Control of the state of a mode-locked fiber laser using an intracavity Martinez compressor

Abstract

An intracavity Martinez compressor is incorporated into a fiber laser as a dispersion compensator and spectral filter. The Martinez compressor provides tunable dispersion from normal to anomalous. Inserting a mechanically adjustable slit into the compressor enables tunable spectral filtering independent of dispersion compensation. Mode-locking is achieved with laser bandwidths from 1.8 to 49.0 nm and compressor dispersions from +0.008 to -0.072 ps². The laser generates stable pulses with 0.9 nJ pulse energy, a fundamental repetition rate of 77.5 MHz, and dechirped FWHM pulse widths as short as 82 fs.