Dynamic control of the operation regimes of a mode-locked fiber laser based on intracavity polarizing fibers: experimental and theoretical validation

This paper was published in OPTICS LETTERS and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.37.001971. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law[EN] An intracavity polarizing fiber is proposed to control the emission regime of a passively mode-locked fiber laser. Stable operation in self-starting high and low dispersion soliton mode-locking and 100 GHz multiwavelength regimes is demonstrated through numerical simulations and experimental validation. Mode-locking stability is ensured by a saturable absorber in the ring cavity. The effective selection of operation regime is dynamically carried out by controlling the intracavity polarization state.This work was financially supported by the EuropeanCommission under the FP7 EURO-FOS NoE (ICT-2007-2-224402). The work of G. E. Villanueva was supported by the MEC-FPU programs. The work of P. Pérez-Millán was supported by the Juan de la Cierva program, JCI-2009-05805.Villanueva Ibáñez, GE.; Pérez Millán, P. (2012). Dynamic control of the operation regimes of a mode-locked fiber laser based on intracavity polarizing fibers: experimental and theoretical validation. Optics Letters. 37(11):1971-1973. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.37.001971S197119733711Fermann, M. E., & Hartl, I. (2009). Ultrafast Fiber Laser Technology. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 15(1), 191-206. doi:10.1109/jstqe.2008.2010246Ippen, E. P. (1994). Principles of passive mode locking. Applied Physics B Laser and Optics, 58(3), 159-170. doi:10.1007/bf01081309Haus, H. (1975). Theory of mode locking with a slow saturable absorber. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 11(9), 736-746. doi:10.1109/jqe.1975.1068922Kurtner, F. X., der Au, J. A., & Keller, U. (1998). Mode-locking with slow and fast saturable absorbers-what’s the difference? IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 4(2), 159-168. doi:10.1109/2944.686719Zhang, Z., Zhan, L., Xu, K., Wu, J., Xia, Y., & Lin, J. (2008). Multiwavelength fiber laser with fine adjustment, based on nonlinear polarization rotation and birefringence fiber filter. Optics Letters, 33(4), 324. doi:10.1364/ol.33.000324Li, S., Chen, X., Kuksenkov, D. V., Koh, J., Li, M.-J., Zenteno, L. A., & Nolan, D. A. (2006). Wavelength tunable stretched-pulse mode-locked all-fiber erbium ring laser with single polarization fiber. Optics Express, 14(13), 6098. doi:10.1364/oe.14.006098Liang, P. S., Zhang, Z. X., Kuang, Q. Q., & Sang, M. H. (2009). All-fiber birefringent filter with fine tunability and changeable spacing. Laser Physics, 19(11), 2124-2128. doi:10.1134/s1054660x09210063Marcuse, D. (1990). Simplified analysis of a polarizing optical fiber. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 26(3), 550-557. doi:10.1109/3.52132Menyuk, C. R. (1989). Pulse propagation in an elliptically birefringent Kerr medium. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 25(12), 2674-2682. doi:10.1109/3.40656Smith, N. J., Blow, K. J., & Andonovic, I. (1992). Sideband generation through perturbations to the average soliton model. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 10(10), 1329-1333. doi:10.1109/50.166771Ruehl, A., Wandt, D., Morgner, U., & Kracht, D. (2008). On wave-breaking free fiber lasers mode-locked with two saturable absorber mechanisms. Optics Express, 16(11), 8181. doi:10.1364/oe.16.00818