Yes, it is possible to phase lock 25 fiber lasers but only for a short time. Our experiments on passively phase locking two-dimensional arrays of coupled fiber lasers reveal that the average phase locking level of 25 lasers is low ($20%-30%$) but can exceed 90% on rare instantaneous events. The average phase locking level was found to decrease for larger number of lasers in the array and increase with the connectivity of the array.
We investigate theoretically a fiber laser passively mode-locked with nonlinear polarization rotation. A unidirectional ring cavity is considered with a polarizer placed between two sets of a halfwave plate and a quarterwave plate. A master equation is derived and the stability of the continuous and mode-locked solutions is studied. In particular, the effect of the orientation of the four phase plates and of the polarizer on the mode-locking regime is investigated.
We report on the generation of multiwavelength gain-guided soliton (GGS) in an all normal dispersion birefringent fiber laser passively mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). Determined by the cavity birefringence, we observe the stable single-, dual- and triple- wavelength mode locked GGSs, which is a natural consequence of the mutual nonlinear interaction among the normal cavity dispersion, cavity fiber nonlinear Kerr effect, laser gain saturation and bandwidth limitation resulting from the intra-cavity birefringent filter.
We report on the observation of a novel mode locked optical comb generated at the Raman offset (Raman comb) in an optically pumped crystalline whispering gallery mode resonator. Mode locking is confirmed via measurement of the radio-frequency beat note produced by the optical comb on a fast photodiode. Neither the conventional Kerr comb nor hyper-parametric oscillation is observed when the Raman comb is present.
We propose an all-fiber mode-locking device which operates based on nonlinear switching in a novel concentric ring core fiber structure. The design is particularly attractive given the ease of fabrication and coupling to other components in a mode-locked fiber laser cavity. The nonlinear switching in this coupler is studied and the relative power transmission is obtained. The analysis shows that this nonlinear switch is practical for mode-locking fiber lasers and is forgiving to fabrication errors.
We experimentally observe soliton self-organization and pulsation in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. The optomechanical interaction in the optical fiber is key to the formation of equidistant soliton bunches. These solitons simultaneously undergo a pulsation process with a period corresponding to tens of the cavity round trip time. Using the dispersive Fourier transformation technique, we find that the Kelly sidebands in the shot-to-shot spectra appear periodically, synchronizing with the pulsation.
This paper describes a mode locking technique based on enhanced polarization dependent loss (PDL). The method utilizes a bent single mode fiber (SMF28) coil to induce sufficient PDL at 2 \(μ\)m wavelength region. Significant PDL in SMF28 coils is enabled since the light is much more weakly guided. A passively mode-locked thulium doped all-fiber laser is demonstrated using this simple device with polarization controllers as mode locker. The results indicate a moderate amount of 1 dB is sufficient to initiate and sustain stable mode-locking operation. We believe, to the best of our knowledge, th…
We report a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser with pulsewidths switchable from 473 fs to 76.8 ns, where the fundamental mode-locking, noise-like pulse, nanosecond mode-locking, and dual-width mode-locking are obtained by adjusting a polarization controller. Co-existence of femto- and nano-second pulses in dual-width mode-locking is attributed to the gain balancing. Analytic modeling of the fiber laser with cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation is presented, in which the pulsewidths are calculated as functions of dispersion, saturable absorption, and self-phase modulation. The gen…
We analyze the emergence of wiggling temporal localized states in a passively mode-locked Vertical External- Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser composed by a gain chip and a resonant saturable absorber mirror. We show that the wiggling instability stems from the interplay between the third-order dispersion induced by the micro-cavities and their frequency mismatch. The latter is identified as an experimentally crucial parameter defining the range of existence of stable emission. We reveal the homoclinic scenario underlying the wiggling phenomenon and we show how it allows to control the oscillation…
