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We demonstrate the generation of soliton and dissipative soliton in an ultrafast thulium (Tm) doped fiber laser based upon cross-phase modulation (XPM) induced mode-locking. The mode-locking is realized by periodically modulating the 2-µm signal through XPM that is activated by an injected 1.5-µm pulsed laser. Such a mechanism enables the laser to be mode-locked in various operation regimes without any real or artificial saturable absorbers. Thanks to the XPM pulling effect, the wavelength of the Tm-doped fiber laser can be tuned by adjusting the repetition frequency of the 1.5-µm pulsed laser. The maximum tuning ranges achieved in this work for the soliton and dissipative soliton regimes are respectively 11 nm and 15 nm. The outcomes of this work not only provide a continuously and controllably wavelength-tunable ultrafast laser but also offer a passively synchronized dual-color fiber laser system, which is promised for many important applications such as Raman spectroscopy, nonlinear frequency conversion systems, and multi-color pump-probe systems.

We report a mode-locked high-power all-polarization-maintaining Er/Yb-doped large-mode-area fiber oscillator based on a bias nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM). The oscillator can generate ∼1-nJ femtosecond pulses without dispersion compensation. By inserting a Martinez-type compensator to provide normal dispersion, it can generate >10-nJ picosecond dissipative solitons (DSs). The measured M2 factors are below 1.5, indicating a good beam quality. When the cavity dispersion is tuned to be ∼0.704 ps2, the oscillator can deliver chirped DSs with an average power as high as 690 mW at a repetition rate of 49.86 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of ∼13.8 nJ. The pulse after compression has a near Fourier-limited width of ∼2 ps. Successful demonstration of this laser provides a robust scheme for improving the performance of ultrafast fiber lasers in average power and pulse energy.

An all-polarization-maintaining (PM) mode-locked fiber laser based upon nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) that operates around 976 nm is presented. The NPE-based mode-locking is realized using a special section of the laser which comprises three pieces of PM fibers with specific deviation angles between the polarization axes and a polarization-dependent isolator. By optimizing the NPE section and adjusting the pump power, dissipative soliton (DS) pulses with a pulse duration of ∼6 ps, a spectral bandwidth of >10 nm and a maximum pulse energy of 0.54 nJ are generated. Self-starting, steady mode-locking operation is achievable within a pump power range of ∼2 W. Moreover, by incorporating a segment of passive fiber into the appropriate location in the laser resonator, an intermediate regime between stable single-pulse mode-locking and noise-like pulse (NLP) is realized in the laser. Our work expands the dimension of the research on the mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser operating around 976 nm.

We experimentally investigate the generation of h-shaped pulse in an all-polarization-maintaining (PM) and all-normal-dispersion (ANDi) mode-locked fiber laser. The generated pulse is demonstrated to be a unitary pulse, instead of a noise-like pulse (NLP). Furthermore, by employing an external filtering system, the obtained h-shaped pulse can be resolved into rectangular-shaped pulses, chair-like pulses, and Gaussian pulses. The authentic AC traces with a double-scale structure of unitary h-shaped pulses and chair-like pulses are observed on the autocorrelator. The chirp of h-shaped pulses is also proved similar to that of DSR pulses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the existence of unitary h-shaped pulse generation has been confirmed. Moreover, our experimental results reveal the close relationship of formation mechanisms of dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) pulses, h-shaped pulses, and chair-like pulses, which helps to unify the essences of such “DSR-like” pulses.

We report a high-average-power mid-infrared ultrafast laser system consisting of a fluoride fiber mode-locked oscillator and a nonlinear amplifier. A backward pumping scheme was used in the amplifier to simultaneously realize pulse amplification and self-compression. The input signal polarization was demonstrated to play an important role in the self-compression process. Through the optimization of input polarization, a 4.13 W average-power 59 fs pulse at 2.8 µm was achieved, with an estimated pulse energy of 42.2 nJ and a peak power of 715 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average-power pulse with sub-100-fs duration generated from a mid-infrared fiber laser system to date.

