Abstract

The advent of self-referenced optical frequency combs^{1, 2} has sparked the development of novel areas in ultrafast sciences such as attosecond technology^{3, 4} and the synthesis of arbitrary optical waveforms^{5, 6}. Few-cycle light pulses are key to these time-domain applications, driving a quest for reliable, stable and cost-efficient mode-locked laser sources with ultrahigh spectral bandwidth. Here, we present a set-up based entirely on compact erbium-doped fibre technology, which produces single cycles of light. The pulse duration of 4.3 fs is close to the shortest possible value for a data bit of information transmitted in the near-infrared regime. These results demonstrate that fundamental limits for optical telecommunications are accessible with existing fibre technology and standard free-space components.

Correspondence to: Alfred Leitenstorfer¹ e-mail: alfred.leitenstorfer@uni-konstanz.de

Nature Photonics 4, 33 - 36 (2009)

Published online: 20 December 2009 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2009.258