Self-similar propagation of parabolic pulses in normal-dispersion fiber amplifiers

Pulse propagation in high-gain optical fiber amplifiers with normal group-velocity dispersion has been studied by self-similarity analysis of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with gain. For an amplifier with a constant distributed gain, an exact asymptotic solution has been found that corresponds to a linearly chirped parabolic pulse that propagates self-similarly in the amplifier, subject to simple scaling rules. The evolution of an arbitrary input pulse to an asymptotic solution is associated with the development of low-amplitude wings on the parabolic pulse whose functional form has also been found by means of self-similarity analysis. These theoretical results have been confirmed with numerical simulations. A series of guidelines for the practical design of fiber amplifiers to operate in the asymptotic parabolic pulse regime has also been developed. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.