Ultrafast fiber lasers with a wide spectral range have huge demands for many applications. In this article, magnetron sputtering deposition (MSD) technique was utilized to prepare a new broadband microfiber based Sb thin film saturable absorber (SA), and ultrafast pulses in both 1.5 and 2 μm wavebands were generated with the integrated microfiber-based Sb thin film SA in erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) and thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL), respectively. Pulse duration of 544 fs/972 fs and output power of 21.76 mW/36.1 mW centered at 1557 nm/1892 nm were respectively produced from stable mode-locked EDFL and TDFL. To the best our knowledge, this is the first time that ultrafast fiber lasers including both 1.5 μm and 2 μm wavebands were mode locked by a single microfiber-based Sb thin film SA.

openaire: EC/H2020/820423/EU//S2QUIP We demonstrate a compact all-fiber Er-doped chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system that can produce ∼344 fs pulses with an average power of up to 1.02 W and a repetition rate of 40.6 MHz at 1.56 μm (corresponding to an energy of 25.1 nJ). The pulse compressor in the CPA system is based on a hollow core photonic crystal fiber which is directly butt-coupled to the silica fiber. A mismatched negative third-order dispersion is used to compensate the accumulated nonlinear phase shift in the amplification process for the first time, resulting in the generation of sub-400 fs pulses from an all-fiber Watt-level Er-doped CPA system. Our system architecture offers a possibility for ultrashort pulse generation from all-fiber Er-doped CPA lasers.

We demonstrate a wavelength-tunable, sub-200 fs, and watt-level thulium-doped ultrafast fiber oscillator with a fundamental frequency repetition rate of 509.7 MHz. The wavelength can be tuned between 1918.5 nm and 2031 nm by adjusting the intra-cavity waveplates. When the wavelength is tuned to below 2000 nm, the average output power exceeds 1 W. The oscillator provides a maximum average power of 1.314 W (corresponding to a pulse energy of 2.58 nJ) and a highest peak power of 12.5 kW at 1940 nm. Such a high-power, tunable 2-µm mode-locked fiber laser is an ideal light source candidate for a variety of applications, such as frequency metrology, molecular spectroscopy, and ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy.

We report a hybrid mode-locked fiber laser at 2.8 µm based on a large-mode-area Er:ZBLAN fiber. Reliable self-starting mode-locking is achieved via the combination of nonlinear polarization rotation and a semiconductor saturable absorber. Stable mode-locked pulses with a pulse energy of 9.4 nJ and a pulse duration of 325 fs are generated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse energy directly generated from a femtosecond mode-locked fluoride fiber laser (MLFFL) to date. The measured M2 factors are below 1.13, indicating a nearly diffraction-limited beam quality. Demonstration of this laser provides a feasible scheme for the pulse energy scaling of mid-infrared MLFFLs. Moreover, a peculiar multi-soliton mode-locking state is also observed, in which the time interval between the solitons varies irregularly from tens of picoseconds to several nanoseconds.

We report an all-fiber 2.8-µm ultra-short pulse master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system seeded by a soliton self-frequency shift from a mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser. This all-fiber laser source delivers 2.8-µm pulses with an average power of 3.42 W, a pulse width of 115 fs, and a pulse energy of 45.4 nJ. We demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first femtosecond watt-level all-fiber 2.8-µm laser system. A 2.8-µm pulse seed was obtained via the soliton self-frequency shift of 2-µm ultra-short pulses in a cascaded silica and passive fluoride fiber. A novel, to the best of our knowledge, high-efficiency and compact home-made end-pump silica-fluoride fiber combiner was fabricated and used in this MOPA system. Nonlinear amplification of the 2.8-µm pulse was realized, and soliton self-compression was observed accompanied by spectral broadening.

