Generation of stretched pulses from an all-polarization-maintaining Er-doped mode-locked fiber laser using nonlinear polarization evolution

Abstract

We demonstrate the generation of stretched pulses from an all-polarization-maintaining (all-PM) Er-doped fiber laser by means of a nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) method. A theoretical model is built to analyze the relationship between the nonlinear transmissivity and the angles of the fiber segments. By managing the dispersion of the oscillator to support stretched-pulse formation and exploiting an NPE section based on three PM fiber segments, a self-starting laser with a 90.5-MHz repetition rate and 90-fs pulse duration is achieved. Numerous laser systems can benefit from this approach, including frequency combs, outdoor ranging and mid-IR systems.

Flexible all-PM NALM Yb:fiber laser design for frequency comb applications: operation regimes and their noise properties

“…The use of polarization-maintaining (PM) fibers significantly increase the robustness against environmental effects. In order to achieve mode-locking based on NPE with PM fibers, techniques such as cross-splicing have been successfully demonstrated [6][7][8][9][10]. Real saturable absorbers can also be used to mode-lock lasers based on PM fibers: examples include semiconductor absorber mirrors (SESAMs) [11,12], graphene [13,14], carbon nanotubes (CNT) [15][16][17], or topological insulators [18,19].…”

Pulse generation in Yb-doped polarization-maintaining fiber laser by nonlinear polarization evolution*

“…[14] Zhou et al inserted an NPE section based on three PM fiber segments into the laser to compensate for GVM and obtained pulses with a repetition frequency of 90.5 MHz, pulse width of 90 ps and pulse energy of 77 pJ, respectively. [15] However, the length of the PM fiber should be carefully controlled below one-eighth of the beat length of the PM fiber, which is difficult to realize. [16] The second method is to use Faraday rotator and Faraday mirror to automatically compensate for the GVM of the PM fibers.…”

A high sensitivity magnetometer via the combination of ultrahigh-Q fiber cavity and frequency-locking technology

“…With the development of the small mode volume and the high quality factor (Q) value optical microcavity, Whisperinggallery-mode (WGM) as the core micro-cavity lasers, 10) nonlinear optics, 11,12) optical frequency combs 13) and ultra-sensitive optical sensors 9,[14][15][16][17] have become the academic frontier of optical cavity. Due to a series of outstanding advantages such as small model volume, ultra-high precision measurement and narrow linewidth, WGM cavity have been recently used for magnetometry 14,15,18,19) by depositing Terfenol-D (Tb 0.3 Dy 0.7 Fe 1.92 ) onto a microcavity and magneto-fluid tuning, etc.…”