The bound state soliton pulse, a novel mode-locked output state of fiber lasers, has been studied extensively to gain a better understanding of soliton interactions and to explain the mechanism behind the generation of mode-locked pulses. In this particular research, we utilized a self-made saturable absorber (SA) consisting of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) in a fully polarization maintaining (PM) erbium-doped fiber optical path. Through this setup, we observed various bound state pulse phenomena, including the double bound state with different phase differences, the bound state formed by two double pulse bound states, the multi-pulse bound state, etc. The abundant bound soliton pulse states demonstrated the excellent nonlinear absorption characteristics of the SA as well as the excellent optical properties of the all-PM fiber laser. It contributed to exploring the relationship between sub pulses and mode-locked pulses in the future. Additionally, due to the strong interaction between bound state solitons and the inherent stability of the PM optical path, there was potential for utilizing this setup as a seed source to enhance the stability of high-power fiber lasers.
Keywords: bound state soliton; fiber laser; mode locked; polarization maintaining; zeolite.