature!)

See also: dispersion, nonlinearities, nonlinear pulse distortion, pulse compression, double pulses, parabolic pulses, supercontinuum generation, Haus Master equation


Dr. R. Paschotta

This encyclopedia is authored by Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta, the founder and executive of RP Photonics AG. How about a tailored training course from this distinguished expert at your location? Contact RP Photonics to find out how his technical consulting services (e.g. product designs, problem solving, independent evaluations, training) and software could become very valuable for your business!


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