All-fiber passively mode-locked Tm-doped NOLM-based oscillator operating at 2-μm in both soliton and noisy-pulse regimes

Opt Express. 2014 Apr 7;22(7):7875-82. doi: 10.1364/OE.22.007875.

Abstract

A self-starting all-fiber passively mode-locked Tm(3+)-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear loop mirror (NOLM) is demonstrated. Stable soliton pulses centered at 2017.33 nm with 1.56 nm FWHM were produced at a repetition rate of 1.514 MHz with pulse duration of 2.8 ps and pulse energy of 83.8 pJ. As increased pump power, the oscillator can also operate at noise-like (NL) regime. Stable NL pulses with coherence spike width of 341 fs and pulse energy of up to 249.32 nJ was achieved at a center wavelength of 2017.24 nm with 21.33 nm FWHM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first 2 µm region NOLM-based mode-locked fiber laser operating at two regimes with the highest single pulse energy for NL pulses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't