Patent ID: 8554035

Claim:
An apparatus for producing output optical pulses of light of a desired wavelength, said apparatus comprising: an optical pulse source operable to generate input optical pulses at a first wavelength in a first spatial mode; and a higher-order-mode (HOM) fiber module including a non-photonic crystal fiber (non-PCF) HOM fiber and at least one mode converter, optically coupled to the optical pulse source to receive the input optical pulses at the first wavelength, wherein the light propagating in the HOM fiber module is in a non-fundamental mode that is different than the first spatial mode and has an effective area A eff that is greater than 10 microns squared (μm 2 ), further wherein the output optical pulses are solitons having pulse energies between one to 10 nanoJoules (nJ) at a wavelength below 1300 nanometers (nm).