Open AccessAll-polarization-maintaining, all-normal-dispersion mode-locked fiber laser with spectral filtering in a nonlinear optical loop mirror
Author(s) -
Shangming Ou,
Guanyu Liu,
Delin Qiu,
Guo Liang,
Qingmao Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.399701
Subject(s) - optics , fiber laser , comb filter , laser , ultrashort pulse , mode locking , materials science , spectral width , filter (signal processing) , dispersion (optics) , physics , computer science , computer vision
The spectral filtering effect is essential to dissipative dynamics in an all-normal-dispersion (ANDi) mode-locked fiber laser. In this study, we numerically and experimentally demonstrate the spectral filtering process of a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). Taking advantage of the 40/60 NOLM's spectral filtering ability, we designed a novel all-polarization-maintaining ANDi mode-locked fiber laser without using a separate spectral filter. The NOLM functions as an artificial saturable absorber and a spectral filter in an ANDi cavity. During mode locking, we observed that the NOLM decreased the spectral width of the pulse from 5.46 to 4.38 nm. The fiber laser generated 509-fs compressed pulses at the repetition rate of 13.4 MHz. Our work provides a promising novel and compact ANDi fiber laser for ultrafast photonic applications.