We report on an optical frequency comb with 14nm (~1.8 THz) spectral bandwidth at -3 dB level that is generated using a passively mode-locked quantum-well (QW) laser in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) fabricated through an InP generic photonic integration technology platform. This 21.5-GHz colliding-pulse mode-locked laser cavity is defined by on-chip reflectors incorporating intracavity phase modulators followed by an extra-cavity SOA as booster amplifier. A 1.8-THz-wide optical comb spectrum is presented with ultrafast pulse that is 0.35-ps-wide. The radio frequency beat note has a 3-dB …
We report on the characterization of the timing stability of passively mode-locked discrete mode diode laser sources. These are edge-emitting devices with a spatially varying refractive index profile for spectral filtering. Two devices with a mode-locking frequency of 100 GHz are characterized. The first device is designed to support a comb of six modes and generates near Fourier limited 1.9 ps pulses. The second supports four primary modes resulting in a sinusoidal modulation of the optical intensity. Using a cross-correlation technique, we measured a 20 fs pulse to pulse timing jitter for th…
We demonstrate the broadband supercontinuum (SC) generation in photonic crystal fiber (PCF), highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) and ZBLAN (ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF) fiber with a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL). The passively mode-locked EDFL incorporates a CNT-based saturable absorber and has achieved a pulse width of 620 fs with a pulse repetition rate of 18 MHz. The spectral broadening phenomena inside each fiber has been observed with respect to the variation in seed pulse power. The SC spectrum bandwidth of 1050 nm, 1400 nm, and 2000 nm has been achieved using PCF, HNLF, an…
We demonstrate a monolayer graphene based passively Q-switched fiber laser with three-stage amplifiers that can deliver over 80 W average power at 1064 nm. The highest average power achieved is 84.1 W, with pulse energy of 1.67 mJ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time for a high power passively Q-switched fiber laser in the 1 um range reported so far. More importantly, the Q-switched fiber laser operates stably during a week few-hours-per-a-day tests, which proves the stability and practical application value of graphene in high power pulsed fiber lasers.
We show experimentally and theoretically that localized pulses can be generated from an electrically biased $200\,μ$m multi-transverse mode Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser. The device is passively mode-locked using optical feedback from a distant Resonant Saturable Absorber Mirror and it is operated below threshold. We observe multistability between the off solution and a large variety of pulsating solutions with different number and arrangements of pulses per round-trip, thus indicating that the mode-locked pulses are localized, i.e. mutually independent. We show that a modulation of t…
We present a novel approach for the analysis of passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers that allows for efficient parameter sweeps and time jitter analysis. It permits accessing the ultra-low repetition rate regime where pulses become localized states. The analysis including slow (e.g. thermal) processes or transverse dynamics becomes feasible. Our method bridges the divide between the phenomenological, yet highly efficient, pulse iterative model that is the Haus master equation, and the more involved first principle descriptions relying on time delayed equations. Our iterative functional m…
We experimentally demonstrate a linear-cavity all-fiber passively Q-switching cylindrical vector beam (CVB) laser operating in high-order mode. This CVB fiber laser operates without any mode converter which always leads to high insertion loss, and it can realize high efficiency. In this fiber laser, the stable Q-switching pulse is achieved with a slope efficiency of 39%. By properly adjusting the polarization controllers, radially polarized and azimuthally polarized beams can be obtained. Our work proves the feasibility of achieving the stable Q-switching CVB pulse with high-order mode directl…
We analyze the dynamics of passively mode-locked integrated external-cavity surface-emitting Lasers (MIXSELs) using a first-principle dynamical model based upon delay algebraic equations. We show that the third order dispersion stemming from the lasing micro-cavity induces a train of decaying satellites on the leading edge of the pulse. Due to the nonlinear interaction with carriers, these satellites may get amplified thereby destabilizing the mode-locked states. In the long cavity regime, the localized structures that exist below the lasing threshold are found to be deeply affected by this in…
We study the effect of noise on the dynamics of passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers both experimentally and theoretically. A method combining analytical and numerical approaches for estimation of pulse timing jitter is proposed. We investigate how the presence of dynamical features such as wavelength bistability affects timing jitter.
