Tunable and switchable dual-wavelength Tm-doped mode-locked fiber laser by nonlinear polarization evolution

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a tunable and switchable dual-wavelength ultra-fast Tm-doped fiber laser. The tunability is based on nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) technique in a passively mode-locked laser cavity. The NPE effect induces wavelength-dependent loss in the cavity to effectively alleviate mode competition and enables the multiwavelength mode locking. The laser exhibits tunable dual-wavelength mode locking over a wide range from 1852 to 1886 nm. The system has compact structure and both the wavelength tuning and switching capabilities can be realized by controlling the polarization in the fiber ring cavity.

Double-Wall Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Mode-Locker in Tm-doped Fibre Laser: A Novel Mechanism for Robust Bound-State Solitons Generation

“…Recently, Z. Yan et al . have presented a switchable and tuneable single-longitudinal-mode multi-wavelength Tm-doped fibre laser, based on NPE2223, resulting in limited progress in the field.…”

Wavelength and bandwidth tunable passively mode-locked fiber laser based on semiconductor saturable absorber mirror and liquid crystal on silicon device

“…Compared to conventional mode-locked lasers, a tunable-mode-locked laser with flexibly adjustable mode-locked laser parameters, such as output wavelength, pulse repetition frequency, and pulse width, obviously has a wider application potential [4][5][6][7][8]. Graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) noncarbon materials, including topological insulators (TIs), transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), phosphorene, bismuthene, and antimonene, have witnessed a very fast development of both fundamental and practical aspects in mode-locked fiber lasers [9].Several approaches have been proposed to achieve tunable wavelength mode-locked operation, based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) [10] or on polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) [11]. However, these techniques require a few kilometers of fiber to achieve the desired non-linear effect, which increase the length of the fiber required for the constitution of the laser, resulting in a significant reduction in the stability of the laser output.…”

Switchable Dual-Wavelength Mode-Locking of Thulium-Doped Fiber Laser Based on SWNTs

“…Different from active mode-locking techniques, passive mode-locking is simple, compact and low-cost without using active modulator in the laser cavity. Generally, passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber lasers (TDFLs) can be implemented by nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) [3], nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) [4], nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) [5], semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) [6], graphene [7], topological insulator [8], and the combination of saturable absorber (SA) with nonlinear switching based techniques [9]. As carbon allotropes draw much attention recently, single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) has been demonstrated to possess ultrafast nonlinear optical responses [10].…”

“…However, such additional optical filter extends the cavity length and increases the implementation cost. NALM and NPR techniques, on the other hand, are good alternatives to obtain both mode-locking and filtering effect within the laser cavity to realize multi-wavelength mode-locking [3], [16]. Nevertheless, NALM-based and NPR-based mode-locking generally need high pump power and careful adjustment, in order to realize stable mode-locking operation.…”