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.     

碳纳米管锁模双包层光纤激光器的实验研究

本文采用双包层掺镱光纤作为增益介质,用单壁碳纳米管作为饱和吸收体,获得最高输出功率为336 mW的锁模脉冲激光.用飞秒激光诱导水击穿法直接在单模光纤上制备出D形区,通过在D形光纤上滴涂单壁碳纳米管溶液,成功制备出碳纳米管饱和吸收体,并对其饱和吸收特性进行测试,发现其调制深度为27％.利用该饱和吸收体作为锁模器件,制备出具有环形腔结构的锁模光纤激光器.当抽运功率为4W时,获得了脉宽为93.8 fs,中心波长为1083.8 nm,3 dB谱宽为8.6 nm,重复频率为5.59 MHz,平均功率为336 mW的飞秒脉冲激光输出.     

Mode-locked fiber laser with a manganese-doped cadmium selenide saturable absorber

We demonstrate the generation of mode-locked pulses in an erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) by using a new manganese-doped cadmium selenide quantum-dots-based saturable absorber. The laser produces a soliton pulse train operating at 1561.1 nm with a repetition rate of 1 MHz, as the pump power is varied from 113 to 250 m W.At the maximum pump power, we obtain the pulse duration of 459 ns with a signal-to-noise ratio of 50 dB.     

氧化石墨烯被动锁模掺镱光纤激光器多脉冲现象的实验研究

利用氧化石墨烯作为可饱和吸收体,在被动锁模全正常色散掺镱光纤激光器中研究了多脉冲的现象,在同一抽运功率不同偏振态下,实验获得了矩形脉冲谐波锁模、耗散孤子谐波锁模、准谐波锁模,脉冲峰值周期性调制,脉冲簇、脉冲束、混沌多重脉冲的多脉冲现象,插入激光腔内的2nm窄带滤波器具有限制增益带宽、对脉冲塑形、诱导多脉冲产生的作用,调节偏振控制器相当于改变腔内增益,是实现不同类型多脉冲现象的主要原因,本实验研究有利于加深对多脉冲动力学行为在正常色散区域氧化石墨烯锁模掺镱光纤激光器中的理解。     

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.     

An intrinsic fiber ring laser based sensor with saturable absorber

A novel configuration of fiber ring laser acoustic sensor, which adopts single-mode fiber as sensing element, is proposed and demonstrated. Linewidth less than 1 kHz is achieved by introducing a segment of erbium-doped fiber in the reflecting arm as saturable absorber. A polarization independent unbalanced Michelson interrogation interferometer and phase generated carrier demodulation technique are adopted to recover signal. Experiments demonstrate that the phase sensitivity is 0.018 rad/nm in good linearity and equivalent minimum detect able length change reaches 19.1 pm.     

石墨烯可调谐被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器

基于光学沉积方法,制备了石墨烯可饱和吸收体,并利用此可饱和吸收体搭建了环形腔结构的被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器,实现了稳定的调Q激光脉冲输出,其重复频率为5.1~14.2 kHz,最窄激光脉冲宽度为8 s,最大平均功率为162.3 W,且通过调节偏振控制器,中心波长在1556~1558 nm可调。     

氧化石墨烯被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器

报道了基于氧化石墨烯的被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器。激光器采用环形腔结构,调Q器件为自制的氧化石墨烯可饱和吸收镜。泵浦功率在81~505 mW范围内时,得到了重复频率68~124 kHz的稳定的调Q脉冲输出,脉宽为0.47~1.60 s。由于泵浦功率限制,激光器最大输出功率为10 mW, 相应单脉冲能量为80.6 nJ。此种基于氧化石墨烯可饱和吸收体的被动调Q光纤激光器体积小、成本低廉、结构简单、稳定性高、光束质量高,具有广阔的应用前景。     

Modulation of a saturable absorber Q-switched laser by a train of picosecond pulses

In this experiment, the transmission of the saturable absorber of a mode-locked laser is modulated optically by a train of ultra-short pulses emitted by another laser, with some power reflected inside the cavity to initiate the emission. The laser threshold is only attained during the opening time of the modulator, and stimulated emission is prevented at any other time. Once pulses are formed, the photon density is sufficiently high for auto-modulating the dye.Q-switching of the laser is only realised if the difference between the time of a round-trip in the cavity and the period of modulation is less than ±17 psec. The emission is a series of pulses of 5.2 nsec period lasting for 60 nsec. The total energy in all pulses is 60 mJ for a neodymium doped glass rod of 8 mm diameter.We describe a method for measuring the noise of the series of pulses using a saturated photo-cell. We find a ratio of 100 between the energy of one pulse and the energy emitted between two pulses.     

