Effect of frequency chirp on soliton spectral sidebands in fiber lasers

Fiber lasers emit soliton pulses that exhibit discrete spectral sidebands generated through dispersive-wave resonances. The position of these soliton sidebands is shown to be affected by the amount of chirp acquired by the pulse, and the degree of chirp is determined by total cavity losses and gain dispersion. Our results show that the soliton chirp shifts the sideband frequencies and that sidebands can be generated even in the case of normal dispersion. The long- and short-cavity cases are discussed separately so that our results are applicable to all laser configurations.