Passively mode-locked fiber ring laser using semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We experimentally demonstrate a fiber laser passively mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) in a ring cavity. A pulse series with a temporal width of 1 ns is generated at a repetition rate of 12.3 MHz. With careful polarization adjustment, the pulse width decreases, the peak power increases and the spectral sidebands are formed in the optical spectrum. The reason of the phenomenon above has been analyzed. In addition, the characteristic of the pulse with different length of the Er³⁺ Doped Fiber (EDF) is studied and the results show that it is reabsorption that causes the laser to shift to longer wavelength direction when the EDF length increases.     

100-fs diode-pumped Yb:KGW mode-locked laser

We have developed a mode-locked diode-pumped Yb:KGW laser generating 100-fs pulses with an output power of 126 mW. The corresponding optical spectrum has a 13.4-nm FWHM bandwidth and is centered at 1037.4 nm. In the multiple-pulsing regime, bound states of solitons with rotating phase difference and separated by 917.5 fs were observed. We compare the performance of the Yb:KGW crystal to that of an Yb:KYW crystal with the same thickness and Yb concentration. PACS 42.55.Rz; 42.65.Re; 42.65.Tg     

Passively mode-locked Nd:GGG laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

The mode-locking operation of the Nd:GGG crystal with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) was demonstrated. Continuous wave (CW) mode-locking was obtained with the pulse duration of 11 ps and the pulse repetition rate of 40.38 MHz. At 7 W of pump power, the maximum average output power of 1.1 W was obtained with the slope efficiency of 18.1%.     

Characterization of InGaAs and InGaAsN semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors for high-power mode-locked thin-disk lasers

We report a comparative study of carrier dynamics in semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) containing InGaAs quantum wells and InGaAsN quantum wells (QWs). The static and dynamic reflectivity spectra were measured with a Fourier-transform-infrared-spectrometer and a pump-probe setup, respectively. The influence of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on carrier dynamics was studied. Due to the reduction of defect states by RTA we observed an increase of the static reflectivity and an increase of the electron–hole recombination time.     

Properties of a vector soliton laser passively mode-locked by a fiber-based semiconductor saturable absorber operating in transmission

We experimentally demonstrate a passively mode-locked fiber laser employing a fiber-based semiconductor saturable absorber (SSA) operating in transmission. Polarization rotation locked vector solitons are observed in the laser. Due to the intrinsic dynamic feature of the laser, period-doubling of these vector solitons has also been observed. Furthermore, extra spectral sidebands are formed on the optical spectrum, caused by the energy exchange between the two orthogonal polarization components of the vector solitons. By careful reduction of the pump power together with fine adjustment to the cavity birefringence, period-one state can further be obtained. Additionally, the phase noise properties of the vector soliton fiber laser have also been characterized experimentally and analytically.     

Gigahertz repetition rate mode-locked Yb:KYW laser using self-assembled quantum dot saturable absorber

Fundamental mode-locking is achieved in a 1.036 GHz cavity using a semiconductor quantum dot saturable absorber mirror with a fast relaxation time component of down to 550 fs. The dispersive cavity delivers 1.7 ps wide pulses with spectra supporting sub-picosecond pulse durations and an M² of 1.3. An average output power of up to 339 mW at wavelengths around 1,032 nm is achieved and the saturable absorber’s damage threshold is identified as a limitation for further power scaling.     

Low-repetition-rate,all-polarization-maintaining Yb-doped fiber laser mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber

A low-repetition-rate, all-polarization-maintaining(PM)-fiber sub-nanosecond oscillator is presented, which is simple and low-cost, composed of standard components. The ring cavity is elongated by 114-m-long standard PM fiber, and passively mode-locked by a fiber pigtailed semiconductor saturable absorber. Linearly polarized pulses with 1.66 MHz repetition rate and 22 dB polarization extinction ratio are generated at a wavelength of 1030 nm, which is determined by an intracavity filter. In addition, to demonstrate that the oscillator is a good seed for high energy pulse generation, an all-fiber master oscillator power amplifier is built and amplified pulses with energy about 2 μJ are obtained.     

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.     

Harmonically mode-locked laser stabilized by semiconductor saturable absorber modulated with the residual pump

Stabilization of a passive harmonically mode-locked laser is demonstrated by directly modulating a 980-nm pump diode laser used both to provide gain and to optically modulate an intracavity saturable absorber. The results indicate a reduction of the undesired laser modes by more than 55 dB. The timing jitter was decreased by 9 dB. Received: 3 April 2002 / Revised version: 30 April 2002 / Published online: 12 July 2002     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We present a compact passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO₄ laser run in a Z-type folded cavity with semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The repetition rates of the passively Q-switched pulse envelope ranges from 22.99 to 141.18 kHz as the pump power increased from 2.372 to 8.960 W. The repetition rates of mode-locked laser pulses in the Q-switched pulse envelope has 111 MHz determined by the cavity length and the mode-locked pulse duration is evaluated to be 257 ps. An average output power of 823.5 mW is achieved at the pump power of 8.96 W, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 9.2%.     

