Abstract

Solitons and related effects in optical fibers are already important in the generation of ultrashort pulses, and they are increasingly recognized to have considerable potential for teteeommunications. I describe the most recent experimental studies of solitons in fibers, in particular, the observatioo of interaction forces between copropagating solitons, discovery of the soliton self-frequency shift, and exploration of the limits to ultrashort pulse generation. In all these studies, the soliton laser has played a central role as a unique pulse source of the required properties.

© 1987 Optical Society of America