Stable 5-GHz fundamental repetition rate passively SESAM mode-locked Er-doped silica fiber lasers

Abstract

A stable passively mode-locked Er-doped silica fiber laser with a fundamental repetition rate of up to 5 GHz is demonstrated, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest repetition rate for 1.5 μm semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) mode-locked Er-doped silica fiber (EDF) lasers. A segment of commercially available EDF with a net gain coefficient of 1 dB/cm is employed as gain medium. The compact Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity features a fiber mirror, namely multiple-layer dielectric films (DFs) directly coated on end facet of a passive fiber ferrule, enabling a short cavity length of 2 cm configured. The mode-locked oscillator operates at 1561.0 nm with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 62.1 dB, whose average power is boosted to 27 mW by a single-mode Er-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and spectral bandwidth is broadened form 0.69 nm to 1.16 nm with a pulse width of 3.86 ps. The fiber laser shows excellent spectral stability without conspicuous wavelength drifting for 3 hours. Moreover, the basic guidelines of selecting SESAM for high repetition rate passively mode-locked fiber lasers is given.

Self-induced Q-switched fiber laser using tantalum aluminum carbide as a passive modulator

“…The initial category is dependent on non-linear and/or birefringent phenomena, such as the Kerr lens, nonlinear polarization rotation [2], and nonlinear optical loop mirror [3]. The subsequent classification entails engineered components like semiconductor SA mirrors [4] or substances characterized by outstanding optical and electrical attributes.…”

Numerical investigation of nonlinear broadened OFC based on the CS-DSB modulation frequency shift recirculation loop

“…To date, the common methods for OFC generation are mode locking fiber lasers, micro-resonators and electro-optical (EO) modulation 6 . However, passively mode locking fiber lasers are usually limited by the high repetition rate (>20 GHz), due to the attainable physical length of oscillator 7,8 . For Kerr OFC generated from micro-resonators, low optical power, resonance frequency drift and frequency detuning are possible problems in its practical use 9,10 .…”

Wavelength-tunable mode-locked linear-cavity Yb-doped fiber laser based on GIMF

“…For the fiber laser, mode-locking can be achieved with a variety of saturable absorption materials, such as semiconductor saturation absorption mirror (SESAM) [9], two-dimensional nanomaterials [10], etc. Two-dimensional * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”