Mechanism of multisoliton formation and soliton energy quantization in passively mode-locked fiber lasers

Tang, Dingyuan; Zhao, Luming; Zhao, Baozhen; Liu, A. Q.

doi:10.1103/physreva.72.043816

Cited by 650 publications

(379 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…To assure large net positive cavity dispersion we also added a long piece of DCF to the cavity. In addition, we deliberately introduced large cavity birefringence in the laser, which strengthens the effect of the artificial birefringence filter formed in the cavity 17,18 .…”

Section: Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene mode locked, wavelength-tunable, dissipative soliton fiber laser

Zhang

Tang

Knize

et al. 2010

Applied Physics Letters

488

233

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Atomic layer graphene possesses wavelength-insensitive ultrafast saturable absorption, which can be exploited as a “full-band” mode locker. Taking advantage of the wide band saturable absorption of the graphene, we demonstrate experimentally that wide range (1570–1600 nm) continuous wavelength tunable dissipative solitons could be formed in an erbium doped fiber laser mode locked with few layer graphene.

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Section: Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene mode locked, wavelength-tunable, dissipative soliton fiber laser

Zhang

Tang

Knize

et al. 2010

Applied Physics Letters

488

233

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“…Therefore increasing the gain of the laser cannot change the soliton parameters but increases the gain for the dispersive waves. When the dispersive waves become strong, they are shaped into a new soliton [5]. In fact, independent of the sign of the cavity GVD, in the lasers that are mode locked with the nonlinear polarization rotation technique the cavity pulse peak clamp effect always exists.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanism of multiple soliton formation in these lasers is due to the cavity pulse peak clamping effect [5]. A soliton formed in the laser has fixed energy.…”

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confidence: 99%

Generation of multiple gain-guided solitons in a fiber laser

et al. 2007

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We report the experimental observation of multiple gain-guided solitons in an erbium-doped fiber laser made of all normal-dispersion fibers. Numerical simulations show that, in the case of a narrow gain bandwidth, under the action of the cavity pulse peak clamping effect multiple gain-guided solitons can indeed be formed in a laser. © 2007 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.4370, 060.5530, 140.3510. Recently we experimentally demonstrated gainguided soliton (GGS) operation in a passively modelocked fiber laser made of all normal-dispersion fibers [1]. Unlike the conventional solitons observed in fiber lasers made of all negative-dispersion fibers or dispersion-managed fiber lasers with net negative cavity dispersion, where the soliton formation is a result of the balanced interaction between the cavity dispersion and the fiber nonlinear optical Kerr effect, the GGS formation in the laser of Ref.[1] is due mainly to the laser gain effect. It is the nonlinear mutual interaction among the fiber nonlinearity, cavity dispersion, laser gain saturation, and dispersion that leads to the formation of the stable nonlinear pulse in the laser. Apart from the GGS, a stable noiselike-pulse emission state was also observed, whose formation can be traced back to the cavity pulse peak clamping effect and the interference between the linear and nonlinear waves in the cavity [2]. Under all experimentally accessible laser operation conditions, no multiple GGSs were observed. The stable laser operation of the laser is either the single-pulse GGS state or the noiselike-pulse emission state. By inserting a spectral filter into the cavity, Chong et al.[3] also achieved mode locking in an ytterbium-fiber laser without any dispersion compensation element in the cavity. In their laser, again, only a single chirped picosecond pulse could be generated, and no multiple pulses were observed.It is well known that the soliton operation of fiber lasers with net negative cavity group-velocity dispersion (GVD) is prone to multisoliton formation [4]. The mechanism of multiple soliton formation in these lasers is due to the cavity pulse peak clamping effect [5]. A soliton formed in the laser has fixed energy. Once its peak is clamped, its pulse width is also fixed. Therefore increasing the gain of the laser cannot change the soliton parameters but increases the gain for the dispersive waves. When the dispersive waves become strong, they are shaped into a new soliton [5]. In fact, independent of the sign of the cavity GVD, in the lasers that are mode locked with the nonlinear polarization rotation technique the cavity pulse peak clamp effect always exists. It is unexpected that multiple GGSs were not observed in the lasers. Recently, Ortaç et al. [6] reported the experimental observation of bound states of parabolic pulses in an ytterbiumfiber laser operating in the normal-dispersion region. Although their fiber laser has a dispersion-managed cavity, their results suggest that under appropriate conditions multiple GGS formation should sti...

