Experimental investigation of a figure-eight fiber laser with a symmetrical NOLM and highly twisted fiber-in-the-loop

Baldemar Ibarra-Escamilla; Olivier Pottiez; Evgeny A. Kuzin; Rubén Grajales-Coutiño; Joseph W. Haus; Roberto Rojas-Laguna

doi:10.1117/12.700704

23 February 2007 Experimental investigation of a figure-eight fiber laser with a symmetrical NOLM and highly twisted fiber-in-the-loop

Baldemar Ibarra-Escamilla, Olivier Pottiez, Evgeny A. Kuzin, Rubén Grajales-Coutiño, Joseph W. Haus, Roberto Rojas-Laguna

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6453, Fiber Lasers IV: Technology, Systems, and Applications; 645323 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.700704
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2007, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

We report experimental results that demonstrate the mode-locking operation of a figure eight fiber laser based on a symmetrical nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) with a twisted low-birefringence fiber in the loop. The mode-locking operation is achieved by nonlinear polarization rotation in the NOLM, where the counterpropagating beams accumulate a differential nonlinear phase shift when they have different polarizations. By adjusting a single quarter wave (QW) retarder in the NOLM it was possible to change the NOLM transmission behavior from a maximum to a minimum at low input power. Self-starting mode-locking operation was found for only specific settings of the QW retarder. The pulse repetition frequency was around 0.8 MHz. The mode-locked laser operated stably for hours and the adjustment procedure was straightforward. We achieved stable generation of picosecond pulses with milliwatts of average output power.

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Baldemar Ibarra-Escamilla, Olivier Pottiez, Evgeny A. Kuzin, Rubén Grajales-Coutiño, Joseph W. Haus, and Roberto Rojas-Laguna "Experimental investigation of a figure-eight fiber laser with a symmetrical NOLM and highly twisted fiber-in-the-loop", Proc. SPIE 6453, Fiber Lasers IV: Technology, Systems, and Applications, 645323 (23 February 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.700704

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