By combining nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) and semiconductor saturable absorber, we report a hybrid mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber oscillator at 2.8 µm. Stable 325-fs mode-locked pulses with an average power of 131 mW and a record signal-to-noise ratio of 79 dB at the fundamental frequency of 55.4 MHz are generated. Numerical simulations are carried out based on the modified coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations, and offer new insights into the underlying dynamics of pulse generation. The simulations indicate that compared with Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers mode-locked by NPR alone, the hybrid mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber oscillator allows a wider range and a lower threshold of the pump power while maintaining the ultrashort pulse width. Moreover, we numerically demonstrate that the hybrid mode-locked oscillator is less sensitive to the variation of polarization states, which will increase its robustness against environmental disturbance. This is the first time that the hybrid mode-locking technique is applied in the mid-infrared, opening up new opportunities for the development of stable ultrafast mid-infrared laser sources and practical applications outside the laboratory.

A high-power all-fiber supercontinuum (SC) source in a highly germania-doped fiber (GDF) pumped by a picosecond thulium-doped master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system is presented. By further optimizing the length of the GDF, the long-wavelength edge of the wideband flat SC can be broadened to 3 μm. The flat SC has an average output power of 11.62 W and a 3 dB bandwidth of 750 nm. The power proportion beyond 2400 nm is as high as 55.3%. To our knowledge, this SC average output power is the highest from a highly GDF.

High-power tunable femtosecond mid-infrared (MIR) pulses are of great interest for many scientific and industrial applications. Here we demonstrate a compact fluoride-fiber-based system that generates single solitons tunable from 3 to 3.8 μm. The system is composed of an Er:ZBLAN fiber oscillator and amplifier followed by a fusion-spliced Dy:ZBLAN fiber amplifier. The Er:ZBLAN fiber amplifier acts as a power booster as well as a frequency shifter to generate Raman solitons up to 3 μm. The Dy:ZBLAN fiber amplifier transfers the energy from the residual 2.8 μm radiation into the Raman solitons using an in-band pumping scheme, and further extends the wavelength up to 3.8 μm. Common residual pump radiation and secondary solitons accompanying the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) are recycled to amplify Raman solitons, consequently displaying a higher output power and pulse energy, a wider shifting range, and an excellent spectral purity. Stable 252 fs pulses at 3.8 μm with a record average power of 1.6 W and a pulse energy of 23 nJ are generated. This work provides an effective way to develop high-power widely tunable ultrafast single-soliton MIR laser sources, and this method can facilitate the design of other SSFS-based laser systems for single-soliton generation.

We report a compact, self-starting dispersion-managed mode-locked thulium-doped fiber oscillator that delivers 2.6 nJ pulses at 2 µm with a repetition rate of 250 MHz. The average output power and spectral bandwidth of the pulses reach impressive values of 648 mW and 103 nm, respectively. The generated pulses are near linearly chirped, capable of linearly compressing to 74 fs in a normal dispersion fiber after power attenuation. Using a nonlinear fiber compression scheme can even compress the pulses to 29 fs (4.3-cycle). The remaining pulse energy is 1.15 nJ, and the corresponding peak power is estimated as 39.4 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of nonlinearly compressing the pulse of a 2 µm fiber oscillator to the sub-5 cycle regime. Such a few-cycle fiber laser could be an ideal candidate source for short-wavelength mid-infrared frequency metrology and molecular spectroscopy applications.

We demonstrate a compact, self-starting mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE), with a fundamental repetition rate of ∼ 344 M H z and a pulse duration of ∼ 160 f s . The generated pulses centered at ∼ 1975 n m have a maximum output power of ∼ 560 m W , corresponding to a pulse energy of ∼ 1.63 n J . To the best of our knowledge, the achieved repetition rate represents the highest value of fundamentally NPE mode-locked fiber lasers at ∼ 2 µ m , while the average output power is also higher than the previously reported 2 µm ultrafast single-mode fiber oscillators. The timing jitter in the integrated range [5 kHz, 10 MHz] and the integrated relative intensity noise in the range [10 Hz, 10 MHz] reach ∼ 35 f s and ∼ 0.009 % , respectively. Our high-performance laser is an ideal candidate for various applications, including mid-infrared frequency metrology and high-speed optical sampling.

