Stable Similariton Generation in an All-Fiber Hybrid Mode-Locked Ring Laser for Frequency Metrology

IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2016 Jul;63(7):1028-33. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2016.2542368. Epub 2016 Mar 15.

Abstract

Ultrashort pulse lasers constitute an important tool in the emerging field of optical frequency metrology and are enabling unprecedented measurement capabilities and new applications in a wide range of fields, including precision spectroscopy, atomic clocks, ultracold gases, and molecular fingerprinting. We demonstrate the generation of stable 127-fs self-similar pulses at a central wavelength of 1560 nm with 7.14-mW average output power. Similariton lasers have a low repetition rate deviation in the averaging time interval [Formula: see text], a low relative intensity noise [Formula: see text] (30 Hz to 10 kHz), a narrow single comb line width of 32 kHz, and high reliability. Thus, such lasers are highly promising for further development of the stabilized combs and open up a robust and substantially simplified route to synthesizing low-noise microwaves.