Ultrahigh repetition rate lasers will become vital light sources for many future technologies; however, their realization is challenging because the cavity size must be minimized. Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators are attractive for this purpose since they allow the strong light-matter interaction usually needed to enable mode-locking. However, the optimum parameter ranges are entirely unknown since no experiments have yet been conducted. Here, we numerically investigate pulsed operation in a toroidal WGM microresonator with gain and saturable absorption (SA) to study the experimen…
Soliton explosions are among the most exotic dissipative phenomena studied in mode-locked lasers. In this regime, a dissipative soliton circulating in the laser cavity experiences an abrupt structural collapse, but within a few roundtrips returns to its original quasi-stable state. In this work we report on the first observation of such events in a fiber laser. Specifically, we identify clear explosion signatures in measurements of shot-to-shot spectra of an Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser that is operating in a transition regime between stable and noise-like emission. The comparatively long,…
We demonstrate the existence of stable three dimensional dissipative localized structures in the output of a laser coupled to a distant saturable absorber. These phase invariant light bullets are individually addressable and can be envisioned for three dimensional optical information storage. An effective theory provides for an intuitive picture and allows to relate their formation to the morphogenesis of static auto-solitons and cellular patterns. The complexity incurred by the widely different time scales present in the problem as well as by non-local couplings that stem from the material de…
We consider design optimization of passively mode-locked two-section semiconductor lasers that incorporate intracavity grating spectral filters. Our goal is to develop a method for finding the optimal wavelength location for the filter in order to maximize the region of stable mode-locking as a function of drive current and reverse bias in the absorber section. In order to account for material dispersion in the two sections of the laser, we use analytic approximations for the gain and absorption as a function of carrier density and frequency. Fits to measured gain and absorption curves then pr…
We study the emergence and the stability of temporal localized structures in the output of a semiconductor laser passively mode-locked by a saturable absorber in the long cavity regime. For large yet realistic values of the linewidth enhancement factor, we disclose the existence of secondary dynamical instabilities where the pulses develop regular and subsequent irregular temporal oscil- lations. By a detailed bifurcation analysis we show that additional solution branches that consist in multi-pulse (molecules) solutions exist. We demonstrate that the various solution curves for the single and…
Pulse formation in passively mode locked lasers is often accompanied with dispersive waves that form of spectral sidebands due to spatial inhomogoneities in the laser cavity. Here we present an explicit calculation of the amplitude, frequency, and precise shape of the sidebands accompanying a soliton-like pulse. We then extend the study to the global steady state of mode locked laser with a variable number of pulses, and present experimental results in a mode locked fiber laser that confirm the theory. The strong correlation between the temporal width of the sidebands and the measured spacing …
We present the first direct observation of the bound state of multiple dissipative optical solitons in which bond length and bond strength can be individually controlled in a broad range in a regular manner. We have observed experimentally a new type of stable and extremely elastic soliton crystals that can be stretched and compressed many times conserving their structure by adjusting the bond properties in real time in a specially designed passively mode-locked fiber laser incorporating highly asymmetric tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The temporal structure and dynamics of the generated…
We propose a semi-analytical method of calculating the timing fluctuations in mode-locked semiconductor lasers and apply it to study the effect of delayed coherent optical feedback on pulse timing jitter in these lasers. The proposed method greatly reduces computation times and therefore allows for the investigation of the dependence of timing fluctuations over greater parameter domains. We show that resonant feedback leads to a reduction in the timing jitter and that a frequency-pulling region forms about the main resonances, within which a timing jitter reduction is observed. The width of th…
A soliton explosion is an instability whereby a dissipative soliton undergoes a sudden structural collapse, but remarkably returns back to its original shape after a short transient. We recently reported the first experimental observation of this effect in a fiber laser (A. F. J. Runge et al., Optica 2, 36 (2015)). Here, we expand on our initial work, presenting a more detailed experimental and numerical study of the characteristics and dynamics of soliton explosions in passively mode-locked fiber lasers. Specifically, we explore different cavity configurations and gain levels, observing and c…
We report on the observation of bound states of gain-guided solitons (GGSs) in a dispersion-managed erbium-doped fiber laser operating in the normal net cavity dispersion regime. Despite of the fact that the GGS is a chirped soliton and there is strong pulse stretching and compression along the cavity in the laser, the bound solitons observed have a fixed pulse separation, which is invariant to the pump strength change. Numerical simulation confirmed the experimental observations.
