CW passive mode-locking evolved from Q-switched mode-locking in erbium doped fiber lasers

Author

Min Jiang ; Sucha, G. ; Fermann, Martin ; Harter, D.

Author_Institution

IMRA America Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

1999

fDate

28-28 May 1999

Firstpage

440

Lastpage

441

Abstract

Summary form only given. We report a new mode-locking mechanism, where the use of a two-photon absorber in addition to a saturable absorber allows for CW mode-locking to reliably evolve from Q-switched mode locking. An optimal design of the two-photon absorber limits the peak power of the Q-switched pulses via optical limiting and thus aids in preventing damage to the saturable absorber. Moreover, the threshold for optical limiting is chosen to set an optimum stability point for CW mode-locked operation.

Keywords

Q-switching; erbium; fibre lasers; laser mode locking; optical pulse shaping; optical saturable absorption; two-photon processes; CW passive mode-locking; Q-switched mode-locking; erbium doped fiber lasers; fast pulse shaping; large saturable loss; optical limiting; optimal design; optimum stability point; saturable absorber; self-starting condition; two-photon absorption; Absorption; Erbium; Erbium-doped fiber lasers; Fiber lasers; Laser mode locking; Laser stability; Laser transitions; Pulse measurements; Pump lasers; Space vector pulse width modulation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1999. CLEO '99. Summaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-595-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.1999.834420

Filename

834420