呼吸脉冲锁模的光子晶体光纤飞秒激光器

报道了一种掺Yb偏振型大模场面积光子晶体光纤(LMA-PCF)飞秒激光器。作为增益介质的光子晶体光纤的单模场面积比传统光纤高一个数量级,有效地降低了非线性系数,使激光器获得高能量输出。激光器基于线形腔结构,利用半导体可饱和吸收镜实现自启动锁模。光纤激光器利用光栅对进行腔内色散补偿,使其运转在呼吸脉冲锁模状态,即在谐振腔的零色散点附近实现锁模。当腔内净色散呈反常色散时,激光器获得了平均功率为400mW,重复频率为47MHz(对应于8.5nJ的单脉冲能量),脉冲宽度为500fs的稳定的锁模脉冲输出,经腔外色散补偿,脉冲压缩至98fs。当腔内净色散呈正常色散时,激光器输出的单脉冲能量为10.6nJ,脉冲宽度为1.76ps,经腔外色散补偿,脉冲压缩至160fs。     

Tunable picosecond frequency-shifted feedback fiber laser at 1550 nm

A novel frequency-shifted feedback (FSF) fiber laser cavity is proposed and experimentally verified. The laser generates stable mode-locked pulses of <2 ps, mainly limited due to chirp induced by the frequency-shifting element (i.e., the acoustooptic modulator) on the pulses. Fourier transform-limited subpicosecond pulses were obtained by compensating this excess chirp using a piece of single-mode fiber SMF-28 outside the laser cavity. The unique cavity design also allow us to tune the pulse wavelength throughout the Er-gain band and the ability of the laser to self-start gives us the opportunity to characterize transient behavior of mode-locked pulses in an FSF fiber laser cavity.     

调Q及连续掺Yb光纤激光器中的自锁模研究

在用半导体激光器抽运的单包层掺Yb调Q光纤激光器中观察到了清晰稳定的自锁模脉冲序列。脉冲包络形状为调Q脉冲。每个锁模脉冲的幅值由其在调Q脉冲中的相应位置决定。经过分析，认为自相位调制是调Q光纤激光器中产生锁模的主要原因。自相位调制的存在使得光脉冲的频谱被展宽，当这种展宽和腔的模式间隔相差不多时，腔内的模式便能相互作用，直到它们之间产生一个固定的相位关系。也即形成锁模。在此基础上。去掉声光晶体，并用两个光栅作为腔镜，实现了全光纤法布里-珀罗(F-P)腔锁模光纤激光器。改变腔结构，分别采用光栅和光纤反射圈作为前后腔镜，同样观察到了锁模脉冲。经过观察发现，锁模脉冲的产生和掺Yb光纤的浓度、长度、抽运功率的大小有着密切的关系。这为锁模脉冲的产生提供了一种新的方法。     

调Q锁模类噪声方波脉冲掺铒光纤激光器

对基于非线性偏振旋转技术的L波段掺铒被动锁模光纤激光器中产生调Q锁模类噪声方波脉冲进行了实验研究。该类型脉冲中调Q包络内部包含的脉冲是基频方波,通过自相关迹证实该方波为类噪声脉冲。为了容易实现类噪声方波脉冲输出,将一段250 m普通单模光纤引进激光腔内。适当调节腔内的偏振控制器和泵浦功率,获得了基频为778.21 kHz的连续波锁模类噪声方波脉冲和由3.81 kHz可调谐到9.01 kHz的重复频率,单个调Q包络最高能量为1.06 J的调Q锁模类噪声方波脉冲。研究结果有利于进一步理解被动锁模光纤激光器中类噪声脉冲和调Q锁模的机理和特性。     

Mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser using intracavity polarization-maintaining loop mirror

Erbium-doped fiber lasers at repetition rate of 40 and 80 GHz are demonstrated in an injection-locked and rational harmonic mode-locked ring cavity. The cavity has a polarization-maintaining loop mirror. The injection-locking pulse is generated at repetition rates of 20 and 40 GHz from another rational harmonic mode-locked fiber laser. When these pulses are injected into the second fiber laser, pulses at twice the repetition rates viz. 40 and 80 GHz are produced.     

