10-GHz, 1.3-ps erbium fiber laser employing soliton pulse shortening

An actively mode-locked single-polarization erbium fiber laser modulated at 10 GHz utilizes intracavity soliton formation to produce 1.3-ps pulses, well below the Kuizenga-Siegman limit, without passive mode locking. The observed degree of pulse shortening agrees with the predictions of recently developed soliton laser models. The pulse dropout ratio was measured to be less than 10(-12), and the rms amplitude and phase jitter are less than 1.1% and 0.16 ps, respectively.