Mode-locked fiber laser in the C-band region for dual-wavelength ultrashort pulses emission using a carbon nanotube saturable absorber

A saturable absorber is commonly employed to generate an ultrashort laser with a mode-locking scheme. In an erbium-doped fiber laser system, the laser regimes of either 1530 or 1550 nm wavelength are procured based on the absorption profile of the erbium-doped fiber. The absorption of the erbium-doped fiber is designed to emit at both wavelengths by controlling the net gain of the laser cavity. Subsequently, simultaneous erbium-doped fiber laser emission is attained at 1533.5 and 1555.1 nm with the pulse duration of 910 and 850 fs, respectively.Therefore, this work maximizes the output portfolios of a mode-locking fiber laser for dual-wavelength ultrashort pulses emission.     

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.     

Stochastic resonance in a laser with saturable absorber

Summary We have investigated, experimentally and theoretically, the occurrence of stochastic resonance (SR) in a laser with saturable absorber: a non-linear optical system presenting optical bistability and self-pulsed regimes for the laser output intensity. In the optical-bistability regime we have obtained an excellent demonstration of SR by studying Fourier spectra and residence time distributions; operating just below the Hopf bifurcation that originates pulsed periodic regime we have obtained experimental evidence of the SR phenomenon. For operation close to the Hopf bifurcation, the theoretical analysis (performed through numerical simulations) has demonstrated that simultaneous presence of noise and periodic forcing generates excursions far from equilibrium; from the locking between these excursions and periodic forcing the SR phenomenon may arise. Paper presented at the International Workshop “Fluctuations in Physics and Biology: Stochastic Resonance, Signal Processing and Related Phenomena”, Elba, 5–10 June 1994.     

Watt-level high-power passively Q-switched laser based on a black phosphorus solution saturable absorber

A novel black phosphorus(BP) solution saturable absorber(SA) is fabricated by the liquid-phase-exfoliated method and successfully used for passively Q-switched(QS) Nd:YVO_4 laser. Compared with a traditional solid SA, a BP solution SA possesses more excellent optical transparency and higher damage resistance. The shortest pulse duration and highest average output power are measured to be 119 ns and 1.23 W, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, both of them are the best results among QS solid-state lasers with BP-based absorbers so far.The repetition rate is in the range of 533.2 to 722 kHz. The results indicate the potential application of the BP solution SA into high-power solid-state pulse lasers.     

Passively Q-switched fiber laser based on graphene saturable absorber

A passively graphene Q-switched Erbium doped fiber laser around 1.5 μm is demonstrated in this paper. The graphene saturable absorber was fabricated by sandwiching a thin graphene film produced via chemical vapor deposition between two FC fiber connectors. Stable pulse trains were obtained with the pulse repetition rate varying between 34.72 and 53.2 kHz and the average output power ranging from 0.504 mW to 0.926 mW. The achieved shortest pulse duration and highest pulse energy were 3.2 μs and 17.41 nJ, respectively.     

Passively Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

A passively Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) is demonstrated. Q-switching is observed with the output power produced at a slope efficiency of 29.4% with respect to the absorbed pump power. The maximum average output power of 8.37 mW is achieved. The pulse repetition frequency obtained can be turned from 1.72 to 7.95 kHz. The pulse energy of 17.2 nJ has been obtained at the pump power of 46.75 mW, and the pulse width is 30 μs.     

Mode locked Er-doped fiber laser with single-wall carbon nanotube saturable absorber

A mode locked Er-doped fiber laser based on a single-wall carbon nanotube saturable absorber is demonstrated. A high quality single-wall carbon nanotubes （SWCNTs） absorber film is fabricated by a polymer composite. The pulse duration is 488 fs with 9.6-nm spectral width at the center of 1564 nm. The repetition rate is 30.4 MHz. The maximum output power is 3 mW. And the single pulse energy is 0.1 nJ.     

Q-switched fiber laser using carbon platinum saturable absorber on side-polished fiber

A 1550 nm Q-switched fiber laser using a carbon platinum saturable absorber deposited on side-polished fiber(SPF) is proposed and demonstrated. The SPF is approximately 2 mm with a polarization-dependent loss(PDL)of 0.4 dB and an insertion loss of 2.5 dB. A stable Q-switched output spectrum is obtained at 1559.34 nm with a peak power of ~6 mW, a pulse width of 1.02 μs, pulse energy of 5.8 nJ, average output power of 0.76 mW, and a repetition rate of 131.6 kHz taken at a pump power of 230.0 mW. A signal-to-noise ratio of 49.62 d B indicates that the Q-switched pulse is highly stable.     

Dynamics of high-power ultrashort laser pulses in resonant media

Work supported by Russian Fund for Basic Research, Project 93-02-14271.