D形内包层掺Yb3+光纤激光器动态特性的研究

对LD抽运的D形内包层掺Yb3 + 光纤激光器的动态特性进行了实验研究。在单镜和双镜两种腔结构中 ,研究了激光器的动态特性。在单镜腔结构中 ,激光器表现出很强的自脉动行为 ,脉冲宽度为微秒量级。随着抽运功率的增强 ,开始出现更精细的结构 ,周期不规则 ,脉宽几十纳秒 ;在双镜腔结构中 ,自脉冲被有效地抑制 ,在抽运功率较大时 ,在直流强度上叠加了周期为 2 0 0ns ,脉宽约 10ns稳定的脉冲序列。双镜腔的激光稳定性较单镜腔有所改善 ,激光阈值功率明显下降。     

Mode-locked, long-cavity, erbium fiber lasers with subsequentsoliton-like compression

Erbium fiber lasers are described that have cavity lengths of 20-5000 m and are mode-locked at the fundamental cavity frequency using an integrated-optic intensity modulator driven by a novel pulse generator. Resulting optical pulses at 1536 nm were recorded with a synchroscan streak camera and show durations of 10-80 ps with peak powers over 6 W. The shorter cavities yield nearly transform-limited pulses, which are narrowed by solitonlike compression to approximately 5 ps after propagation through an external 14 km fiber     

Design guidelines of actively mode-locked fiber ring lasers

This letter presents guidelines of how to design actively mode-locked fiber ring lasers to generate nearly transform-limited soliton pulses. The minimum fiber cavity length and/or dispersion, with which nearly transform-limited soliton pulses can be generated, need to satisfy an additional condition besides two previously known conditions of stability     

一种窄线宽的高重复频率窄脉宽主动调Q光纤激光器

提出并演示了一种基于声光调制器(AOM)主动调Q的环形腔双包层光纤激光器获得窄线宽、窄脉宽和高重复频率激光脉冲的方法。通过在腔内采用以双包层增益光纤作为输入尾纤的泵浦剥离器来缩短腔长,可以降低增益光纤正向放大自发辐射(ASE)的反射,抑制其ASE的增益自饱和效应,使腔内有效增益增大,窄线宽调Q脉冲可在环形腔中快速建立,从而不仅可使调Q脉冲脉宽变窄,还允许其重复频率大幅提升。在7 W泵浦功率下,所提出的调Q光纤激光器获得了线宽和脉宽分别窄至0.16 nm和10.4 ns、重复频率高达150 kHz的调Q激光脉冲。     

Simultaneous Switching of the Q -Value and Operation Wavelength in an Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser

We report a pulsed erbium-doped fiber laser with simultaneous switching of the laser cavity Q-value and generation wavelength. The laser generates a train of short pulses with adjacent pulses alternately being on one of two fixed wavelengths. This regime is realized at periodical modulation of physical length of overwritten fiber Bragg gratings composing the laser cavity     

Heterodyne autocorrelation method for characterizing 1.55 μmoptical pulse train and for measuring dispersion and nonlinearity inoptical fibers

Heterodyne autocorrelation measurement of 1.55 μm optical pulses from an actively mode-locked external cavity diode laser is performed before and after transmission through an optical fiber. In heterodyne autocorrelation, optical spectrum is resolved electronically. This method is suitable for measurement of optical pulses with a spectral width of less than 100 GHz, and it gives not only the pulse width and chirp of the pulses, but also it is useful for determining the dispersion and optical Kerr constant of an optical fiber. Analytical formalism for deducing these quantities is given for Gaussian pulses. Principal measurement is performed using a mode-locked diode laser. Dispersion is measured for a conventional-dispersion fiber of 35 km. Also, self-phase modulation (SPM) is measured for a dispersion-shifted fiber of 15.83 km     

High-power side-pumped passively mode-locked Er-Yb fiber laser

A side-pumped double-clad Er-Yb fiber laser passively mode-locked with a saturable absorber is demonstrated for the first time. Pumped with a power of 1 W from a broad-stripe diode laser, an environmentally stable cavity design produces positively chirped 3-ps pulses at a repetition rate of 30 MHz with an average output power of 50 mW. The pulses can be linearly compressed to 330 fs in a length of negative dispersion fiber, whereas nonlinear compression in standard telecom fibers yields 130-fs pulses with pulse energies of 1.2 nJ     

Generation of bound states of three ultrashort pulses with a passively mode-locked high-power Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

We report the generation of high-power ultrashort bound states of three pulses in an ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser. The laser is mode-locked through nonlinear polarization rotation technique in a unidirectional cavity configuration. A pair of diffraction grating is incorporated in the cavity to compensate for the normal dispersion of the fiber. The laser generates chirped bound states of three pulses with either equal or different time separations, with more than 500-pJ energy per pulse. These pulses are subsequently compressed to 100 fs with a compression factor of more than 40.     

