Effect of group delay ripple on picosecond pulse compression schemes

We show experimentally, through autocorrelation and frequency-resolved optical gating measurements, that a simple dispersive fiber Bragg grating with group delay ripple ~10 ps peak-topeak may be used effectively to stretch ultrashort optical pulses for linear amplification before recompression to a higher-power pulse. We further investigate, through simulations, the effect of group delay ripple on the pulses and show that there are regimes, defined by both ripple magnitude and ripple period as a function of wavelength, in which the pulses are nearly perfectly compressed. A map with contours of equal figures of merit indicates favorable regions of operation.