Wide-band fanned-out supercontinuum source covering O-, E-, S-, C-, L- and U-bands

A wide-band supercontinuum source generated by mode-locked pulses injected into a Highly Non-Linear Fiber (HNLF) is proposed and demonstrated. A 49 cm long Bismuth–Erbium Doped Fiber (Bi–EDF) pumped by two 1480 nm laser diodes acts as the active gain medium for a ring fiber laser, from which mode-locked pulses are obtained using the Non-Polarization Rotation (NPR) technique. The mode-locked pulses are then injected into a 100 m long HLNF with a dispersion of 0.15 ps/nm km at 1550 nm to generate a supercontinuum spectrum spanning from 1340 nm to more than 1680 nm with a pulse width of 0.08 ps and an average power of ?17 dBm. The supercontinuum spectrum is sliced using a 24 channel Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) with a channel spacing of 100 GHz to obtain a fanned-out laser output covering the O-, E-, S-, C-, L- and U-bands. The lasing wavelengths obtained have an average pulse width of 9 ps with only minor fluctuations and a mode-locked repetition rate of 40 MHz, and is sufficiently stable to be used in a variety of sensing and communication applications, most notably as cost-effective sources for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks.     

Switchable different operation states in an erbium-doped fiber laser cavity with normal dispersion

We demonstrate different operation states which can be switched by the polarization control in an erbium-doped fiber laser cavity with normal dispersion, including passive single-pulse and multiple-pulse mode-locking, coherent pulse pattern, and passive Q-switching. The mode-locked single pulse has a smooth and broad rectangular-shaped spectrum. With increasing pump power, multiple pulses appear and finally six pulses are observed, where the pulses have no interaction with each other. Keeping the pump power at 407 mW and adjusting the polarization state, we observe the coherent pulse pattern with the pulse numbers from 2 to 5. It is the first time five coherent pulses in the 1.55 μm normal dispersion cavity have been observed, to our knowledge. The mode-locked spectra are highly modulated and the largest pulse separation of 31.9 ps is observed for the two-pulse case. When the pump power exceeds 180 mW, the mode-locked operation can be switched to the passively Q-switched operation by controlling the polarization state. The repetition rate and pulse width can be changed by pump power variation, and the spectrum is tunable in the range of 8.45 nm.     

11-mJ pulse energy wideband Yb-doped fiber laser

We report a wide bandwidth (Δλ=8 nm) optical pulsed MOPA (master oscillator power amplifier) source emitting 11.23 mJ pulses (1.25 MW peak power) in the wavelength centered at (λ=1064 nm). Pulse duration and repetition rate were 9 ns and from 10 Hz to 100 Hz, respectively. In order to suppress amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), multi-stage pulse pump technology is applied. And the large core diameter (90 μm) and wide bandwidth ensures the high peak power and energy output.     

30 ps pulses source based on a fiber-coupled passively Q-switched microchip laser

We report the design of low-cost and compact short-pulse source based on a fiber-coupled Q-switched microchip laser. The combination of stimulated Raman scattering and nonlinear polarization rotation effects in the fiber associated with appropriate filtering makes it possible to tune pulse duration down to 32 ps with peak power above 3 kW. Pulse to pulse peak power fluctuation is below 4%.     

Diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser operating at 938 nm

The stimulated emission cross-section of Nd:GGG crystal in 938 nm transition was measured by the amplifier approach. It is 2.3×10^?20 cm². A quasi-continuous-wave diode pumped, actively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser operating at 938 nm was demonstrated. Pumped by laser diodes with 900 W peak power and 300 μs pulse duration, it generated 168 mJ energy in long pulse mode. The slope efficiency was 36%. Q-switched by a KD?P Pockels cell, 41 mJ output pulse energy was obtained. The pulse duration and peak power were 120 ns and 340 kW, respectively. The optical to optical efficiency was 7%.     

Wavelength tunable,high energy femtosecond laser pulses directly generated from large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber

Wavelength tunable high energy ultrashort laser pulses are generated from a large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber in anomalous dispersion (AD) regime. A simplified laser cavity design with one fine polished facet of the fiber as a cavity mirror is used. The intra-cavity dispersion compensation is achieved by a grating pair, the spatial dispersed light from which also have optical spectrum filtering effects combined with the limited aperture of the fiber core. The laser system is able to generate ultrashort pulses ranging from 494 fs (with 56 nJ pulse energy) to 1.24 ps (with 49 nJ pulse energy) at 55 MHz repetition rate. The filtering mechanism benefits the generation of high energy pulses with narrowing pulse duration in AD regime. An undulation in frequency and time domain is also observed with the increase of the pump power. Furthermore, this laser system is directly used as seed for supercontinuum generation.     

