Abstract
We report on a novel architecture for robust mode-locked femtosecond fiber lasers using a nonlinear optical loop mirror with all polarization-maintaining fibers. Due to a nonreciprocal phase shift, the loop mirror can be operated in a compact and efficient reflection mode, offering the possibility to reach high repetition rates and easy implementation of tuning elements. In particular, longitudinal mode spacing and carrier-envelope offset frequency may be controlled in order to operate the laser as an optical frequency comb. We demonstrate femtosecond pulse generation at three different wavelengths (1030, 1565, and 2050 nm) using Ytterbium, Erbium, and co-doped Thulium–Holmium as gain media, respectively. Robust operation is achieved for a wide range of parameters, including repetition rates from 10 to 250 MHz.
This article is part of the topical collection “Enlightening the World with the Laser” - Honoring T. W. Hänsch guest edited by Tilman Esslinger, Nathalie Picqué, and Thomas Udem.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
T. Udem, J. Reichert, R. Holzwarth, T.W. Hänsch, Absolute optical frequency measurement of the cesium D1 Line with a mode locked laser. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3568–3571 (1999)
E.P. Ippen, H.A. Haus, L.Y. Liu, Additive pulse mode locking. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6, 1736–1745 (1989)
K. Kieu, F.W. Wise, All-fiber normal-dispersion femtosecond laser. Opt. Express 16, 11453–11458 (2008)
N. Kuse, J. Jiang, C.-C. Lee, T.R. Schibli, M.E. Fermann, All polarization-maintaining Er fiber-based optical frequency combs with nonlinear amplifying loop mirror. Opt. Express 24, 3095–3102 (2016)
N. Raabe, M. Mero, Y. Song, W. Hänsel, R. Holzwarth, A. Sell, A. Zach, and G. Steinmeyer, Detecting determinism in laser noise: a novel diagnostic approach for ultrafast lasers. In Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (p. SM3I.5). (OSA, Washington, DC, 2016)
M. Hofer, M.E. Fermann, F. Haberl, M.H. Ober, A.J. Schmidt, Mode locking with cross-phase and self-phase modulation. Opt. Lett. 16, 502–504 (1991)
K. Tamura, H.A. Haus, E.P. Ippen, Self-starting additive pulse mode-locked erbium fibre ring laser. Electron. Lett. 28, 2226–2228 (1992)
I.N. Duling III, All-fiber ring soliton laser mode locked with a nonlinear mirror. Opt. Lett. 16, 539–541 (1991)
M.E. Fermann, F. Haberl, M. Hofer, H. Hochreiter, Nonlinear amplifying loop mirror. Opt. Lett. 15, 752–754 (1990)
H.A. Haus, E.P. Ippen, K. Tamura, Additive-pulse modelocking in fiber lasers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 30, 200–208 (1994)
J.W. Nicholson, M. Andrejco, A polarization maintaining, dispersion managed, femtosecond figure-eight fiber laser. Opt. Express 14, 8160–8166 (2006)
E. Baumann, F.R. Giorgetta, J.W. Nicholson, W.C. Swann, I. Coddington, N.R. Newbury, High-performance, vibration-immune, fiber-laser frequency comb. Opt. Lett. 34, 638–640 (2009)
W. Hänsel, R. Holzwarth, R. Doubek, M. Mei, Laser with non-linear optical loop mirror. Eur. Pat. Appl. EP 2637265, A1 (2013)
T. Jiang, Y. Cui, P. Lu, C. Li, A. Wang, Z. Zhang, All PM fiber laser mode locked with a compact phase biased amplifier loop mirror. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 28, 1786–1789 (2016)
W. Hänsel, M. Giunta, K. Beha, M. Lezius, M. Fischer, R. Holzwarth, Ultra-low phase noise all-PM Er: fiber optical frequency comb. In Advanced Solid State Lasers (p. ATh4A.2). (OSA, Washington, DC, 2015)
H. Hoogland, S. Wittek, W. Hänsel, S. Stark, R. Holzwarth, Fiber chirped pulse amplifier at 2.08 μm emitting 383-fs pulses at 10 nJ and 7 MHz. Opt. Lett. 39, 6735–6738 (2014)
H. Hoogland, J. McNeur, M. Kozák, P. Hommelhoff, R. Holzwarth, Compact ultrashort pulsed 2.05 µm all-PM fiber laser for dielectric laser acceleration of non-relativistic electrons. In Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, OSA Technical Digest (p. SF1I.7). (OSA, Washington, DC, 2016)
X. Xie, R. Bouchand, D. Nicolodi, M. Giunta, W. Hänsel, M. Lezius, A. Joshi, S. Datta, C. Alexandre, M. Lours, P.-A. Tremblin, G. Santarelli, R. Holzwarth, Y. Le Coq, Photonic microwave signals with zeptosecond-level absolute timing noise. Nat Photonics. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.215
N. Kuse, C.-C. Lee, J. Jiang, C. Mohr, T.R. Schibli, M.E. Fermann, Ultra-low noise all polarization-maintaining Er fiber-based optical frequency combs facilitated with a graphene modulator. Opt. Express 23, 24342–24350 (2015)
M. Giunta, W. Hänsel, K. Beha, M. Fischer, M. Lezius, R Holzwarth, Ultra low noise Er: fiber frequency comb comparison. In Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (p. STh4H.1). (OSA, Washington, DC, 2016)
M. Lezius, T. Wilken, C. Deutsch, M. Giunta, O. Mandel, A. Thaller, V. Schkolnik, M. Schiemangk, A. Dinkelaker, A. Kohfeldt, A. Wicht, M. Krutzik, A. Peters, O. Hellmig, H. Duncker, K. Sengstock, P. Windpassinger, K. Lampmann, T. Hülsing, T. W. Hänsch, and R. Holzwarth, Space-borne Frequency Comb Metrology. Optica, 3, 1381–1387 (2016)
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge funding from the BMWi (Project ZIM-TERA), the BMBF (Projects ExtruTera, DiaTumor, and Mirandus), the DLR (Projects FOKAL and IRASSI), the EU FP7 initial training network FACT, and the DARPA PULSE program (Project PµreComb).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
1 Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hänsel, W. et al. (2018). All Polarization-Maintaining Fiber Laser Architecture for Robust Femtosecond Pulse Generation. In: Meschede, D., Udem, T., Esslinger, T. (eds) Exploring the World with the Laser. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64346-5_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64346-5_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64345-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64346-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)