138-µm mode-locked Raman fiber laser pumped by semiconductor disk laser

Abstract

A mode-locked Raman fiber laser pumped by 1.3 µm semiconductor disk laser is demonstrated. Direct Watt-level core-pumping of the single-mode fiber Raman lasers and amplifiers with low-noise disk lasers is demonstrated to represent a highly practical solution as compared with conventional scheme using pumping by Raman wavelength convertors. Raman laser employing passive mode-locking by nonlinear polarization evolution in normal dispersion regime produces stable pedestal-free 1.97 ps pulses at 1.38 µm. Using semiconductor disk lasers capable of producing high power with diffraction-limited beam allows Raman gain to be obtained at virtually any wavelength of interest owing to spectral versatility of semiconductor gain materials and wafer-fusing technology.

O-band passive mode-locked Raman fiber laser based on Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes as saturable absorbers

“…Exploiting the Raman gain wavelength flexibility, there have been reports of ultrashort pulses generated through many passive mode-locking techniques such as nonlinear polarization [5,6], NALM (Nonlinear Amplifying Loop Mirror) [7], DFWM (Dissipative Four Wave Mixing) [8], and with the implementation of saturable absorbers as SESAM (Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror) [9] and SWCNT [10] inside the Raman laser cavities in different spectrum regions besides the C-band.…”

Ultrafast Raman laser mode-locked by nanotubes

“…The most attractive feature of Raman-based amplification in silica fiber is that gain is available at any wavelength across the transparency window of the medium (300-2300 nm), given a suitable pump source [3]. With advances in high-power fiber laser pump technology and in cascaded Raman fiber lasers, efficient pump systems are now available throughout this entire band.There have been a number of reports utilizing Raman gain in ultrafast sources [4][5][6][7][8]. However, to date, none of these systems has reached a level of performance comparable with state-of-the-art rare-earth-based lasers.…”

“…While this is useful for some applications, the high repetition rate limits the delivered peak power. Nonlinear loop mirrors [5,6] and nonlinear polarization evolution [8] have also been used to provide saturable absorption, but such systems suffer from instabilities due to fluctuations in ambient temperature, and often exhibit poor self-starting performance [5,6,8].Recently, a Raman mode-locked laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) was reported [7]. While the use of a SESAM improves self-starting and robustness against environmental perturbations, there is limited spectral operation from a single device.…”

“…There have been a number of reports utilizing Raman gain in ultrafast sources [4][5][6][7][8]. However, to date, none of these systems has reached a level of performance comparable with state-of-the-art rare-earth-based lasers.…”

“…While this is useful for some applications, the high repetition rate limits the delivered peak power. Nonlinear loop mirrors [5,6] and nonlinear polarization evolution [8] have also been used to provide saturable absorption, but such systems suffer from instabilities due to fluctuations in ambient temperature, and often exhibit poor self-starting performance [5,6,8].…”