The self-starting dynamics of a model for passively mode-locked lasers with saturable absorber, in which the optical amplifier has a saturable nonlinearity, is examined. The basic assumption is that the laser will operate in the mode-locked regime when the continuous-wave regime becomes unstable. Within the framework of the modulational-instability analysis, a global map for the laser self-starting criteria is constructed. According to this map, the saturable nonlinearity enhances the input-field intensity required for laser self-starting. Analytical expression of the zero modulation-frequency…
Black phosphorus (BP) with its enticing electric and optical properties is intensely researched in the field of optoelectronics. In this paper, Q-switched pulses at 1550 nm and 2 um wavelengths are obtained by inserting bulk-structured BP based saturable absorber (SA) into an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) and an thulium/holmium-doped fiber laser (THDFL), respectively. The BP-SA was prepared by depositing powered BP material on to the flat side of a side-polished single mode fiber. Q-switched 1550 nm pulses with width tuned from 9.35 to 31 us were obtained for the EDFL. For the THDFL, over 10…
Femtosecond frequency combs have boosted progress in various fields of precision metrology. Nevertheless, demanding applications such as front-end frequency and time standards, ultrastable microwave generation or high-resolution spectroscopy still necessitate improved stability. The spectral bandwidth and absolute position of individual comb lines are crucial in this context. Typically, both parameters are controlled on short and long time scales by tight locking to external optical and microwave references which represent costly and cumbersome additions to the entire setup. Here, we demonstra…
Breathing solitons are nonlinear waves in which the energy concentrates in a localized and oscillatory fashion. Similarly to stationary solitons, breathers in dissipative systems can form stable bound states displaying molecule-like dynamics, which are frequently called breather molecules. So far, the experimental observation of optical breather molecules and the real-time detection of their dynamics have been limited to diatomic molecules, that is, bound states of only two breathers. In this work, we report on the observation of different types of breather complexes in a mode-locked fibre las…
We report results of numerical simulations on the multiple soliton generation and soliton energy quantization in a soliton fiber ring laser passively mode-locked by using the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. We found numerically that the formation of multiple solitons in the laser is caused by a peak power limiting effect of the laser cavity. It is also the same effect that suppresses the soliton pulse collapse, an intrinsic feature of solitons propagating in the gain media, and makes the solitons stable in the laser. Furthermore, we show that the soliton energy quantization observed…
We report on the experimental observation of period-doubling bifurcation of dissipative-soliton-resonance (DSR) pulses in a fiber laser passively mode-locked by using the nonlinear optical loop mirror. Increasing the pump power of the fiber laser, we show that temporally a stable, uniform DSR pulse train could be transformed into a period-doubling state, exhibiting two sets of pulse parameters between the adjacent cavity roundtrip. It is found that DSR pulses in the period-doubling state could maintain the typical feature of DSR pulse: fixed pulse peak power and linear variation in pulse width…
We experimentally demonstrate a passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) operation by using a saturable absorber based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles (FONP) in magnetic fluid (MF). As a kind of transition metal oxide, the FONP has a large nonlinear optical response with a fast response time for saturable absorber. By depositing MF at the end of optical fiber ferrule, we fabricated a FONP-based saturable absorber, which enables a strong light-matter interaction owing to the confined transmitted optical field within the single mode fiber. Because of large third-order optical nonlinearities o…
Coincidence-pumping upconversion detector based on passively synchronized fiber laser system
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology（上海理工大学）；Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System（上海市现代光学系统重点实验室）；Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education（教育部光电仪器与系统工程研究中心）；School of Optical Electrical and Computer Engineering（光学电子与计算机工程学院）；East China Normal University（华东师范大学）；State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy（精密光谱科学国家重点实验室）；Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology（济南量子技术研究院）
