Compression of 1030-nm femtosecond pulses after nonlinear spectral broadening in Corning® HI 1060 fiber: Theory and experiment

We present the design and implementation of femtosecond pulse compression at 1030 nm based on spectral broadening in single-mode fiber, followed by dispersion compensation using an optimized double-pass SF11 prism pair. The source laser produced 1030-nm 144-fs pulses which were coupled into Corning® HI 1060 fiber, whose length was chosen to be 40 cm by using a pulse propagation model based on solving the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. A maximum broadening to 60-nm bandwidth was obtained, following which compression to 60 ± 3 fs duration was achieved by using a prism-pair separation of 1025 ± 5 mm.