A short pulse generation system and method of generating a short pulse signal are provided. The system includes a fiber chain having an input for receiving an optical signal having a plurality of optical pulses. The fiber chain is nonlinear with respect to the optical signal and includes a first normal fiber segment having a relatively small chromatic parameter, a first abnormal fiber segment having a relatively large chromatic parameter coupled to an output of the first normal fiber segment, and a second abnormal fiber segment having a relatively small chromatic parameter coupled to an out of the first abnormal fiber segment. The system includes a filter stage coupled to an output of the fiber chain and that has a transparent wavelength selected to regenerate the signal. A short pulse signal is produced when the optical signal is coupled to the input.