Passive mode locking of Yb:KLuW using a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber

Mode locking of an Yb-doped bulk laser in the 1 microm spectral range using a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber (SWCNT-SA) is demonstrated for the first time, to our knowledge. Passive mode locking of an Yb:KLuW laser resulted in nearly transform-limited pulses as short as 115 fs at 1048 nm. In addition, the nonlinear response of the SWCNT-SA was measured, yielding a modulation depth of 0.25% and a relaxation time of 750 fs.     

Passive mode locking of a diode-end-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We report an end-pumped and passive mode-locking all-solid-state laser. The laser consists of a Nd:GdVO4 crystal and a linear resonator with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror that yield mode locking. We achieved stable continuous-wave mode locking with an 8-ps pulse duration at a 154-MHz repetition rate. The average output power was 600 mW with 4 W of pump power. To our knowledge this is the first report of the use of a Nd:GdVO4 crystal for mode locking with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.     

Passive harmonic mode locking of twin-pulse solitons in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser

We report on the experimental observation of passive harmonic mode locking of twin-pulse solitons in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Experimental investigations on the passive harmonic mode locking of both the single-pulse and the twin-pulse solitons revealed that, apart from the gain recovery and acoustically induced soliton interactions, the global soliton interaction mediated through an unstable CW lasing in the laser cavity also plays an important role in the formation of the state in the laser.     

Switching spatial dissipative solitons in a VCSEL with frequency selective feedback

The process of switching on bistable spatial dissipative solitons in a VCSEL with frequency selective feedback is analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Two regimes of successful writing of spatial solitons with an external pulse are identified: for short durations of the writing beam pulse, the input amplitude has to increase, while for longer durations, the input amplitude can remain constant. Switch on spectrograms of the frequency spectrum show a transient dynamics over many modes of the external cavity with a drift of the central frequency from higher to lower frequency. Such a multi-mode regime is almost independent of the frequency of the writing beam. It is interpreted to be due to the existence of multiple unstable solitons with different frequencies which channel the transient dynamics. Good agreement between experimental results and numerical simulations in both the time and frequency domains is found.     

Passive mode locking of a Nd：YAG laser with co－doped Nd, Cr：YAG as saturable absorber

We demonstrate the characteristics of relatively low saturation intensity using co-doped Nd, Cr:YAG as saturable absorber for passively mode locking the Nd:YAG laser. The difference of the saturation intensity between Q-switched and mode-locked operation in co-doped Nd, Cr:YAG was only one to two orders of magnitude, while Cr:YAG was generally reported at a difference of five orders of magnitude. More than 80% mode locking modulation depth was achieved at an incident pump power of 4.4W, corresponding to an intracavity intensity of 6×10^4W/cm^2, using a 68cm long plano-concave cavity.     

Dispersion managed dissipative solitons with higher order nonlinearity and frequency-selective feedback

We present the generation and interaction dynamics of dispersion managed soliton in a dissipative cubic-quintic nonlinear optical fiber coupled with frequency-selective feedback. Analytically, perturbative variational method is used to obtain evolution equations for different soliton parameters that are subsequently solved to study the propagation characteristics of the dispersion managed dissipative solitons (DMDS). The DMDSs show breather like characteristics and are found to be robust against certain level of initial noise. Both the standard Gaussian and more generic super-Gaussian pulse profile are shown to yield stable DMDS. Interaction of two DMDSs of same phase may lead to a bound state. By varying the temporal separation and phase difference between the DMDSs the bound state can be switched between low to high speed regime.     

Passive mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:Gd 0.64 Y 0.36 VO 4 laser with a GaAs saturable absorber mirror

We report a diode-pumped Nd:Gd_0.64Y_0.36VO₄ laser passively mode locked by using a GaAs saturable absorber mirror. Both the Q-switched and continuous-wave (CW) mode locking were experimentally realized. The CW mode-locked pulses have a pulse width of about 8.8 ps at a repetition rate of 161.3 MHz. Limited by the available pump power, a maximum output power of 2.47 W was obtained for the CW mode-locked pulses with a slope efficiency of about 26.6%.     

Phase locking and periodic evolution of solitons in passively mode-locked fiber lasers with a semiconductor saturable absorber

Passively mode-locked lasers with intracavity weakly birefringent fiber are theoretically analyzed based on two coupled complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equations. The model includes fiber birefringence, spectral filtering, saturable gain, and saturable loss. Phase-locked soliton solutions are found for small amounts of birefringence and several types of soliton with periodic polarization evolution for higher amounts of birefringence. Numerical simulations show qualitative agreement with experimental results.     

Passive phase locking of an array of four fiber amplifiers by an all-optical feedback loop

We report the passive phase locking of an array of four fiber amplifiers in a unidirectional ring cavity. The feedback loop consists of a single-mode fiber that filters intracavity the far-field pattern of the four emitted beams. The pointing of the laser output can be managed by the intracavity filtering.     