Investigation of Q-switched InP-based 1550 nm semiconductor lasers

High energy picosecond pulse generation from a two contact tapered 5 quantum well (QW) InGaAlAs/InP diode laser (1550 nm) is investigated using a passive Q-switching technique. Single peak pulses with pulse energies as high as 500 pJ and durations of typically hundreds of picoseconds are obtained from the device by applying reverse bias voltages in the range of 0 V to ?18 V to the absorber section of the device. It is also demonstrated that more symmetrical Q-switched pulses are obtained by reducing the duration of electrical pulses applied to the gain section of the laser. Such an improvement is attributed to the reduced time of the population inversion in the gain section due to shorter electrical pulse. We also show comparatively the dependence of optical spectra on the reverse bias voltage for diode lasers emitting at 1550 nm and 1350 nm, and demonstrate that better spectral output is obtained from AlGaInAs lasers emitting at a wavelength of 1550 nm.     

10 GHz ultra-stable short optical pulse generation via phase-modulation enhanced dual-loop optoelectronic oscillator

We report on a high rate, ultra-low timing jitter, short optical pulse generator based on cascaded amplitude and phase modulation in an optoelectronic oscillator. The radio-frequency supermodes are shown to be greatly suppressed with the dual-loop architecture, and a highly coherent and flat optical frequency comb is generated. Optical pulses of 12.8 ps duration are obtained with 27.5 fs integrated timing jitter from 100 Hz to 10 MHz.     

Stimulated Brillouin scattering generation in ns pulsed double-cladding fiber amplifier

This paper proposes a study both in theory and experiment on the phenomenon of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a double-cladding fiber amplifier. The distortion characteristic of the 200-ns is observed through a stationary coupled-wave SBS model including the second-order Stokes wave for double-cladding fiber amplifier. The first-order Stokes wave is amplified during backward propagation to such an intense peak power that it can generate second-order Stokes wave. The stochastic aspect of pulse distortion induced by SBS is also experimentally demonstrated in the single frequency 200 ns pulse amplifier with 12-m Yb³⁺ doped double-cladding fiber. The backward SBS pulse is observed when the pulse peak power is up to 3.3 W, and the pulse width of SBS is narrower than that of the input signal. In the meantime, to overcome the difficulty of the pulse spectrum measurement, a novel method is put forward to measure the SBS frequency shift using the F–P interferometer with free spectral rang of 30 G, showing a good agreement with the theoretical estimation. SBS is the main factor that limits the output pulse peak power in the amplification of the single-frequency pulse.     

Improvement of stability and pulse energy in a diode-pumped dual-loss-modulated QML Nd:Lu0.2Y0.8VO4 laser with EO modulator and GaAs

The Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) performance in a diode-pumped Nd:Lu_0.2Y_0.8VO₄ laser with electro-optic (EO) modulator and GaAs saturaber absorber is investigated. In comparison with the solely passively QML laser with GaAs, the dual-loss-modulated QML laser with EO and GaAs can generate pulses with higher stability and shorter pulse width of Q-switched envelope, as well as higher pulse energy. At the repetition rate 1 kHz of EO, the pulse width of Q-switched pulse envelope has a compression of 89% and the pulse energy has an improvement of 24 times. The QML laser characteristics such as the pulse width, pulse peak power etc. have been measured for different small-signal transmittance (T₀) of GaAs, different reflectivity (R) of output coupler and modulation frequencies of the EO modulator (f_e). The highest peak power and the shortest pulse width of mode-locked pulses are obtained at f_e = 1 kHz, R = 90% and T₀ = 92.6%. By considering the influences of EO modulator, a developed rate equation model for the dual-loss-modulated QML laser with EO modulator and GaAs is proposed. The numerical solutions of the equations are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

High-energy dissipative soliton with MHz repetition rate from an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser

We experimentally demonstrate pulse energy enhancement in an all-fiber passively mode-locked laser operating in the large normal dispersion regime. By increasing the laser cavity length as well as its net cavity dispersion, the proposed laser, which is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation, generates highly chirped dissipative solitons with pulse energies up to 9.4 nJ. The fundamental repetition rate is 2.3 MHz, and the pulse duration is 35 ps. Such low repetition rate as well as wide pulse width makes this mode-locked all-fiber laser a suitable oscillator to directly seed a fiber amplifier, which can be used as compact sources for high-power applications.     

Ultrafast laser performance of Yb3 +: Sc2SiO5 crystal with a single-walled carbon nanotube absorber

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) absorber fabricated by vertical evaporation is used in passively mode-locked Yb^3 +:Sc₂SiO₅ (Yb:SSO) ultrafast laser for the first time. The performance of Yb:SSO ultrafast laser with pulse width as short as 880 fs is studied and the average output power is 712 mW. To our knowledge, this is the highest output power of femtosecond lasers with SWCNT-SAs reported. In addition, we firstly demonstrate a passively mode-locked picosecond Yb:SSO laser without inserting any dispersion compensation device. The pulses width is as short as 5.4 ps and the output power is 940 mW.     

Efficient femtosecond Yb:YAG laser pumped by a single-mode laser diode

Single-mode diodes enable a particularly simple, compact and effective pumping of solid-state laser devices for many specialized applications. We investigated a single-mode, 300-mW laser diode for pumping at 935 nm a Yb:YAG laser passively mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber. Relatively short pulse generation (156 fs), tunable across 1033–1059 nm has been demonstrated. An optical-to-optical efficiency of about 28% has been obtained with 320 fs long pulses. Therefore, contrarily to what previously believed, compact diode-pumped ultrafast Yb:YAG oscillators can reliably and efficiently deliver pulses in the range of ≈ 100–200 fs with few tens of mW, which are very appealing for bio-diagnostics and amplifier seeding applications.     