Mode-locked Pr3+-doped silica fiber laser with anexternal cavity

We present a Pr³⁺-doped silica-based fiber laser mode-locked by using a linear external cavity with a vibrating mirror. Stable laser pulses with a FWHM of less than 44 ps, peak power greater than 9 W, and repetition rate up to 100 MHz are obtained. The pulse width versus cavity mismatch ΔL and pump power have been investigated. With a short piece of nonlinear fiber included in the external cavity, laser pulses of 45 ps have been measured     

Tunable dual-wavelength actively mode-locked fiber laser with anF-P semiconductor modulator

A novel actively mode-locked fiber laser for generating dual-wavelength picosecond pulses is proposed by using a Fabry-Perot laser diode as the modulator in the ring cavity. A linear chirped fiber grating was used as a wavelength selector and produces temporal-spectral multiplexing of the pulses in the gain medium to reduce gain cross-saturation effects. About 2-GHz stable dual-wavelength pulses with a wavelength spacing of 0.92 nm at room temperature were experimentally demonstrated and the wavelengths could be tuned in a range of about 3 nm     

Self-starting, passively mode-locked Fabry-Perot fiber solitonlaser using nonlinear polarization evolution

The authors demonstrate pure self-starting mode-locked operation in a fiber Fabry-Perot cavity. The laser produces 1.6 ps transform-limited soliton pulses by means of nonlinear polarization evolution in conjunction with an intracavity fiber polarizer. This laser system can be used for the generation and study of soliton pulses in the picosecond regime. With a careful choice of the fiber dispersion and fiber length, the system should also be able to operate in the femtosecond regime. The advantage of the system over existing self-starting fiber soliton lasers is that an optical isolator (an expensive component) is not required. The replacement of the two mirrors with fiber reflection gratings would make this configuration a truly all-fiber device     

Characterization of ultrashort pulse formation in passivelymode-locked fiber lasers

Pulse formation in an all-solid-state passively mode-locked neodymium glass fiber laser is investigated by employing characterization techniques in the time, optical, and radio-frequency domains. The pulses are generated by a combination of passive amplitude modulation arising from nonlinear polarization evolution and passive frequency modulation due to quasi-soliton-like pulse shaping. Several distinct operation modes for ultrashort pulse generation are described and pulses as short as 38 fs are directly generated in the cavity     

Stability and compression of pulses in the soliton laser

We present a theory of the soliton laser which examines how an external optical fiber enables a laser to produce shorter pulses than it could produce alone. We begin by discussing a phenomenological laser model which shows how the lower limit to the mode-locked pulse width can arise. This model is coupled to an external optical fiber cavity, into which a part of the output beam is launched. The returning pulse from the fiber cavity is then mixed with a circulating pulse in the laser at the output mirror. We have found stable solutions which are nearly periodic in the external cavity. We also find more than one solution for a given set of model parameters, depending on the initial conditions. The radiation (non-soliton) part of the propagation in the optical fiber cannot be ignored. It acts as a buffer between the tendency of the fiber to produce solitons, and the fact that a pure soliton is not an exact fixed point of the laser model.     

High-Repetition-Rate MHz Acoustooptic $Q$-Switched Fiber Laser

A simple actively Q-switched double-clad fiber laser combining an amplifying cavity is reported by using a dynamic acoustooptic Q-switching as a beam splitter. Sub-100-ns pulses independence of the repetition rate of acoustooptic modulator are almost changeless with repetition rate varied from 50 kHz to 1.5 MHz. With 4.5-W absorbed power, 9.4-W peak-power pulses at 1.5-MHz repetition rate with 75-ns pulse duration are generated.     

Gain Dependent Optimum Pulse Generation Rates of a Hybrid-Type Actively and Passively Mode-Locked Fiber Laser

We have experimentally observed and theoretically analyzed the gain dependent optimum repetition rates of a hybrid-type active and passive mode locked laser pulses in an erbium-doped fiber laser of the figure-of-eight geometry by utilizing a nonlinear amplifier loop mirror (NALM) as a saturable absorber and a directional-coupler type electro-optic modulator as an active mode locker. Transform-limited mode-locked pulses of about 10 ps width were obtained at repetition rates which correspond to harmonics of the cavity fundamental frequency and depend on the optical amplifier gain in the NALM.