Title :
Fiber laser mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber etalon operating in transmission
Author :
Isomäki, Antti ; Guina, Mircea D. ; Tuomisto, Pietari ; Okhotnikov, Oleg G.
Author_Institution :
Tampere Univ. of Technol.
Abstract :
We demonstrate a ring cavity ytterbium fiber laser mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber used in transmission. The resonant cavity-enhanced nonlinear response corresponding to the low-loss transmission state enables a robust self-starting mode-locking. Such a transfer function is opposite to that of the resonant absorber operating in the reflection mode, where the highest modulation depth matches the high-loss state. The device ensures ultrashort pulse operation with the wavelength self-adjusted to the optimal value corresponding to the low-loss state of the laser cavity. When using a saturable absorber etalon in transmission mode, the mode-locking mechanism is also highly tolerant to the total cavity dispersion
Keywords :
fibre lasers; laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; optical saturable absorption; ring lasers; ytterbium; laser mode locking; modulation depth; resonant cavity-enhanced nonlinear response; ring cavity ytterbium fiber laser; semiconductor saturable absorber etalon; transmission loss-state; Fiber lasers; Laser mode locking; Optical pulses; Optical reflection; Resonance; Ring lasers; Robustness; Semiconductor lasers; Transfer functions; Ytterbium; Mode-locked lasers; optical fiber lasers; quantum-well devices; ultrafast optics;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LPT.2006.883894