Self-starting simple structured dual-wavelength mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser using a transmission-type semiconductor saturable absorber

A self-starting simple structured dual-wavelength passively mode-locked(ML) erbium-doped fiber(EDF) laser is proposed in this Letter. An all-fiber ring cavity is adopted and a transmission-type semiconductor saturable absorber is used as modelocker. In this laser, there are two gain humps located at the 1530 nm region and the 1550 nm region, respectively. Along with the length of EDF increasing, the intensity of the hump at 1530 nm region is gradually suppressed because of the re-absorption of emission by the ground state. With the proper length of EDF, the gain intensities of two regions are very close. When the pump power is above the ML threshold, the self-starting dual-wavelength ML operation is achieved easily without manual adjustment. The two spectral peaks with close intensities are located at 1532 and 1552 nm, respectively. The effect of intracavity dispersion on the output spectrum is also experimentally demonstrated.     

5.3-W Nd:YVO_4 passively mode-locked laser by a novel semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We report a diode end-pumped continuous wave (CW) passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a homemade semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The maximum average output power is 5.3 W at the incident pump power of 17 W, which corresponds to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 31.2% and slope efficiency of 34.7%. The corresponding optical spectrum has a 0.2-nm full width at half maximum (FWHM). and the pulse repetition rate is 83 MHz.     

5.3-W Nd:YVO4 passively mode-locked laser by a novel semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We report a diode end-pumped continuous wave (CW) passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a homemade semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The maximum average output power is 5.3 W at the incident pump power of 17 W, which corresponds to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 31.2% and slope efficiency of 34.7%. The corresponding optical spectrum has a 0.2-nm full width at half maximum (FWHM), and the pulse repetition rate is 83 MHz.     

Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber (ICSSA). Stable Q-switched and mode-locked pulses with Q-switched envelope pulse duration of 180 ns and pulse repetition rate of 72 KHz have been obtained. The maximum average output power was 1.45 W at 8 W incident pump power. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched envelope was 154 MHz. Experimental results revealed that this ICSSA was suitable for Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state lasers.     

Excitability in a semiconductor laser with saturable absorber

We show that a monolithic and compact vertical cavity laser with intracavity saturable absorber can emit short excitable pulses. These calibrated optical pulses can be excited as a response to an input perturbation whose amplitude is above a certain threshold. Subnanosecond excitable response is promising for applications to novel all-optical devices for information processing or logical gates.     

半导体可饱和吸收镜锁模的钒酸盐混晶Nd:Gd0.1Y0.9VO4激光器

采用Nd∶Gd_0.1Y_0.9VO₄晶体作为增益介质和Z形腔结构,分析比较了腔内加入自行设计的镀和不镀高反膜的半导体可饱和吸收镜（SESAM）对激光锁模的影响.在腔内加入镀膜SESAM后,激光锁模阈值由1.69W下降为1.45W,并且锁模更稳定.在2W抽运功率下,在1064nm中心波长处获得了双端250mW的连续锁模输出,光光转换效率为12.5%,重复频率为142.25MHz. 关键词： 0.1Y_0.9VO₄激光器')" href="#">Nd∶Gd_0.1Y_0.9VO₄激光器 半导体可饱和吸收镜 连续锁模     

Er-doped fibre laser mode-locked by mechanically exfoliated graphene saturable absorber

Erbium-doped fibre laser mode-locked by a graphene saturable absorber is presented. Pulses with 630-fs duration and 41.9-MHz repetition frequency were achieved at the centre wavelength of 1562 nm and 9-nm FWHM bandwidth. Multilayer graphene was obtained by mechanical exfoliation from a pure graphite block by using the scotch-tape method and deposited on a fibre ferrule to form a saturable absorber. The laser operated in a mode-locked regime with 37-mW pumping and 4-mW output power.     

基于石墨烯可饱和吸收体的纳秒锁模掺铥光纤激光器

报道了一种基于石墨烯可饱和吸收体的纳秒锁模掺铥光纤激光器.该激光器采用环形腔结构,利用自制的三层石墨烯薄膜作为可饱和吸收体实现锁模.同时在腔内插入一个窄带光纤光栅,约束腔内起振的纵模数,适当调节抽运功率和偏振控制器的角度,得到了重复频率为3.8 MHz、脉宽在3.8—94.3 ns之间灵活可调的2μm纳秒锁模脉冲输出,整个脉宽调节范围超过90 ns.此外,由于获得的兆赫兹纳秒锁模脉冲时间带宽积在49—1119范围内,即存在强烈的啁啾,因而可作为2μm波段啁啾脉冲放大系统中的种子源使用.     

1.12-W Q-switched Yb:KGW laser based on transmission-type Bi2Se3 saturable absorber

We present a passively Q-switched Yb:KGW laser based on a transmission-type saturable absorber of topological insulator:Bi_2Se_3.The saturable absorber is prepared on a 0.17-mm glass substrate and can translate intra-cavity for best performance nearly without influence on the laser mode.At a maximum pump power of 13.7 W,the central wavelength,pulse duration,repetition rate,and pulse energy of Q-switched pulse are 1043 nm,1.5 μs,175.4 kHz,6.39 μJ,respectively.The maximum output power is 1.12 W.To our knowledge,this is the highest average output power from passively Qswitched lasers with topological insulator saturable absorbers.     

Quantum-dot-based saturable absorber for femtosecond mode-locked operation of a solid-state laser

A quantum-dot-based saturable absorber has been demonstrated to initiate the generation of femtosecond pulses from a passively mode-locked solid-state laser. Control and tuning of the pulse duration from 58 ps to 158 fs was achieved. The 158 fs transform-limited pulses at 1280 nm are the shortest pulses that were produced from the Cr:forsterite laser passively mode locked by an InAs/InGaAs quantum-dot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.