Generation and evolution of multiple operation states in passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser by using a graphene-covered-microfiber

Using graphene-covered-microfiber （GCM） as a saturable absorber, the generation and evolution of multiple operation states are proposed and demonstrated in passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser. The microfiber was fabricated using the flame brushing method to an interaction length of - 1.2 cm with a waist diameter of -10 μm. Graphene layers were grown on copper foils by chemical vapor deposition and transferred onto the polydimethylsiloxane （PDMS） to form a PDMS/graphene film, which allowed light-graphene interaction via evanescent field. With the increase of the pump power from 1.25 W to 2.15 W, five different lasing regimes, including continuous-wave, conventional soliton mode-locking, multi- soliton mode-locking, a period of transition, and noise-like mode-locking, were achieved in a fiber ring cavity. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report of the generation and evolution of multiple operation states by covering graphene on the microfiber in the 2-μ.m region. The results demonstrate that GCM can be a promising method for fabricating all fiber SA, and the switchable operation states can provide more portability in complex application domain.

A theoretical and experimental investigation of an in-band pumped gain-switched thulium-doped fiber laser

In this paper, the theoretical rate equation model of an in-band pumped gain-switched thulium-doped fiber （TDF） laser is investigated. The analytical formulations of pump energy threshold, peak power extraction efficiency, and pulse extraction efficiency are derived through analyzing the interaction process between the pump pulse and the laser pulse. They are useful for understanding, designing, and optimizing the in-band pumped TDF lasers in a 1.9 μm-2.1 μm wavelength region. The experiment with an all-fiber gain-switched TDF laser pumped by a 1.558-μm pulse amplifier is conducted, and our experimental results show good agreement with theoretical analysis.

Analysis of gain distribution in cladding-pumped thulium-doped fiber laser and optical feedback inhibition problem in fiber-bulk laser system

The steady-state gain distribution in cladding pumped thulium-doped fiber laser（TDFL） is analytically and numerically solved based on the rate equations including loss coefficients and cross relaxation effect. With the gain curve, a problem, which is named optical feedback inhibition（OFI） and always occurs in tandem TDFL-Ho：YAG laser system, is analyzed quantitatively. The actual characteristics of output spectra and power basically prove the conclusion of theoretical analysis. Then a simple mirror-deflected L-shaped cavity is employed to restrain the external feedback and simplify the structure of fiber-bulk Ho：YAG laser. Finally, 25 W of 2097-nm laser power and 51.2% of optical-to-optical conversion efficiency are obtained, and the beam quality factor is less than 1.43 obtained by knife-edge method.

227-W output all-fiberized Tm-doped fiber laser at 1908 nm

In this paper, we report that a diode-pumped thulium-doped double clad silica fiber laser can provide powers of up to 227 W at 1908 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 54.3%, and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 51.2%. The output power, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest output at 1908 nm. The beam quality M2 factor is about 1.56. Also discussed in this paper is the dependence of the laser performance on fiber length.

Multi-wavelength laser active coherent combination

A seed laser oscillating at different frequencies is proved to have the potential to mitigate the stimulated Brillouin scattering（SBS） effect in a fiber amplifier,which may increase the emission power of a coherent beam combination（CBC） system greatly.In this study,a basic mathematical model describing the multi-wavelength CBC is proposed on the fundamentals of CBC.A useful method for estimating the combination effect and analysing the feasibility and the validity of the multi-wavelength coherent combination is provided.In the numerical analysis,accordant results with four-wavelength four-channel CBC experiments are obtained.Through calculations of some examples with certain spectra,the unanticipated excellent combination effect with a few frequencies involved is explained,and the dependence of the combination effect on the variance of the amplifier chain length and the channel number is clarified.

Stable multi-wavelength thulium-doped fiber laser based on all-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a multi-wavelength thulium-doped fiber（TDF） laser based on all-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer（MZI） at 1.9 mm. Here a segment of 4 m single-mode TDF is pumped by 1568 nm fiber laser for 2 mm band optical gain. The MZI includes two cascaded 3 d B coupler. A segment of 3.5 m long un-pumped polarization-maintaining TDF and polarization controller（PC） are joined in the ring cavity to suppress the mode competition. Multi-wavelength lasers at 1.9 mm with wavelength number from one to four are obtained by adjusting the PC and the stability of output power of multi-wavelength fiber laser is analyzed.

