Bright/dark switchable mode-locked fiber laser based on alcohol

Abstract

A passively switchable erbium-doped fiber laser based on alcohol as the saturable absorber (SA) has been demonstrated. The SA is prepared by filling the gap between two optical patch cords with alcohol to form a sandwich structure. The modulation depth of the alcohol-SA is measured to be 6.4%. By appropriately adjusting the pump power and the polarization state in the cavity, three kinds of mode-locked pulse patterns can be achieved and switched, including bright pulse, bright/ dark soliton pair, and dark pulse. These different soliton emissions all operate at the fundamental frequency state, with a repetition rate of 20.05 MHz and a central wavelength of ∼1563 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a switchable soliton fiber laser using alcohol as the SA. The experimental results further indicate that organic liquid-like alcohol has great potential for constructing ultrafast lasers.