All-fiber fundamentally mode-locked 12  GHz laser oscillator based on an Er/Yb-doped phosphate glass fiber

Abstract

We have developed a compact and stable all-fiber fundamentally mode-locked 12 GHz laser system. The passively mode-locked laser centered at 1535 nm has temporal pulse width of ∼2 ps and average power of 5 mW. The timing jitter, which is cumulative from pulse-to-pulse, has been measured using an optical cross-correlation method and found to be 44 fs/pulse. The self-starting, mode-locked laser consists of a semiconductor-based saturable absorber with high modulation depth and a high gain per unit length, polarization-maintaining 0.8 cm long Er/Yb phosphate fiber as a gain medium.

Highly Doped Phosphate Glass Fibers for Compact Lasers and Amplifiers: A Review

“…In 2014 [85] a repetition rate of 12 GHz was demonstrated from a compact and stable all-fiber fundamentally mode-locked fiber laser based on an Yb/Er co-doped phosphate fiber and a semiconductor saturable absorbing mirror (SESAM). A short length of 0.8 cm of high gain (6 dB/cm at 1535 nm) PM fiber was used to form the laser cavity.…”

Numerical investigation of GHz repetition rate fundamentally mode-locked all-fiber lasers

“…However, their pulse qualities are generally poor due to the additional satellite pulses, timing jitters, and chirped phases [23,24]. Fiber lasers having the advantages of low manufacturing and maintaining cost, excellent beam quality, and outstanding heat dissipation capability, have become excellent laser platforms for GHz repetition rate mode-locked laser sources with high reliability and good pulse quality [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

“…Compared to actively mode-locked fiber lasers, passively mode-locked fiber lasers can generate much shorter pulses with high mutual phase coherence and even GHz repetition rate fundamentally mode-locked pulses can be obtained with very simple and compact setups. A numbers of GHz repetition rate fundamentally mode-locked fiber lasers have been achieved with centimeter or even sub-cm long gain fibers [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. However, some of these lasers were developed with free-space cavities, which have not taken advantages of compactness and robustness of fiber lasers [23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

“…However, some of these lasers were developed with free-space cavities, which have not taken advantages of compactness and robustness of fiber lasers [23][24][25][26][27][28]. The mode-locked lasers developed in all-fiber configurations have shown outstanding stability and reliability [29][30][31][32][33][34]. A 12 GHz repetition rate fundamentally mode-locked all-fiber laser (FML-AFL) was demonstrated with an 8-mm long highly Er 3+ /Yb 3+ co-doped phosphate fiber [34].…”

“…The mode-locked lasers developed in all-fiber configurations have shown outstanding stability and reliability [29][30][31][32][33][34]. A 12 GHz repetition rate fundamentally mode-locked all-fiber laser (FML-AFL) was demonstrated with an 8-mm long highly Er 3+ /Yb 3+ co-doped phosphate fiber [34]. Using a 4.75 mm highly Er 3+ /Yb 3+ codoped phosphosilicate fiber, Martinez and Yamashita demonstrated an FML-AFL operating with a fundamental repetition rate as high as 19.45 GHz [32].…”