Switching,explosion,and chaos of multi-wavelength soliton states in ultrafast fiber lasers

Because of the complexity and difficulty of realizing a multi-wavelength soliton state,reports on its internal dynamic characteristics are scarce.In this study,the switching and periodic soliton explosion processes of the multi-wavelength soliton state in a negative dispersion passively mode-locked fiber laser are realized.The generation of the multi-wavelength soliton state undergoes the process of noise,oscillation,and stable mode-locking,and the splitting and annihilation of solitons with different group velocities directly impact the generation and disappearance of three wavelengths.Positive and negative dispersion lead to different group velocities of solitons.The presence and displacement of solitons with different group velocities cause soliton collisions,which lead to soliton explosions.A soliton experiences relative phase oscillation,chaos,and oscillation,as well as convergence and separation before and after an explosion.With an increase in parameters related to pump power,single-soliton oscillation,multi-wavelength solitons,and chaos are found in experiments and simulations,proving the relevance and reliability between simulation and experimental results.This work promotes the dynamical study of multi-soliton collisions in nonlinear science and the development of chaos theory in multi-comb lasers.

Noise-like pulse generation from a thulium-doped fiber laser using nonlinear polarization rotation with different net anomalous dispersion

A mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser(TDFL) based on nonlinear polarization rotation(NPR) with different net anomalous dispersion is demonstrated. When the cavity dispersion is-1.425 ps^2, the noise-like(NL) pulse with coherence spike width of 406 fs and pulse energy of 12.342 nJ is generated at a center wavelength of 2003.2 nm with 3 dB spectral bandwidth of 23.20 nm. In the experimental period of 400 min, the 3 dB spectral bandwidth variation, the output power fluctuation, and the central wavelength shift are less than 0.06 nm, 0.04 d B, and0.4 nm, respectively, indicating that the NPR-based TDFL operating in the NL regime holds good long-term stability.

Tunable and switchable harmonic h-shaped pulse generation in a 3.03 km ultralong mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser

We experimentally demonstrated a type of tunable and switchable harmonic h-shaped pulse generation in a thulium-doped fiber(TDF) laser passively mode locked by using an ultralong nonlinear optical loop mirror.The total cavity length was ～3.03 km, the longest ever built for a TDF laser to our best knowledge, which resulted in an ultralarge anomalous dispersion over -200 ps^2 around the emission wavelength. The produced h-shaped pulse can operate either in a fundamental or in a high-order harmonic mode-locking(HML) state depending on pump power and intra-cavity polarization state(PS). The pulse duration, no matter of the operation state, was tunable with pump power. However, pulse breaking and self-organizing occurred, resulting in high-order HML,when the pump power increased above a threshold. At a fixed pump power, the order of HML was switchable from one to another by manipulating the PS. Switching from the 8 th up to the 48 th order of HML was achieved with a fixed pump power of ～4.15 W. Our results revealed the detailed evolution and switching characteristics of the HML and individual pulse envelope with respect to both the pump power and PS. We have also discussed in detail the mechanisms of both the h-shaped pulse generation and the switching of its HML. This contribution would be helpful for further in-depth study on the underlying dynamics of long-duration particular-envelope pulses with ultralarge anomalous dispersion and ultralong roundtrip time.

2080 nm long-wavelength, high-power dissipative soliton resonance in a dumbbell-shaped thulium-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate a 2080 nm long-wavelength mode-locked thulium(Tm)-doped fiber laser operating in the dissipative soliton resonance(DSR) regime. The compact all-fiber dumbbell-shaped laser is simply constructed by a 50/50 fiber loop mirror(FLM), a 10/90 FLM, and a piece of large-gain Tm-doped double-clad fiber pumped by a 793 nm laser diode. The 10/90 FLM is not only used as an output mirror, but also acts as a periodical saturable absorber for initiating DSR mode locking. The stable DSR pulses are generated at the center wavelength as long as 2080.4 nm, and the pulse duration can be tunable from 780 to 3240 ps as the pump power is increased. The maximum average output power is 1.27 W, corresponding to a pulse energy of 290 nJ and a nearly constant peak power of 93 W. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the longest wavelength for DSR operation in a mode-locked fiber laser.

