Picosecond pulse compression by means of soliton effects in single-mode silica glass fiber in the 2 m spectral range

We report on the soliton-effect compression dynamics in single-mode SMF-28 fiber of picosecond pulses generated by an all-fiber MOPA-source based on a mode-locked thulium-doped fiber oscillator with an all-fiber dispersion management and a two-stage thulium and ytterbium co-doped watt-level amplifier. Initial 5-ps-long pulses were compressed down to 314 fs after having been amplified up to 1.4 W average power, giving an almost 16x compression factor.