Theoretical and experimental study of synchronously pumped dispersion-compensated femtosecond fiber Raman lasers

A fiber Raman laser with intracavity pulse compression is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. A theoretical model of such a laser is described: the dynamics of laser generation from the spontaneous noise level is investigated numerically, and stable regimes of femtosecond pulse generation are found. Smoothly tuned generation inside two Stokes components with a minimum pulse width of ∼150 fsec is obtained experimentally. We show that these lasers can generate smoothly tuned pulses in all silica-fiber transparency spectral regions. The efficiency of pump energy conversion into the Raman generation energy can reach more than 80% (30% was obtained experimentally), and the average output power can be more than 1 W.