Isolator-free unidirectional thulium-doped fiber laser

We report the first demonstration of a unidirectional,isolator-free 2-μm thulium-doped fiber(TDF)laser,relying on the properties of the theta cavity(ring resonator with S-shaped feedback).The core pumped theta cavity TDF laser provides sub-Watt output power with a slope efficiency of 25%,a 2 dB flat tuning range of 1900–2050 nm,and a linewidth of 0.2 nm,and achieves the extinction ratio of 18–25 dB(depending on the feedback value)between the favored and suppressed lasing directions.It is shown that these characteristics are competitive with,if not superior to,those of conventional ring cavities.The simulation results of the linear and Kerr-nonlinear theta cavities are also presented,explaining certain unexpected features of the laser behavior and establishing the importance of the doped fiber nonlinearity on the spectral shaping of the emitted signal.

Ultra-long-period grating-based multi-wavelength ultrafast fiber laser [Invited]

We propose and demonstrate the cascaded multi-wavelength mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) based on ultralong-period gratings(ULPGs) for the first time, to the best of our knowledge.Study found that the ULPG can be used as both a mode-locker for pulse shaping and a comb filter for multi-wavelength generation simultaneously.Using the dual-function of ULPG, three-, four-, five-, six-, and seven-wavelength mode-locked pulses are obtained in EDFL, seven of which are the largest number of wavelengths up to now.For the four-wavelength soliton pulses, their pulse width is about 7.8 ps.The maximum average output power and slope efficiency of these pulses are 8.4 m W and 2.03%, respectively.Besides the conventional pulses, hybrid soliton pulses composed of a four-wavelength pulse and single soliton are also observed.Finally, the effect of cavity dispersion on the multi-wavelength mode-locked pulses is also discussed.Our findings indicate that apart from common sensing and filtering, the ULPG may also possess attractive nonlinear pulse-shaping property for ultrafast photonics application.

Recent progress in multi-wavelength fiber lasers:principles,status,and challenges

In recent years,multi-wavelength fiber lasers play a significant role in plenty of fields,ranging from optical communications to mechanical processing and laser biomedicine,owing to their high beam quality,low cost,and excellent heat dissipation properties.Benefitting from increasing maturity of optical elements,the multi-wavelength fiber laser has made rapid developments.In this review,we summarize and analyze diverse implementation methods covering continuous wave and pulsed fiber lasers at room temperature conditions:inserting an optical filter device and intensity-dependent loss structure in the resonant cavity,and applying ultrafast nonlinear optical response of materials and a dual-cavity structure.Finally,future challenges and perspectives of the multi-wavelength fiber laser are discussed and addressed.

Fiber laser with simultaneous multi-wavelength Er/Yb passively Q-switched and single-wavelength Tm gain-switched operations

We report the experimental investigation of an all-fiber multi-wavelength passively Q-switched Er/Yb laser with simultaneous gain-switched pulsed operation by using a thulium-doped fiber as a saturable absorber.Laser emission is obtained in three wavelength regions with central peaks at around 1546 nm, 1561 nm, and1862 nm. Multi-wavelength emission with separation of approximately 1 nm is obtained around the wavelength regions of 1546 nm and 1561 nm. Stable laser pulses are generated in the pump power range from 3.6 W to7.3 W.

Multi-wavelength fiber ring laser based on a chirped moiré fiber grating and a semiconductor optical amplifier

A simple and cost-effective multi-wavelength fiber ring laser based on a chirped Moire fiber grating （CMFG） and a semiconductor optical amplifier （SOA） is proposed. Stable triple-wavelength lasing oscillations at room temperature are experimentally demonstrated. The measured optical signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） reaches the highest value of 50 dB and the power fluctuation of each wavelength is less than 0.2 dB within a 1-h period. To serve as a wavelength selective element, the CMFG possesses excellent comb-like filtering characteristics including stable wavelength interval and ultra-narrow passband, and its fabrication method is easy and flexible. The lasing oscillation shows a narrower bandwidth than SOA-based multi-wavelength fiber lasers utilizing some other kinds of wavelength selective components. Methods to optimize the laser performance are also discussed.

Multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser using four-wave mixing effect in doped fiber

We demonstrate a multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser （EDFL） using erbium gain and four-wave mixing （FWM） effect in a piece of erbium-doped fiber （EDF） with high erbium ion concentration. The EDF has a pump absorption rate of 24.6 dB/m at 979 nm and is bi-directionally pumped by 980-nm laser diodes. FWM effect redistributes the energy of different oscillating lines and causes multi-wavelength operation. The laser generates more than 22 lines of optical comb with a line spacing of approximately 0.10 nm at the 1569-nm region using only 1.5-m-long EDF.

Thulium-doped all-PM fiber chirped pulse amplifier delivering 314 W average power

A high-power all polarization-maintaining(PM) chirped pulse amplification(CPA) system operating in the 2.0 μm range is experimentally demonstrated.Large mode area(LMA) thulium-doped fiber(TDF) with a core/cladding diameter of25/400 μm is employed to construct the main amplifier.Through dedicated coiling and cooling of the LMA-TDF to manage the loss of the higher order mode and thermal effect,a maximum average power of 314 W with a slope efficiency of 52% and polarization extinction ratio of 20 dB is realized.The pulse duration is compressed to 283 fs with a grating pair,corresponding to a calculated peak power of 10.8 MW,considering the compression efficiency of 88% and the estimated Strehl ratio of 89%.Moreover,through characterizing the noise properties of the laser,an integrated relative intensity noise of 0.11% at 100 Hz-1 MHz is obtained at the maximum output power,whereas the laser timing jitter is degraded by the final amplifier from 318 to 410 fs at an integration frequency of 5 kHz to 1 MHz,owing to the self-phase modulation effect-induced spectrum broadening.The root-mean-square of long-term power fluctuation is tested to be0.6%,verifying the good stability of the laser operation.To the best of our knowledge,this is the highest average power of an ultrafast laser realized from an all-PM-fiber TDF-CPA system ever reported.

Multi-wavelength fiber ring laser based on semiconductor optical amplifier and sampled fiber Bragg grating in a Sagnac loop interferometer

Multi-wavelength fiber ring laser based on the semiconductor optical amplifier(SOA)with sampled fiber Bragg grating(SFBG)in a Sagnac loop interferometer as the wavelength-selective filter is proposed.Four lasing wavelengths with 1.8 nm spacing have been generated stably at room temperature.The proposed laser has the advan-tages such as removal of the high-cost circulator,flexibility in channel-spacing tuning,and simple all-optical fiber configuration,which has potential applications in high-capacity wavelength-division-multiplexed(WDM)systems and mechanical sensors.

Multi-Wavelength Narrow Linewidth Fiber Laser Based on Distributed Feedback Fiber Lasers

A narrow linewidth laser configuration based on distributed feedback fiber lasers （DFB-FL） with eight wavelengths in the international telecommunication union （ITU） grid is presented and realized. In this laser configuration, eight phase-shifted gratings in series are bidirectionally pumped by two 980-nm laser diodes （LDs）. The final laser output with over 10-mW power for each wavelength can be obtained, and the maximum power difference within eight wavelengths is 1.2 dB. The laser configuration with multiple wavelengths and uniform power outputs can be very useful in large scaled optical fiber hydrophone fields.

A unidirectional room temperature multi-wavelength fiber ring laser without isolator

A simplified ring cavity for achieving a unidirectional room temperature multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser without optical isolator is demonstrated. The fiber ring cavity is built in such a way that the optical fields propagating in two directions suffer different losses caused by one sampled fiber Bragg grating. Furthermore, simultaneous multi-wavelength lasing with 0.8-nm intervals is demonstrated with sinusoidal phase modulation just before the sampled fiber Bragg grating to prevent single-wavelength lasing and unstable wavelength oscillation.