Passive mode locking in the blue spectral region

The spectral range for passive mode-locking of flashlamp pumped dye lasers has been extended towards the blue (452– 515 nm) by employing the saturable absorber 2-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-pyridylmethyl iodide (DASPI). Fully modulated trains of picosecond pulses with megawatt peak powers have been obtained.     

Oscillating solitons in a novel integrable model of asynchronous mode locking

An integrable nonlinear Schr?dinger equation incorporating time-varying phase modulation is presented. A family of solutions is identified, including solitons that oscillate in position and frequency. The equation is used to model steady-state asynchronous laser mode locking. Numerical simulations are used to verify the model and to explore the breakdown of the model as the product of pulse width and modulation frequency is increased.     

Passive harmonic mode locking with a high-power ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser

We report passive harmonic mode locking of a high-power Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser operating in both the normal- and the anomalous-dispersion regimes with a fundamental repetition rate of 20.4 MHz. In the normal-dispersion regime, 116-fs, 1.7-nJ pulses are emitted at a repetition rate of 102 MHz. The results indicate a supermode suppression of more than 60 dB. In the anomalous-dispersion regime, 1-ps, 125-pJ pulses are emitted at a higher repetition rate of 408 MHz.     

Bound states of solitons in a fiber laser mode locked with carbon nanotube saturable absorber

We report on the experimental observation of bound states of solitons in an erbium-doped fiber laser passively mode-locked by the carbon nanotube saturable absorber. Bound states of solitons with various pulse separations are obtained. While the tightly bound solitons always exhibit the same set of fixed discrete pulse separations with π or π/2 phase difference, the feature becomes less obvious for the loosely bound solitons. The result that various states of the bound solitons were obtained in the same fiber laser makes a systematic experimental study on them and a comparison of their properties possible. Our results once again show that the bound soliton emission is an intrinsic feature of the mode-locked soliton fiber lasers.     

Harmonic mode locking by synchronous optical pumping of a saturable absorber with the residual pump

An actively mode-locked fiber laser is demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, by modulation of a saturable-absorber mirror with the light used simultaneously for pumping the gain fiber. Stabilization of a harmonically passive mode-locked fiber laser that generates soliton pulses of 550-fs duration is obtained with this technique. The results indicate a reduction of supermode suppression by more than 55 dB. The timing jitter is improved by 9 dB.     

Passive harmonic mode locking of soliton bunches in a fiber ring laser

We report on the experimental observation of passive harmonic mode locking of bunches of single-pulse solitons or twin-pulse solitons in an Erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Experimental investigations on the phenomenon revealed that, although the soliton interaction between the adjacent single-/twin-pulse solitons in a bunch is weaker than that of the pulse interaction in the twin-pulse solitons, a soliton bunch could also function as a unit and form the state of passively harmonic mode-locking. Harmonic mode-locking is one of the intrinsic characteristics of soliton emission in passively mode-locked fiber ring lasers. It can be formed based on the single-pulse soliton, twin-pulse soliton, or bunch of solitons.     

Passive mode locking of the continuous wave DCM dye laser

The first passive mode locking of the continuous wave (cw) DCM dye laser is reported. Subpicosecond pulses as short as 0.68 ps were obtained over the spectral region from 655 to 673 nm from a simple linear cavity with no dispersion optimisation. The dye 1,3 Diethyl 4,2 quinolythiacarbocyanine iodide (DQTCI) was used as the saturable absorber.     

Theory of passive mode locking of colour-center lasers by a fast saturable absorber

A theoretical model of passive mode locking of colour-center lasers by an effective fast saturable absorber is presented where a hybrid saturation scheme is applied to consider the interaction of the mode-locked pulse with the gain medium. Intracavity group-velocity dispersion and Kerr-type nonlinearity are taken into account and their combined action can result in solition-like pulse shaping and shortening. Chirped steady-state solutions whose carrier frequency can be shifted with respect to the central frequency of the gain are found in a limited range of the parameters specifying the problem.     

Active mode locking of continuous-wave doubly and singly resonant optical parametric oscillators

We report on what we believe to be the first active mode locking of near-degenerate, doubly and singly resonant cw-pumped optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). We show experimentally that a steady-state regime of short pulses is reached in a few tens of microseconds under cw pumping. The oscillation buildup dynamics of both OPOs is also explored, evidencing an unusual transient behavior in the mode-locking process.     

Passive mode locking of an Yb:YAB laser with a low modulation depth SESAM

A passive mode-locked diode-pumped self-frequency-doubling Yb:YAB laser with a low modulation depth semiconductor saturable absorber mirror operating at 374 MHz is demonstrated.The measured pulse duration is 1.98 ps at the wavelength of 1044 nm.The maximum average power reaches 45 mW.