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“…Passively mode-locked fiber lasers operating in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD) regime have been intensively investigated. [1][2][3][4] It was shown that, because of the natural balance between the cavity GVD and the fiber nonlinear optical Kerr effect, optical solitons are routinely produced in the lasers. Soliton operation of a laser could not only significantly narrow the mode-locking pulse width but also enhance the stability of the mode-locked pulses.…”

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confidence: 99%

Gain-guided solitons in dispersion-managed fiber lasers with large net cavity dispersion

et al. 2006

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Gain-guided solitons are experimentally observed in dispersion-managed fiber lasers with large net positive group-velocity dispersion. It is shown that formation of the soliton is a robust feature of the lasers. Numerical simulations also confirmed the experimental results. © 2006 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.4370, 060.5530, 190.5530. Passively mode-locked fiber lasers operating in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD) regime have been intensively investigated. [1][2][3][4] It was shown that, because of the natural balance between the cavity GVD and the fiber nonlinear optical Kerr effect, optical solitons are routinely produced in the lasers. Soliton operation of a laser could not only significantly narrow the mode-locking pulse width but also enhance the stability of the mode-locked pulses. Soliton fiber lasers with quantum-noise-limited pulse jitter have been demonstrated. 5 Unlike optical pulse propagation in lossless fibers, a laser is a dissipative system, where gain and losses coexist and play an important role in laser operation. It was predicted that in such a system a soliton can even be formed in the normal GVD regime. 6 As soliton formation is induced purely by the existence of gain and gain dispersion, the soliton is known as a gain-guided soliton. In a very recent experiment we have demonstrated the gain-guided soliton operation of a mode-locked fiber laser.7 Compared with the solitons obtained in lasers of negative cavity GVD, gain-guided solitons have a large frequency chirp and a laser gain-bandwidth limited spectrum with steep spectral edges.Solitary waves in essence are a kind of localized nonlinear wave. Soliton formation is robust in nonlinear systems. Smith et al. 8 have shown that, even in a fiber system with periodically varying positive and negative GVD, optical solitons can still be formed. Although the pulse width of a soliton formed in the system is periodically stretched and compressed, on average it follows the soliton theory well. Such a soliton was named a dispersion-managed soliton. It was also found that dispersion management could suppress dispersive wave emission and enhance soliton stability. Dispersion-managed soliton fiber lasers were also extensively investigated for achieving solitons with large pulse energies. 2,[9][10][11] However, all the previous research on dispersionmanaged fiber lasers is limited to the regime in which the net cavity dispersion is close to zero or has small positive dispersion. For example, the maximum net cavity dispersion is +0.016 ps 2 in Ref. 10 and +0.032 ps 2 in Ref. 11. Is mode locking still possible with larger net cavity dispersion? What is the nature of the mode-locked pulse? In this Letter we report the gain-guided soliton operation of a dispersionmanaged fiber laser. We show that, like the conventional soliton, the gain-guided soliton can also exist in dispersion-managed systems with relatively large positive net cavity dispersion.The fiber laser used has a cavity configuration similar to that reported in Ref. ...

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Mechanism of multisoliton formation and soliton energy quantization in passively mode-locked fiber lasers

Cited by 650 publications

References 41 publications

Graphene mode locked, wavelength-tunable, dissipative soliton fiber laser

Graphene mode locked, wavelength-tunable, dissipative soliton fiber laser

Generation of multiple gain-guided solitons in a fiber laser

Gain-guided solitons in dispersion-managed fiber lasers with large net cavity dispersion

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