In this paper, we analyze the dynamics and formation mechanisms of bound states (BSs) of light bullets in the output of a laser coupled to a distant saturable absorber. First we approximate the full three-dimensional set of Haus master equations by a reduced equation governing the dynamics of the transverse profile. This effective theory allows us to perform a detailed multiparameter bifurcation study and to identify the different mechanisms of instability of BSs. In addition, our analysis reveals a non-intuitive dependence of the stability region as a function of the linewidth enhancement fac…
We show that the pumping current is a convenient parameter for manipulating the temporal Localized Structures (LSs), also called localized pulses, found in passively mode-locked Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers. While short electrical pulses can be used for writing and erasing individual LSs, we demonstrate that a current modulation introduces a temporally evolving parameter landscape allowing to control the position and the dynamics of LSs. We show that the localized pulses drifting speed in this landscape depends almost exclusively on the local parameter value instead of depending on …
In this work we demonstrate comprehensive studies on graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) based saturable absorbers (SA) for mode-locking of Er-doped fiber lasers. The paper describes the fabrication process of both saturable absorbers and detailed comparison of their parameters. Our results show, that there is no significant difference in the laser performance between the investigated SA. Both provided stable, mode-locked operation with sub-400 fs soliton pulses and more than 9 nm optical bandwidth at 1560 nm center wavelength. It has been shown that GO might be successfully u…
We demonstrate an all-fiber spatiotemporal mode-locked laser based on graded-index multimode fiber. Due to the high damage threshold of graded-index multimode fiber devices, the output single-pulse energy reach up to 11.67 nJ. The beam quality at mode-locked state is significantly improved compared with continuous wave state as a result of the self-cleaning effect. By amplifying the pulse in the multimode fiber amplifier, high power pulses with high beam quality can be obtained in the all-fiber system based on graded-index MMFs.
Dual-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser and wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber laser have emerged as a promising light source. However, there is few reports on generating these two output from just one laser cavity. In this report, we demonstrate a dual-wavelength and wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber laser output from one laser cavity by utilizing short length Lyot filter. The central wavelengths of dual-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser are 1540 nm and 1564 nm and the tunable laser range is about 32 nm. We believe it could provide a simple set-up for generating dual-wavelength and wave…
Vector soliton operation of erbium-doped fiber lasers mode locked with atomic layer graphene was experimentally investigated. Either the polarization rotation or polarization locked vector dissipative solitons were experimentally obtained in a dispersion-managed cavity fiber laser with large net cavity dispersion, while in the anomalous dispersion cavity fiber laser, the phase locked NLSE solitons and induced NLSE soliton were experimentally observed. The vector soliton operation of the fiber lasers unambiguously confirms the polarization insensitive saturable absorption of the atomic layer gr…
In this paper, we analyze the formation and dynamical properties of discrete light bullets (dLBs) in an array of passively mode-locked lasers coupled via evanescent fields in a ring geometry. Using a generic model based upon a system of nearest-neighbor coupled Haus master equations we show numerically the existence of dLBs for different coupling strengths. In order to reduce the complexity of the analysis, we approximate the full problem by a reduced set of discrete equations governing the dynamics of the transverse profile of the dLBs. This effective theory allows us to perform a detailed bi…
We experimentally demonstrated a high-order optical vortex pulsed laser based on a mode selective all-fiber fused coupler composed of a single-mode fiber (SMF) and a few-mode fiber (FMF). The fused SMF-FMF coupler inserted in the cavity not only acts as mode converter from LP01 mode to LP11 or LP21 modes with a broadband width over 100 nm, but also directly delivers femtosecond vortex pulses out of the mode locked cavity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the generation of high-order pulse vortex beams in mode-locked fiber laser. The generated 140 femtosecond vortex bea…
Soliton operation and soliton wavelength tuning of erbium-doped fiber lasers mode locked with atomic layer graphene was experimentally investigated under various cavity dispersion conditions. It was shown that not only wide range soliton wavelength tuning but also soltion pulse width variation could be obtained in the fiber lasers. Our results show that the graphene mode locked erbium-doped fiber lasers provide a compact, user friendly and low cost wavelength tunable ultrahsort pulse source.