A passively mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser using a tungsten ditelluride saturable absorber ( W T e 2 - S A ) is demonstrated. High-power mode-locked pulses with an average output power of 108.1 mW were achieved by incorporating the W T e 2 - S A into a thulium-doped fiber oscillator. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power obtained from a W T e 2 - S A -based fiber laser. We further amplified the output power to 5.60 W with an all-fiber thulium-doped double-cladding fiber amplifier. Our result indicates that W T e 2 - S A could be an excellent candidate for a high-power fiber laser system.

We report on a mid-infrared fiber laser that uses a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber mirror to realize the mode-locking operation. The laser generates 3.5 µm ultra-short pulses from an erbium-doped fluoride fiber by utilizing a dual-wavelength pumping scheme. Stable mode-locking is achieved at the 3.5 µm band with a repetition rate of 25.2 MHz. The maximum average power acquired from the laser in the mode-locking regime is 25 mW. The experimental results indicate that the carbon nanotube is an effective saturable absorber for mode-locking in the mid-infrared spectral region.

We report the usage of chemical vapor deposition-grown monolayer WSe2 as a saturable absorber (SA) for a mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser. The monolayer WSe2 was transferred onto a microfiber and then incorporated into a typical all-fiber-integrated ring cavity configuration. Stable soliton pulses emitting at 1863.96 nm were obtained with pulse duration of 1.16 ps, repetition rate of 11.36 MHz, and an average power of 32.5 mW. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of WSe2-based SA in fiber lasers at 2 μ m regime.

We have grown ultrathin quartz plate-based multilayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). When employed as saturable absorber (SA), the prepared MoS2 device exhibits remarkable merits (e.g. uniform thickness, high quality of crystal lattice high damage threshold easy fabrication and good practicability). The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and non-saturable loss of this SA device are measured to be 16.1%, 0.438 MW/cm2 and 44.6% respectively. By incorporating the SA into a typical ring cavity erbium-doped fiber laser, stable passive soliton mode-locked pulse is achieved with the repetition frequency of 0.987 MHz, the signal noise ratio (SNR) of 71.4 dB and the pulse duration of 2.17 ps. The experimental results demonstrate our MoS2-SA device to be an effective mode locker, and it is promising to be used in ultrafast photonics.

This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological, clinical, and virologic characteristics of avian influenza A (H7N9) confirmed cases from two family clusters in Southeast China. Epidemiological data of the H7N9 confirmed cases and their close contacts were obtained through interviews and reviews of medical records. Of the four patients in these two family clusters, two cases had mild symptoms, one had severe symptoms, and one died. Three of the four patients had a history of exposure to live poultry or contaminated environments. The complete genome sequences of the H7N9 viruses from the same family cluster were highly homologous, and the four isolated viruses from the two family clusters exhibited the virologic features of the H7N9 virus, in terms of transmissibility, pathogenicity, host adaptation, and antiviral drug resistance. In addition, our findings indicated that the A/Fujian/18/2015 viral strain contained an additional hemagglutinin G225D substitution, which preferentially binds α2,6-linked sialic acids. The results of this study demonstrate that one family cluster was infected through common exposure to live poultry or contaminated environments, and the other was more likely to be infected through the human-to-human route.

We demonstrate a simple Fe3O4 nanoparticles (FONPs) based Q-switched fiber laser that is able to generate stable nanosecond pulses with single-wavelength or multiwavelength regimes. In the single-wavelength lasing scheme, the fiber laser generates 613-ns pulse with average output power of 41.2 mW, pulse energy of 321.3 nJ, and signal-noise-ratio of 54.4 dB. In the multiwavelength lasing scheme, stable pulse is achieved with 18-wavelength channels contained within the 3-dB bandwidth range. Our results prove that the FONPs can act as an effective Q-switch for high-energy pulse generation.

