Patent ID: 8478134

Claim:
A system for providing pulse compression of a spectrally-broadened optical continuum signal comprising a section of higher-order mode (HOM) fiber exhibiting a predetermined dispersion characteristic across at least a defined bandwidth (λ 1 -λ 2 ) of the optical continuum signal, the predetermined dispersion characteristic selected to compensate, at least in part, for accumulated spectral phase present in the optical continuum signal within the defined bandwidth, the section of HOM fiber generating compressed optical pulses at the output thereof; an input mode converter disposed at the input to the section of HOM fiber for converting a fundamental mode of said optical continuum signal into a higher-order mode optical continuum signal over a defined converter bandwidth (λ a -λ b ); and a bandpass filter for receiving the optical continuum signal and limiting the optical continuum signal to a filtered bandwidth range (λ i -λ ii ) over which dispersion compensation is performed within the HOM fiber wherein λ i ≧λ 1 ,λ a ; and λ ii ≦λ 2 ,λ b to provide dispersion-compensated, compressed optical output pulses over the filtered bandwidth range.