title: Direct observation of soliton and normal pulse propagation by spectral domain reflectometry.
abstract: We report what are to our knowledge the first continuous observations of optical fiber solitons and nonsoliton pulses in the spectral domain. Using a novel optical time-resolved spectral ref lectometer that measures the backscattered light spectrum, we directly observed (with 200-m spatial resolution) the propagation of ~8.5-ps solitons and nonsolitons traveling down 5-km fibers. Spectral breathing and the recovery of the original spectral widths are clearly seen for higher-order solitons. Possible applications include in situ measurements of soliton parameters, fiber dispersions, and nonlinearities, experimental verifications of pulse propagation theories, and optical sensing.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levanon
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Friberg
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii