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

Abstract

A wavelength-tunable passive mode-locked linear-cavity Yb-doped fiber (YDF) laser has been demonstrated. The mode-locked operation was realized by using a semiconductor saturation absorption mirror as a cavity end-reflector. The laser wavelength was tuned by moving the horizontally adjustable platforms to bend a segment of the graded-index multimode fibers (GIMFs) in the cavity. The central wavelength of the output pulse is continuously adjustable in our experiment and the tunable range is from 1031.99 to 1039.32 nm. The output pulses have a 3 dB bandwidth of 1.77 nm and the fundamental repetition rate of 15.33 MHz. The average output power is 15.18 mW, the corresponding pulse energy is 0.99 nJ. The experimental results show that GIMF can be used as an efficient and simple way to tune the wavelength output in the mode-locked linear-cavity YDF laser.

Research Progress in Tunable Fiber Lasers Based on Multimode Interference Filters

“…For SMF-MMF-SMF filters, the commonly used tuning methods are stretching [10,13,14], bending [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], or wrapping into a polarization controller (PC) [23][24][25]. Both mode-locked and continuous wave (CW) fiber lasers have been reported based on MMF filters.…”

“…In addition to the fiber communication band, 1 µm band [22] and 2 µm band [16,17] tunable fiber lasers have also been reported based on these filters. In ref.…”

“…In ref. [22], a wavelength-tunable passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser was demonstrated. The central wavelength could be tuned by moving the horizontally adjustable platforms to bend the SMF-GIMF-SMF filter, and the tuning range was from 1031.99 nm to 1039.32 nm.…”