Abstract
It is demonstrated that reflection gratings with any type of chirp may be written into photosensitive fibres using holographic phase masks. Chirped bandwidths of 5-15 nm have been achieved in 8 mm long gratings with reflectivities up to 98%. The length dependence of the induced chirp was designed to be linear or quadratic in wavelength. Reasonable agreement is shown with theoretical calculations. These gratings have also been used for the first time to re-compress 400 fs pulses broadened to approximately 30 ps after transmission through an optical fibre at 1560 nm. Nearly complete re-compression is observed with a compression ratio of approximately 65.