Numerical investigation of soliton molecules with variable separation in passively mode-locked fiber lasers

Soliton molecules evolution is numerically investigated in a passively mode-locked fiber laser based on the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique. Peak-to-peak separation of soliton molecules can be controlled by changing either pump strength or cavity linear phase delay appropriately. Moreover, soliton molecules with intensity-independent evolution, separation-independent evolution and large intensity-vibrating evolution are numerically found, respectively. The characteristics of soliton molecules evolution versus linear phase delay or pump strength are given. Periodic stable evolution regimes are found. The separation-controllable soliton molecules can be attributed to the mutual effects of phase delay, Kerr nonlinearity and other parameters of the cavity.     

Bound soliton pulses in passively mode-locked fiber laser

A passively mode-locked soliton fiber ring laser was successfully demonstrated, and bound soliton pulses with an FWHM pulsewidth of 326 fs and fixed separation of 938 fs were first observed. The number of bound soliton pairs in the cavity can be controlled under lower pump power. The transmission effects were investigated by injecting bound soliton pulses into a single mode fiber.     

Dissipative soliton resonance in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

The phenomenon of dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) predicts that an increase of pulse energy by orders of magnitude can be obtained in laser oscillators. Here, we prove that DSR is achievable in a realistic ring laser cavity using nonlinear polarization evolution as the mode-locking mechanism, whose nonlinear transmission function is adjusted through a set of waveplates and a passive polarizer. The governing model accounts explicitly for the arbitrary orientations of the waveplates and the polarizer, as well as the gain saturation in the amplifying medium. It is shown that DSR is achievable with realistic laser settings. Our findings provide an excellent design tool for optimizing the mode-locking performance and the enhancement of energy delivered per pulse by orders of magnitude.     

被动锁模光纤激光器多孤子脉冲形成机理

基于非线性耦合薛定谔方程,在非线性偏振技术锁模的掺铒环形光纤激光器中,理论研究多孤子脉冲的形成和演化规律。研究结果表明:随着小信号增益不断增加,光纤激光器的锁模透过率函数影响多脉冲输出,多脉冲产生受色散波和脉冲分裂形成的峰值功率的限制效应和孤子能量量子化的影响,这是增益竞争和非线性偏振旋转引起的损耗之间动态平衡的最终结果。     

被动锁模光纤激光器多孤子脉冲形成机理

基于非线性耦合薛定谔方程,在非线性偏振技术锁模的掺铒环形光纤激光器中,理论研究多孤子脉冲的形成和演化规律。研究结果表明：随着小信号增益不断增加,光纤激光器的锁模透过率函数影响多脉冲输出,多脉冲产生受色散波和脉冲分裂形成的峰值功率的限制效应和孤子能量量子化的影响,这是增益竞争和非线性偏振旋转引起的损耗之间动态平衡的最终结果。     

Chaotic dynamics of a passively mode-locked soliton fiber ring laser

We report on the experimental and numerical studies of the chaotic dynamics of a soliton fiber ring laser passively mode-locked by using the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique. Period-doubling route to chaos on the soliton repetition rate of either the single pulse soliton or the bound solitons of the laser was experimentally observed. Based on a coupled complex Ginzburg-Landau equation model and also taking into account the laser cavity effect, we further show numerically that the period-doubling bifurcations and route to chaos are intrinsic properties of the laser, whose appearance is independent of the details of the laser cavity design and the laser soliton operation. Property of the solitons under the dynamical bifurcations is also numerically investigated.     

Bidirectional passively mode-locked soliton fiber laser with a four-port circulator

We present an all-fiber bidirectional passively mode-locked soliton laser with what we believe is a novel cavity configuration. Using a four-port circulator, we incorporate two different semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) into the laser cavity, which enables bidirectional mode locking. The laser allows the generation of two independent countercirculating mode-locked pulse trains, each with an individual fundamental repetition rate that can be adjusted by varying the SESAM pigtail length. Two countercirculating pulse trains with repetition rates of 21.3 and 15.2 MHz are obtained simultaneously. By controlling the intracavity loss imposed on these two pulse trains, either one of the two pulse trains can be switched on or off. The bidirectional operation with other repetition rates is also demonstrated.     

Regimes of operation states in passively mode-locked fiber soliton ring laser

The principal of passively mode-locked fiber soliton ring lasers is summarized, including its three output operation states: normal soliton, bound–solitons and noise-like pulse. The experimental results of the passively mode-locked fiber soliton ring lasers developed by us are given. Bound–solitons with different discrete separations and three-bound–solitons state have been observed in our fiber laser for the first time. The relationship among three operation states in fiber soliton laser is analyzed.     

Characterization of soliton compounds in a passively mode-locked high power fiber laser

We characterize soliton complexes in a high power double-clad erbium-doped fiber laser passively mode-locked through nonlinear polarization evolution. Such complexes involve some hundreds of solitons and form self-organized or disorganized patterns analogous to the states of the matter. Experimentally these soliton compounds are characterized through the autocorrelation trace, the optical spectrum and the oscilloscope trace which is limited due to its finite bandwidth. We perform here a reconstruction of the experimental results thus allowing us to identify the temporal distribution of the solitons inside the cavity. The reconstruction allows us to clarify and either to confirm or to correct the former intuitive interpretation. Especially, a soliton ‘spray’ is identified.     

Complete characterization of quantum-limited timing jitter in passively mode-locked fiber lasers

We characterize the timing jitter of passively mode-locked, femtosecond, erbium fiber lasers with unprecedented resolution, enabling the observation of quantum-origin timing jitter up to the Nyquist frequency. For a pair of nearly identical 79.4MHz dispersion-managed lasers with an output pulse energy of 450pJ, the high-frequency jitter was found to be 2.6fs [10kHz, 39.7MHz]. The results agree well with theoretical noise models over more than three decades, extending to the Nyquist frequency. It is also found that unexpected noise may occur if care is not taken in optimizing the mode-locked state.     

