Fiber taper for dispersion management in a mode-locked ytterbium fiber laser.

We exploit the large anomalous dispersion in the waist of a fiber taper to offset the intracavity normal chromatic dispersion of an Yb-doped fiber laser. The fiber taper provides sufficient anomalous dispersion to ensure soliton operation of the mode-locked laser. With the taper removed from the cavity, the laser operates in a net normal dispersion regime.