We investigate the buildup dynamics of broadband Q-switched noise-like pulse (QS-NLP) driven by slow gain dynamics in a microfiber-based passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser. Based on shot-to-shot tracing of the transient optical spectra and qualitatively reproduced numerial simulation, we demonstrate that slow gain dynamics is deeply involved in the onset of such complex temporal and spectral instabilities of QS-NLP. The proposed dynamic model in this work could contribute to deeper insight of such nonlinear dynamics and transient dynamics simulation in ultrafast fiber laser.
Dissipative Kerr solitons (DKSs) have been generated via injection locking of chipscale microresonators to continuous-wave (CW) III-V lasers. This advance has enabled fully integrated hybrid microcomb systems that operate in turnkey mode and can access microwave repetition rates. Yet, CW-driven DKS exhibits low energy conversion efficiency and high optical power threshold, especially when the repetition rate is within the microwave range that is convenient for direct detection with off-the-shelf electronics. Efficient DKS can be generated by spatiotemporally structured light (i.e., pulsed pumping), which to date however has required complex cascaded modulators for pulse synthesis. Here we demonstrate a photonic integrated approach to pulsed pumping. By actively switching the bias current of injection-locked III-V semiconductor lasers with switching frequencies in the X-band and K-band microwave ranges, we pump a crystalline and integrated microresonators with coherent picosecond laser pulses, achieving DKS generation with stable repetition rates and lowering the required average pumping power by one order of magnitude to a record-setting level of a few milliwatts. In addition, we unveil the critical role of the phase profile of the pumping pulses, and for the first time implement phase engineering on the pulsed pumping scheme by either accessing a multimode lasing regime in the gain-switching mode or applying external chirping to support robust single-soliton generation. Our work leverages the advantages of gain switching technique and pulse pumping technique, and establishes the merits of combining distinct compact frequency comb platforms that enhance the potential of energy-efficient chipscale microcombs.
We demonstrate a gain-switched thulium fiber laser that can be continuously tuned over 140 nm, while maintaining stable nanosecond single-pulse operation. To the best of our knowledge, this system represents the broadest tuning range for a gain-switched fiber laser. The system simplicity and wideband wavelength tunability combined with the ability to control the temporal characteristics of the gain-switched pulses mean this is a versatile source highly suited to a wide range of applications in the eye-safe region of the infrared, including spectroscopy, sensing and material processing, as well as being a practical seed source for pumping nonlinear processes.
We proposed a narrow spectral bandwidth Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser Q-switched by a homemade saturable dynamic induced grating (SDIG) which is introduced via reforming the structure of a fiber saturable absorbers FSA with a piece of EDF and a fiber Bragg grating. The SDIG integrates both saturable absorption and spectral filtering effect simultaneously, which was confirmed through theoretical analysis and experimental results for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Further study verified that the spectral width of the Q-switched emissions is decided by the length of the SDIG and the input power of the pump source. The Q-switched pulse with the narrowest spectral width of about 29.1 pm achieved in this work is the narrowest bandwidth pulse in the domain of the FSA Q-switched fiber lasers when the length of SDIG and pump power are 20 cm and 250 mW, respectively. Our method provides a simple way to obtain the Q-switched pulses with narrow bandwidths, which have promising applications for nonlinear frequency conversion, Doppler LIDAR and coherent beam combinations.
Black phosphorus, a newly emerged two-dimensional material, has attracted wide attention as novel photonic material. Here, multi-layer black phosphorus is successfully fabricated by liquid phase exfoliation method. By employing black phosphorus as saturable absorber, we demonstrate a passively Q-switched Er-doped ZBLAN fiber laser at the wavelength of 2.8 {mu}m. The modulation depth and saturation fluence of the black phosphorus saturable absorber are measured to be 15% and 9 {mu}J/cm2, respectively. The Q-switched fiber laser delivers a maximum average power of 485 mW with corresponding pulse energy of 7.7 {mu}J and pulse width of 1.18 {mu}s at repetition rate of 63 kHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to demonstrate that black phosphorus can realize Q-switching of 2.8-{mu}m fiber laser. Our research results show that black phosphorus is a promising saturable absorber for mid-infrared pulsed lasers.
We report the first mode-locked fiber laser to operate in the femtosecond regime well beyond 3 {mu}m. The laser uses dual-wavelength pumping and non-linear polarisation rotation to produce 3.5 {mu}m wavelength pulses with minimum duration of 580 fs at a repetition rate of 68 MHz. The pulse energy is 3.2 nJ, corresponding to a peak power of 5.5 kW.