Diode-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 946 nm passively Q-switched with a Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber

We demonstrate a diode-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser with emission at 946 nm that is passively Q-switched by single-crystal Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. An average output power of 1.7 W is measured under 18.4 W of incident power using an output mirror with transmission T=4%. The corresponding optical-to-optical efficiency is 9.2%. The laser runs at a pulse repetition rate of 120 kHz and delivers pulses with energy of 14 μJ and duration of 80 ns, which corresponds to a peak power of 175 W.     

SPM induced limitations for 40 Gbps chirped Gaussian pulses in optical channel

An analysis of self-phase modulation (SPM) induced nonlinearities in a 40 Gbps link with chirped Gaussian pulses of different duty cycles has been reported in this paper. In the present analysis only SPM effect has been considered to control the pulse propagation behavior through the fiber by appropriate selection of pulse width, peak power and channel length to suppress the other channel impairments caused by group velocity dispersion (GVD) and third order dispersion (TOD). The effect of SPM on the Q-factor for the transmission of 40 Gbps chirped pulses with different initial pulse widths and input peak powers has been investigated. It has been observed that a wider pulse having maximum negative chirp can withstand the nonlinear effect of SPM for relatively higher ranges of input peak power.     

4 × 10 Gb/s wavelength multicasting with tunable NRZ-to-RZ pulse format conversion using time- and wavelength-interleaved pulses

We demonstrate 4 × 10 Gb/s simultaneous wavelength multicasting and NRZ-to-RZ pulse format conversion with tunable duty cycle. Multicasting is achieved by four-wave mixing of the input signal with a time- and wavelength-interleaved laser source, while the format conversion is obtained through the use of a pulsed probe. The input data are copied to four multicast outputs with a common relative delay time. Error-free operations have been obtained in all the outputs with power penalties ranging from ? 0.5 to 0.5 dB. Output duty cycles with a tuning range of 4.3 ps have been achieved.     

A phase stable short pulse generator using a DPMZM and phase modulators for application in 160 GBaud DQPSK systems

A method of 40 GHz phase stable short pulses generation is experimentally demonstrated. It is based on a dual parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) driven by only one electrical sinusoidal clock and two cascaded phase modulators. The generated pulses are characterized with full-width-at-half-maximum pulse width of 1.9 ps, extinction ratio of 27 dB, timing jitter of 36 fs and signal to noise ratio over 30 dB. The high quality and phase stability of the pulses are further experimentally verified in a 4 × 40 GBaud differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) optical-time-division-multiplexing (OTDM) system.     

2 μm passive Q-switched mode-locked Tm3+:YAP laser with single-walled carbon nanotube absorber

We report the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of passive Q-switched mode-locking in a Tm³⁺:YAP laser, operating in the 2 μm broadly spectral region formed with a compact Z-flod cavity. A transmission-type single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber (SWCNT–SA) is used for the initiation of the pulse generation. The repetition rate of the Q-switched envelope was 60 kHz at the pump power of 8.6 W. The mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse envelope had a repetition rate of ～92 MHz. A maximum average output power of 761 mW was obtained. The dependence of the operational parameters on the pump power was also investigated experimentally.     

Improved flatness and tunable bandwidth of the supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion-flattened PCF using Littman–Metcalf optical bandpass filter

We have proved that in an all-normal dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fiber (PCF), the four-wave mixing (FWM) process dominantly affects the flatness of the generated supercontinuum (SC). The numerical results show that pulses with steepened edges can enhance the FWM conversion efficiency during the SC’s generation and the minima of the spectral oscillatory structure will be smoothed. A double-pass Littman–Metcalf optical bandpass filter is used to make the 1.60 ps hyperbolic-Secant shaped pulses obtain steepened edges. The experimental results show that the flatness of the SC generated from the 4 nm filtered pulses is improved by 0.21 dB. The SC with 10–65 nm tunable bandwidths is obtained by adjusting the filter bandwidth from 1 nm to 7 nm. Further numerical results show that the filter induced SC’s flatness improvement is more effective for pulses with 2.0–4.0 ps FWHM. The improved SC can be used for applications which require stable modulation carriers and flexible bandwidth.     

Efficient high-power UV laser generated by an optimized flat–flat actively Q-switched laser with extra-cavity harmonic generations

We investigate the parasitic lasing effect in the high-power actively Q-switched laser with a flat–flat resonator. The parasitic lasing effect in the low-Q stage is found to lead to long tails in the output pulses, corresponding to the peak-power reduction. We experimentally determine the shortest cavity length without the parasitic lasing effect to optimize the performance of the high-power actively Q-switched laser with a flat–flat cavity. We further use the optimized fundamental laser to generate green and UV lasers by extra-cavity harmonic generations. At a pump power of 44 W, the output powers at 355 nm and 532 nm as high as 6.65 W and 8.38 W are obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 40 kHz.