We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a novel mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser with a saturable absorber based on nonlinear Kerr beam cleanup effect. The saturable absorber was formed by a 2-m graded-index multimode fiber and a single-mode fiber segment served as a diaphragm. With an all-normal-dispersion-fiber configuration, the laser generated dissipative soliton pulses with pulse duration of 26.38 ps and pulse energy more than 0.25 nJ; output pulses could be compressed externally to 615.7 fs. Moreover, the self-starting mode-locking operation of this laser exhibited a high …
We investigate the high-frequency timing jitter spectral density of mode-locked fiber lasers in different mode-locked regimes. Quantum noise-limited timing jitter spectra of mode-locked-regime-switchable Yb fiber lasers are measured up to the Nyquist frequency with sub-100 as resolution. The integrated rms timing jitter of soliton, stretched-pulse, and self-similar Yb fiber lasers is measured to be 1.8 fs, 1.1 fs, and 2.9 fs, respectively, when integrated from 10 kHz to 40 MHz. The distinct behavior of jitter spectral density related to pulse formation mechanisms is revealed experimentally for…
A novel mode-locked fiber laser based on offset splicing technology between two kinds of graded index multimode fibers is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The offset splice spot structure acts as a saturable absorber via nonlinear multimodal interference mechanism. The absorption modulation depth of the device is 2.8%, with a saturation intensity of 2.5 MW/cm2. The fiber laser operates at a stable mode-locked state when the pump power reaches 114 mW. The laser oscillates at 1039 nm with a pulsewidth of 17.6 ps, a repetition rate of 32.619 MHz, and a high signal noise ratio of 65 dB. T…
We review the conventional phase-locking technique in the long-term stabilization of the mode-locked fiber laser and investigate the phase noise limitation of the conventional technique. To break the limitation, we propose an improved phase-locking technique with an optic-microwave phase detector in achieving the ultra-low phase noise and phase drift. The mechanism and the theoretical model of the novel phase-locking technique are also discussed. The long-term stabilization experiments demonstrate that the improved technique can achieve the long-term stabilization for the MLFL with ultra-low p…
We firstly report mode-locked square-wave pulse in Yb-doped fiber laser based on graded index multimode fiber of reverse suturable absorption. By adjusting the pump power, the width of the square-wave can be tuned range from 350 ps to 52.6 ns with 3dB bandwidth spectrum of 0.73 nm. The supermode suppression ratio exceeds ~ 65 dB, which indicates excellent mode-locked operation state, and we also study the characteristic of pulse by the chirp measurement system. The mode-locked square-wave pulse fiber laser can sever as high power light source for industrial applications.
Mode-locked fiber lasers are one of the most important sources of ultra-short pulses. However, A unified description for the rich variety of states and the driving forces behind the complex and diverse nonlinear behavior of mode-locked fiber lasers have yet to be developed. Here we present a comprehensive theoretical framework based upon complexity science, thereby offering a fundamentally new way of thinking about the behavior of mode-locked fiber lasers. This hierarchically structured frame work provide a model with and changeable variable dimensionality resulting in a simple and elegant vie…
A bidirectional all polarization maintaining fiber laser as a highly sensitive sensor for rotation is presented. This sensor is based on intracavity phase interferometry with application in inertial sensing, magnetometry, displacements and nonlinear index. The bios beat note of this gyroscopic laser is lowered to 166 KHz implementing a symmetric configuration including two parts of Er-doped fibers.
