Self-similar pulse evolution in a fiber laser with a comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber

Yuxing Tang, Zhanwei Liu, Walter Fu, and Frank W. Wise. “Self-similar pulse evolution in a fiber laser with a comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber” Optics Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 10, pp. 2290-2293 (2016).

We demonstrate an erbium fiber laser with self-similar pulse evolution inside a comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber (DDF), which has the potential of generating nJ-level few-cycle pulses directly from a fiber oscillator. A passive DDF is formally equivalent to a fiber with constant gain, and can thus support self-similar pulse evolution but without any bandwidth limitation. Considering the challenges to fabrication of DDF, we try to imitate an ideal DDF with a comb-like DDF based on segments of ordinary fibers, which offers major practical advantages. The laser generates 1.3 nJ pulses with parabolic shapes and linear chirps, which can be dechirped to 37 fs. This constitutes a 4-fold increase in pulse energy compared to previous reports of this pulse duration.

Generation of 8  nJ pulses from a normal-dispersion thulium fiber laser

Yuxing Tang, Andy Chong, and Frank W. Wise. “Generation of 8  nJ pulses from a normal-dispersion thulium fiber laser” Optics Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 10, pp. 2361-2364 (2015).

There is great interest in development of better short-pulse lasers in the 2-5 μm region. We show the first thulium-doped fiber laser at 2 μm to reap the performance benefits of pulse propagation at normal dispersion. Ultra-high numerical-aperture fibers provide normal dispersion and are employed to shift the cavity dispersion to the normal regime. A laser that exhibits elements of self-similar pulse evolution generates 8-nJ and 130-fs pulses, which corresponds to 4 times the highest peak power achieved previously by a Tm fiber laser.

Ultrafast fiber lasers based on self-similar pulse evolution: a review of current progress

A. Chong, L. G. Wright and F. W. Wise “Ultrafast fiber lasers based on self-similar pulse evolution: a review of current progress ” Rep. Prog. Phys. 78, 113901 (2015).

We summarize the state of research on lasers based on self-similar pulse evolutions, including passive similariton, amplifier similariton, and others. Self-similar fiber lasers are conceptually different from other kinds of short-pulse lasers. This distinction allows for exciting new laser design options.

Divided Pulse Lasers

We show that divided-pulse amplification can be used within a laser cavity to increase the pulse energy of a soliton fiber laser. In divided-pulse amplification, pulses are split up N times prior to amplification. After amplification, they are recombined into a single pulse. By reducing the peak intensity within the gain fiber, each split copy can be amplified to the single-pulse limit, and therefore the final recombined pulse can have N times higher energy. This work was featured in Spotlight on Optics.