Tunable 12×10 GHz mode-locked semiconductor fiber laser incorporating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer filter

A stable multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor fiber ring laser incorporating a fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) filter was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) serves as an optically controlled mode-locking element due to gain exhaustion caused by external injected optical pulses. Another SOA severs as a constant-gain medium. A fiber MZI filter with a temperature control is incorporated into the fiber ring cavity to acquire a stable and tunable multiwavelength oscillation. Twelve wavelengths are synchronously mode-locked at 10 GHz, pulse width of mode-locked pulse are about 30 ps. Proposed multiwavelength mode-locked semiconductor fiber ring laser has some distinct advantages, such as simple and compact structure, easy integration, convenient tuning, good stability, potential high repetition rate operating, which has potential application in the future WDM communication system.     

被动谐波锁模掺Yb3+光纤环形激光器

 利用光纤的非线性偏振旋转效应产生可饱和吸收体的锁模机制，从掺Yb³⁺光纤环形激光器中得到稳定高阶谐波锁模光脉冲。理论分析了工作于正色散区的掺Yb³⁺光纤环形激光器的特性。实验中观测到了掺Yb³⁺光纤环形激光器3种不同演化方式产生高阶锁模光脉冲。4阶谐波锁模脉冲（107.2 MHz重复频率）经过1 m长高掺杂Yb³⁺光纤放大器放大后产生了平均功率100 mW，脉宽22.8 ps的脉冲，最后经过光栅压缩得到了平均输出功率20 mW，脉宽307 fs，脉冲中心波长1 051.2 nm，带宽13.76 nm的激光。     

Stable multiwavelength and passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation

Based on the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique and a fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI), a fiber laser which can work in two different modes has been demonstrated. In one mode, it works as a continuous wave (CW) multiwavelength laser, and stable dual-, triple- and tetra-wavelength lasing with the wavelength spacing of 1.1 nm are obtained. In the other mode, it works as a passively mode-locked fiber laser, and the generated pulses have a repetition rate of 10.6 MHz, an FWHM width of 800 ps and the largest energy of 1 nJ. The multi-functional property makes this fiber laser a very convenient, cost effective and multi-purpose laser source.     

Dynamics of self-similar light pulses of limiting pulse width and energy in a fiber laser

We investigate dynamics of the formation of high-power ultrashort self-similar light pulses (similaritons) in a fiber laser in the regime of positive dispersion. The physical factors limiting the energy and the pulse width of such pulses are revealed. We specify regimes where a laser system based on an ytterbium-doped fiber can generate self-similar pulses with an energy of about 80 nJ compressible to a pulse width of about 150 fs through extracavity linear chirp compensation.     

Ultrashort pulse generation using fiber FM laser

Ultrashort optical pulse generation using a fiber FM laser is presented and analyzed in detail. Fiber FM laser operation is realized using a fiber ring with an internal phase modulator and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. To compress FM laser pulses, an external dispersive single-mode fiber is employed. Furthermore, by external intensity modulation, the pulse background is removed. The background ratio of the generated ultrashort pulse is calculated and compared with the experimental results. The experimental results show an output optical pulse width of 1.77 ps and a spectral bandwidth of 0.5 THz.     

全光纤高功率被动锁模掺铥光纤激光器

利用非线性光环形镜(NOLM)的可饱和吸收特性实现了可自启动的2μm全光纤高能量被动锁模掺铥光纤激光器。当泵浦功率大于3W时,激光器工作在连续或不稳定脉冲运转状态;泵浦功率达到4.69W后,输出为自启动锁模脉冲,重复频率4.26MHz,中心波长2 061.5nm,光谱半极大宽度18.1nm,平均输出功率8.8mW;继续增加泵浦功率到最大值7.56W,可以得到中心波长2 062.2nm、光谱半极大宽度17.1nm、斜率效率为6.2%、脉冲宽度和能量分别为424fs和65.6nJ的稳定锁模脉冲。这是目前已报道的在未经放大情况下脉冲能量最高的2μm锁模脉冲光纤激光器。     

Ultrawide tunable Er soliton fiber laser amplified in Yb-doped fiber

A Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled high-power Er-fiber soliton laser for seeding an efficient high-power Yb fiber femtosecond amplifier is demonstrated. The Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled Er-soliton laser is tunable from 1.00 to 1.070microm and produces bandwidth-limited 24-pJ pulses at a repetition rate of 50 MHz with a FWHM pulse width of 170 fs at 1.040microm . The Yb(3+) amplifier has a slope efficiency of 52% and generates 3-ps linearly chirped pulses with an average power of 0.8 W at 1.05microm . After pulse compression, 74-fs bandwidth-limited pulses with an average power of 0.4 W and a pulse energy of 8 nJ are generated.     

