High-energy, sub-100 fs, all-fiber stretched-pulse mode-locked Er-doped ring laser with a highly-nonlinear resonator

1.3 µm dissipative soliton resonance generation in Bismuth doped fiber laser

In this work, a Figure-9 (F9) bismuth-doped fiber laser (BiDFL) operating in the dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) regime is presented. The 1338 nm laser used a BiDF as the active gain medium, while a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) in an F9 configuration was employed to obtain high energy mode-locked pulses. The wave breaking-free rectangular pulse widened significantly in the time domain with the increase of the pump power while maintaining an almost constant peak power of 0.6 W. At the maximum pump power, the mode-locked laser delivered a rectangular-shaped pulse with a duration of 48 ns, repetition rate of 362 kHz and a radio-frequency signal-to-noise ratio of more than 60 dB. The maximum output power was recorded at around 11 mW with a corresponding pulse energy of 30 nJ. This is, to the best of the author's knowledge, the highest mode-locked pulse energy obtained at 1.3 μm as well as the demonstration of an NALM BiDFL in a F9 configuration.

High-order soliton evolution and pulse breaking-recovery in stretched ultrafast fiber lasers

We present a new pulse regime in a stretched ultrafast fiber laser based on numerical simulations. The pulse breaking due to high-order soliton evolution in the passive fiber is recovered to a smooth pulse in the gain fiber with normal dispersion. The new pulse regime formed by the two nonlinear processes makes the ultrafast fiber laser generate ultra-broadband, ultrashort duration, high energy and large breathing ratio pulses. Our work gives insights into the nonlinear dynamics in fiber lasers and has potential for a better design of the stretched fiber lasers.

Stable Similariton Generation in an All-Fiber Hybrid Mode-Locked Ring Laser for Frequency Metrology

Ultrashort pulse lasers constitute an important tool in the emerging field of optical frequency metrology and are enabling unprecedented measurement capabilities and new applications in a wide range of fields, including precision spectroscopy, atomic clocks, ultracold gases, and molecular fingerprinting. We demonstrate the generation of stable 127-fs self-similar pulses at a central wavelength of 1560 nm with 7.14-mW average output power. Similariton lasers have a low repetition rate deviation in the averaging time interval [Formula: see text], a low relative intensity noise [Formula: see text] (30 Hz to 10 kHz), a narrow single comb line width of 32 kHz, and high reliability. Thus, such lasers are highly promising for further development of the stabilized combs and open up a robust and substantially simplified route to synthesizing low-noise microwaves.

Focus issue introduction: Advanced Solid-State Lasers (ASSL) 2015

The editors introduce the focus issue on "Advanced Solid-State Lasers (ASSL) 2015", which is based on the topics presented at a congress of the same name held in Berlin, Germany, from October 4 to October 9, 2015. This focus issue, jointly prepared by Optics Express and Optical Materials Express, includes 23 contributed papers (17 for Optics Express and 6 for Optical Materials Express) selected from the voluntary submissions from attendees who presented at the congress and have extended their work into complete research articles. We hope this focus issue offers a good snapshot of a variety of topical discussions held at the congress and will contribute to the further expansion of the associated research areas.