Stabilization of actively mode-locked Er-doped fiber lasers in the rational-harmonic frequency-doubling mode-locking regime

Stabilization of an actively mode-locked fiber laser in the frequency-doubling rational-harmonic mode-locking regime is demonstrated experimentally for the first time to the authors' knowledge. The stabilization is achieved by a method based on minimization of the average optical power at the second output of a dual-output Mach-Zehnder modulator used as a mode locker. This method produces long-term stable operation of the laser with ~35-dB suppression of the pulse-to-pulse amplitude fluctuation caused by rational-harmonic frequency doubling.