Generation of long broadband pulses with a figure-eight fiber laser¹

In this paper we performed the experimental and numerical study of a passively mode-locked fiber laser that generates packets of sub-picosecond pulses instead of individual pulses. The proposed configuration is a figure-eight fiber laser scheme, which includes a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror with po...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Baldemar Ibarra Escamilla, EVGENY KUZIN
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:México
Institución:Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional del INAOE
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx:1009/1636
Acceso en línea:http://inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1009/1636
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Fiber laser
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Polarization asymmetry
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/1
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/22
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/2209
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper we performed the experimental and numerical study of a passively mode-locked fiber laser that generates packets of sub-picosecond pulses instead of individual pulses. The proposed configuration is a figure-eight fiber laser scheme, which includes a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror with polarization asymmetry inserted into a ring cavity. No experimental evidence of self-starting mode locking operation of the laser was observed; however, for proper adjustments of the wave retarders included in the setup, a mechanical stimulation triggers the onset of mode locking. The autocorrelation of the generated pulses shows a narrow sub-picosecond peak riding a large sub-nanosecond pedestal whose intensity is half that of the peak, and the optical spectrum is smooth and wide. We show that contrary to conventional ultrashort pulses, these pulses do not vanish rapidly after propagation through a long dispersive fiber, which makes then attractive for super-continuum generation as well as for applications in metrology. Finally, we study the pulse formation in the laser and present arguments based on experimental data and numerical simulations that the observed pulses are actually sets of a large number of solitons.