2-µm energy-managed soliton fiber laser

Abstract

To generate energetic short pulses from fiber laser oscillators in the 2-µm emission window, we here propose an alternative to the conventional methods of pulse stretching and dispersion management. We build a passively mode-locked fiber laser from anomalous single-mode fibers and utilize strong dissipative effects to delineate high and low pulse energy sections within the cavity. Whereas the main laser output delivers low-chirp sub-ps pulses with an energy up to 12 nJ, the intracavity pulse is reshaped into a ∼0.1-nJ conventional soliton, stabilizing the laser dynamics while enabling a wide tunability in both repetition rate and central emission wavelength.