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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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Baldemar Ibarra Escamilla, EVGENY KUZIN
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2011
Country:México
Institution:Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica
Repository:Repositorio Institucional del INAOE
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx:1009/1636
Online Access:http://inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1009/1636
Access Level:Open access
Keyword: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
Description
Summary: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.