Dynamics of high-power self-similar light pulses in a fiber laser with a carbon-nanotube saturable absorber

We present a numerical analysis of the dynamics of high-power self-similar light pulses in a fiber laser with a saturable absorber based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This analysis allows us to identify lasing regimes in a CNT-mode-locked ytterbium-fiber laser enabling the generation of self-similar linearly chirped light pulses with an energy up to 330 nJ, which can be compressed to a 210-fs transform-limited pulse width through linear chirp compensation in a pulse compressor. We show that, for typical parameters of a fiber laser, the bandwidth and the minimum transform-limited pulse width of a self-similar laser output are primarily limited by the small modulation depth of a CNT absorber.     

掺镱光纤激光器自脉冲与自脉冲内的自锁模研究

采用单端连续抽运方式, 对自由运转的双包层掺镱光纤激光器的输出特性进行了详细的实验研究. 实验中不但观察到了自脉冲, 而且首次在自由运转的光纤激光器中观察到自锁模现象, 对它们产生的物理机理进行了相应的理论分析. 分析表明: 增益光纤的弱(未) 抽运部分对信号光的吸收导致光纤激光器内自脉冲的出现, 轴向模之间的拍频和自相位调制导致自锁模现象的出现, 而受激拉曼散射、 受激布里渊散射等非线性效应使它们进一步增强. 当抽运光功率略高于阈值时, 自脉冲宽度比较宽, 随抽运光功率增加自脉冲的脉宽变窄; 自脉冲包络面内的自锁模脉冲的宽度随抽运光功率增加也变窄, 进一步增加抽运光功率, 自脉冲和自脉冲包络面内的自锁模现象消失. 实验测得自锁模脉冲的间隔为224 ns, 最大(小) 自锁模脉冲的半高全宽约为35.0 ns (6.3 ns); 测得信号光的中心波长为1090 nm, 谱线半高全宽的最大(小) 值约为7.05 nm (2.01 nm).     

Stable pulse-compressed acousto-optic Q-switched fiber laser

A novel acousto-optic switch operation by a simple laser-diode pumped acousto-optic, Q-switched, ytterbium-doped, double-clad fiber laser is reported. Stable compressed Q-switched sub-40 ns pulses with a beam quality factor (M(2)=2) are achieved at the repetition rate of 1-50 kHz. Q-switched pulses of ~20 microJ pulse energy and 35 ns pulse width are obtained at the repetition rate of 50 kHz. Finally, a reasonable explanation of the novel Q-switched operation is presented.     

Dual-wavelength stable nanosecond pulses generation from cladding-pumped fiber laser

In this paper, the generation of dual-wavelength stable nanosecond pulses by a laser diode pumped Ybdoped double-clad fiber laser is presented. In the experiment, the fiber laser with two-mirror cavity is approved which operates in a self-Q-switching regime. The Q-switching mechanism is based on stimulatedBrillouin scattering (SBS). When the pump power achieves the SBS threshold, the fiber laser changes from the start resonator to the SBS resonator. With different reflectivities of the second mirror, stable dual-wavelength pulses with the pulse width range from 10 ns to less than 2 ns are obtained. The resultwas explained theoretically by birefringency (including stochastic birefringency and bend birefringency).     

Effect of doped fiber length on the stretch pulses of a mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser

A passively self-starting mode-locked fiber ring laser is demonstrated using a highly concentrated Erbium doped fiber (EDF) with a saturable absorber. The effect of EDF length on the performance of the laser is investigated. Stable stretched pulses are obtained at wavelength region of 1560nm with a repetition rate ranging from 10.1 to 12.1 MHz and a pulse width stretching from 0.52 to 0.75 ps as the EDF length is reduced from 4.5 to 1.5 m. The repetition rate goes higher as the cavity length decreases when a shorter EDF is used but the pulse width reduces as the EDF length increases since the total group velocity dispersion (GVD) in the cavity is close to zero. The article is published in the original.     

High-energy saturable absorber mode-locked fiber laser system

We demonstrate a mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser with a 1-microm InGaAs saturable absorber that produces 84-ps, 1-nJ transform-limited pulses. Measurements of the InGaAs multiple quantum well revealed a slow saturable absorber that is useful for passive mode locking. Optical fiber was added to extend the cavity and vary the repetition rate from 51 kHz to 5.4 MHz. The narrow spectral width of the laser output (<0.04 nm) permits amplification to 0.2 microJ/pulse with minimal pulse broadening. Pulse energies as large as 1.7 microJ can be achieved with pulse widths of <330 ps. Average powers of 0.5 W at megahertz repetition rates are demonstrated.     

