Practical modelocked fiber lasers

Summary form only given. Researchers have often had a love/hate relationship with the fiber laser. On the one hand the laser was efficient compact, inexpensive, and capable of producing very clean short pulses. On the other hand they often needed constant adjustment, seemed to operate based on "hidden variables" and often had a random pulse distribution for harmonic mode-locking. These characteristics have led some researchers to abandon them as yet another perpetual technology of the future. This tutorial will hopefully convince the sceptic that fiber lasers have indeed become practical sources. It will cover the wide variety of modelocking mechanisms which can be used in fiber lasers, comparison between the techniques and a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each method. A number of examples of fiber laser designs that are rugged, stable and commercially available will be presented.