All-fiber bidirectional passively mode-locked ring laser

We report the design and operation of a novel all-fiber bidirectional passively mode-locked ring laser. An erbium-doped fiber was chosen as the active element in a ring cavity arrangement. A short segment of a fiber taper embedded in carbon nanotubes/polymer composite, acting as a saturable absorber...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2008-01, Vol.33 (1), p.64-66
Main Authors: KIEU, Khanh, MANSURIPUR, Masud
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exact sciences and technology
Fiber lasers
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Laser optical systems: design and operation
Lasers
Modulation, tuning, and mode locking
Nonlinear optics
Optics
Physics
Ultrafast processes
optical pulse generation and pulse compression
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Summary:We report the design and operation of a novel all-fiber bidirectional passively mode-locked ring laser. An erbium-doped fiber was chosen as the active element in a ring cavity arrangement. A short segment of a fiber taper embedded in carbon nanotubes/polymer composite, acting as a saturable absorber, was used to enable bidirectional mode locking. The laser generates two stable femtosecond pulse trains in opposite directions. A beat note of about 2 MHz, having a bandwidth of less than 2 kHz, is measured when the pulses propagating in opposite directions are (temporally) overlapped at a photodetector. We believe this device will find important applications in precision rotation sensing.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/ol.33.000064