Erbium-doped CW and Q-switched fiber ring laser with fiber grating Michelson interferometer

The band-pass characteristic of fiber grating Michelson interferometer is analyzed, which acts as bothband-pass filter and Q-switch. An erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on fiber grating Michelsoninterferometer is implemented for producing single longitudinal mode CW operation with 5 MHz spectrallinewidth and up to 6 mW output power. In Q-switched operation, stable fiber laser output pulses withrepetition rate of 800 Hz, pulse width of 0.6 μs, average power of 1.8 mW and peak power of 3.4 W aredemonstrated. The peak power and average power of the Q-switched pulses are varied with the repetitionrate.     

High-energy femtosecond photonic crystal fiber laser

We report the generation of high-energy high-peak power pulses in an all-normal dispersion fiber laser featuring large-mode-area photonic crystal fibers. The self-starting chirped-pulse fiber oscillator delivers 11 W of average power at 15.5 MHz repetition rate, resulting in 710 nJ of pulse energy. The output pulses are dechirped outside the cavity from 7 ps to nearly transform-limited duration of 300 fs, leading to pulse peak powers as high as 1.9 MW. Numerical simulations reveal that pulse shaping is dominated by the amplitude modulation and spectral filtering provided by a resonant semiconductor saturable absorber.     

Actively mode-locked fiber ring laser based on photonic crystal fiber

A wavelength tunable, high repetition rate mode-locked fiber ring laser was demonstrated. In the experiment, photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is used as an intracavity compression medium. The high nonlinearity and anomalous dispersion of PCF can cause intracavity compression and result in significant reduction in the pulse width. The pulses duration at the repetition rate of 9.99 GHz was less than 10 ps over the range of 1532-1565 nm.     

Generation of 47-fs pulses directly from an erbium-doped fiber laser

We show both numerically and experimentally that through appropriately selecting the output coupling position and strength in a mode-locked fiber laser, one can effectively manage the nonlinearity of the cavity. By implementing the technique together with cavity dispersion management in an erbium-doped fiber laser, we have achieved stable mode-locked pulses with a single-pulse energy of 2.08 nJ and pulse width of 46.2 fs directly from the laser.     

Stable mode-locked fiber laser using 49 cm long bismuth oxide based erbium doped fiber and slow saturable absorber

A stable mode-locked fiber laser employing a 49 cm long bismuth oxide based erbium doped fiber (Bi-EDF) by using a slow saturable absorber is demonstrated. Near transform limited short pulses with a repetition rate of 8.27 MHz are obtained at a wavelength of 1560 nm with a maximum spectral width of 15 nm. Results indicate that pulse characteristics are strongly dependent on pump power rather than spectral width. Moreover the Time-Bandwidth products (TBWP), pulse duration, the energy fluctuation and timing jitter decrease with increasing pump power. The pulse width is continuously varied from 1.2 ps to less than 300 fs. It produces stable mode locking with a maximum spectral width of 15 nm, minimum timing jitter of 4 ps and energy fluctuations of 2.5%. The pulse train was amplified using a two-stage amplifier up to 447 mW average power corresponding to peak powers of 177.3 kW.     

色散管理掺铥光纤激光器高能量脉冲的产生

设计了一种基于色散管理的掺铥光纤激光器。通过调节泵浦功率以及腔内偏振态，首先实现了稳定的展宽脉冲输出，中心波长和脉冲宽度分别为1 939.4 nm和482 fs。最大输出功率为15 mW，对应的单脉冲能量为0.52 nJ。增加泵浦功率到645 mW时，通过适当调节偏振控制器可以实现类噪声脉冲锁模，中心波长为1 940.1 nm。所实现的锁模脉冲具有飞秒量级的尖峰以及皮秒量级的基底。最大输出功率为20.4 mW，相对应的单脉冲能量为0.7 nJ。相比于传统孤子，采用色散管理所实现的锁模脉冲具有更高的脉冲能量。此外，所设计的掺铥光纤激光器可作为理想的主振荡功率放大以及啁啾脉冲放大结构的种子源，进一步提高脉冲能量，拓展2 μm高能光纤激光器的实际应用。     

Observation of dark pulse in a dispersion-managed fiber ring laser

The observation of dark pulse in a dispersion-managed fiber ring laser with net negative cavity group velocity dispersion (GVD) is reported. Both bright and dark pulses can be obtained in our fiber laser. When we appropriately adjust the cavity birefringence to achieve triple-wavelength mode-locked operation in the laser by rotating the polarization controller, the bright pulse could be switched to dark pulse. It is believed that the dark dispersion-managed (DM) pulse generation is caused by the linear and nonlinear intermodulation effects among the three wavelength pulses.