Observations of three types of sidebands in a passively mode-locked soliton fiber laser

We have experimentally observed three types of sidebands in a passively mode-locked soliton fiber laser with large anomalous dispersion for the first time to our best knowledge. By appropriately adjusting the polarization state of laser cavity, the conventional peak sidebands, peak-dip sidebands, and dip sidebands appear in the soliton spectra, respectively. The peak-dip and dip sidebands exhibit distinct characteristics from the conventional peak sidebands. The formation mechanism of the new type sidebands can be attributed to the periodic power variation. This work could help to a deeper insight of the spectrum shaping mechanism of conventional solitons.     

Photon-number fluctuation and correlation of bound soliton pairs in mode-locked fiber lasers

Quantum photon-number fluctuation and correlation of bound soliton pairs in mode-locked fiber lasers are studied on the basis of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation model. We find that, depending on their phase difference, the total photon-number noise of the bound soliton pair can be larger or smaller than that of a single soliton, and the two solitons in the soliton pair have a corresponding positive or negative photon-number correlation. It is predicted for the first time to our knowledge that out-of-phase soliton pairs can exhibit less noise as a result of negative correlation.     

Impact of slow gain dynamics on soliton molecules in mode-locked fiber lasers

We theoretically demonstrate and experimentally confirm the major influence of gain dynamics on soliton molecules that self-assemble in mode-locked lasers. Both slow gain recovery and depletion play a pivotal role in the formation of chirped soliton molecules characterized by an increasing separation from leading to trailing pulses. These chirped molecules actually consist of many pulses and may be termed macromolecules. They are experimentally observed in a fiber laser and numerically modeled by an approach that properly includes the slow gain dynamics. Furthermore, it is shown that these processes stabilize soliton trains in fiber lasers by inhibiting internal oscillations.     

Observation of stable bound soliton with dual-wavelength in a passively mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser

A phase-locked bound state soliton with dual-wavelength is observed experimentally in a passively mode-locked Erdoped fiber(EDF) laser with a fiber loop mirror(FLM). The pulse duration of the soliton is 15 ps and the peak-to-peak separation is 125 ps. The repetition rate of the pulse sequence is 3.47 MHz. The output power is 11.8 mW at the pump power of 128 mW, corresponding to the pulse energy of 1.52 nJ. The FLM with a polarization controller can produce a comb spectrum, which acts as a filter. By adjusting the polarization controller or varying the pump power, the central wavelength of the comb spectrum can be tuned. When it combines with the reflective spectrum of the fiber Bragg grating, the total spectrum of the cavity can be cleaved into two parts, then the bound state soliton with dual-wavelength at 1549.7 nm and 1550.4 nm is obtained.     

High-energy soliton pulse generation with a passively mode-locked Er/Yb-doped multifilament-core fiber laser

We report the generation of high-energy short pulses from a mode-locked erbium/ytterbium-doped large-mode-area multifilament-core fiber laser operating in the purely anomalous dispersion regime. The self-starting fiber laser emits 400 mW of average output power at a pulse repetition rate of 44 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 9.1 nJ. The laser produces near transform-limited output pulses with pulse duration of 1.6 ps, corresponding to 5 kW peak power. This new type of low-nonlinearity fibers demonstrates the power and energy scaling potential of fiber-based short pulse lasers in the eye-safe region.     

Picosecond pulses from passively mode-locked dye lasers

Successive stages of the development of ultrashort pulses in passively mode-locked dye lasers are studied. It is numerically shown that the initial fluctuations evolve into a picosecond pulse which retains its magnitude and particular shape and moves slower than the speed of light.     

Theory of passively mode-locked cw dye lasers

The circulation of an ultrashort light pulse in a continuously pumped modelocked dye laser with a linear cavity configuration containing the active dye, the saturable absorber and a bandwidth-limiting elements is treated. The steady-state condition that the pulse shape reproduces after each cavity round-trip leads to a nonlinear integro-differential equation for this pulse shape. An approximate method for the solution of this equation not limited to the case of low laser gain and small pulse energies is given. The stable single pulse region and characteristic pulse parameters, as energy, duration, intensity and asymmetry, are considered in dependence on the laser parameters.     

Generation and time jitter of the loose soliton bunch in a passively mode-locked fiber laser

We report a regime of the loose soliton bunch in an erbium-doped passively mode-locked fiber laser. In this state,every soliton bunch consists of multiple pulses. The amount of multiple pulses inside the soliton bunch increase as the pump power rises. Moreover, the temporal average pulse-to-pulse separation decreases in general with the increase of the pump power. Further, the spatial-temporal sequences based on the dispersive Fourier transformation technique show that pulse-to-pulse interactions and time jitter can result in pulse forking inside the soliton bunch. Finally, we theoretically demonstrate the soliton bunch with different pulse-to-pulse separations.     

Bound soliton pulses in a passively mode-locked fibre ring laser

The bound solitons in a passively mode-locked fibre ring laser are observed and their formation mechanism is summarized in this paper. In order to obtain stable bound solitons, a strong CW laser field at the centre of the soliton spectral is necessary to suppress and synchronize the random soliton phase variations.     

Vector soliton fiber lasers

We show by simulations that a nonlinear optical loop mirror with birefringent fiber can have intensity-dependent transmission of vector soliton pulses with a 50/50 coupler. Using this result we propose two mode-locked laser cavity designs.