A wavelength-tunable passively-synchronized 1-μm Q-switched and 1.5-μm gain-switched dual-wavelength pulsed fiber laser has been demonstrated with a single gain fiber for the first time to our knowledge. The realized dual-wavelength co-oscillation is based on a dual ring-cavity configuration with a common Er/Yb co-doped fiber (EYDF). The Q-switched 1-μm pulses are generated through the saturable absorption effect of unpumped EYDF aided by a 1.5-μm oscillation cavity, whereas the 1.5-μm pulses are produced by the gain-switching of Er3+ ions induced by the 1-μm Q-switched pulses. A tuning range of 11.7 nm from 1045.3 to 1057 nm and 29.7 nm from 1535 to 1564.7 nm are obtained at stable synchronized pulse operation for 1 and 1.5-μm spectral bands, respectively.

Employing 0.3 nm diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as saturable absorbers, we demonstrate a passively mode-locked fiber laser operating at 1950 nm. The 0.3 nm diameter SWCNTs are prepared by pyrolyzing dipropylamine in the channels of zeolite crystals MgAPO-11 (AEL). The laser pumped by a 1550 nm laser source produces 972 fs pulses with a spectral width at half-maximum of 4.2 nm and a repetition rate of 21.05 MHz, an average output power of 2.3 mW corresponding to the maximum pump power of 420 mW with a 10% output coupler.

As one of the greatest inventions in the 20th century, ultrafast lasers have offered new opportunities in the areas of basic scientific research and industrial manufacturing. Optical modulators are of great importance in ultrafast lasers, which directly affect the output laser performances. Over the past decades, significant efforts have been made in the development of compact, controllable, repeatable, as well as integratable optical modulators (i.e., saturable absorbers). In this paper, we review the fundamentals of the most widely studied saturable absorbers, including semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors and low-dimensional nanomaterials. Then, different fabrication technologies for saturable absorbers and their ultrafast laser applications in a wide wavelength range are illustrated. Furthermore, challenges and perspectives for the future development of saturable absorbers are discussed and presented. The development of ultrafast lasers together with the continuous exploration of reliable saturable absorbers will open up new directions for the mass production of the next-generation optoelectronic devices.

A wideband-tunable Q-switched fiber laser with a high-reflective topological insulator saturable absorber mirror (TISAM) was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed TISAM is composed of Sb2Te3 and gold films deposited over the fiber tip, and it has the advantage of compact size, easy integration over fiber, good stability, and mass production ability. The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and nonsaturable loss of the TISAM at 1550 nm are experimentally tested to be 6.2%, 143 MW/cm2, and 4.2%, respectively. By using such TISAM, we obtain laser pulses of ~400 ns in pulse width and kHz in repetition rates over the wavelength range from 1530 to 1570 nm. The experimental results indicate that the Sb2Te3 based TISAM have good potentials for Q-switched fiber lasers.

openaire: EC/FP7/631610/EU//GrabFast We demonstrate a high-peak-power femtosecond fiber laser system based on single-mode holmium (Ho)-doped fibers. 833 fs, 27.7 MHz pulses at 2083.4 nm generated in a passively mode-locked Ho fiber laser are amplified and compressed to near transform-limited 172 fs, 7.2 nJ pulses with 24.3 kW peak power. We achieve this performance level by using the soliton effect and high-order soliton compression. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of sub-200 fs pulses, with peak power exceeding 10 kW from a Ho-doped single-mode fiber laser system without using bulk optics compressors.

We propose and demonstrate, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser generating cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) using a mode selective coupler (MSC) as the transverse mode converter and splitter, and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) for mode-locking. According to the coupling mode theory and the phase matching principle, the MSC was fabricated by weakly fused technology, having a low loss of about 0.5 dB and achieving LP11 mode with a high purity of > 96%. The CVB fiber laser operates at a center wavelength of 1042.3 nm, with a 3 dB spectral width of 1.5 nm. The repetition rate of the mode-locked laser pulses is 18.58 MHz. The radially and azimuthally polarized vector beams can be switched by adjusting the polarization controllers in the fiber ring cavity, with a high mode purity measured to be > 95%. The mode-locked CVB ytterbium-doped fiber laser has potential applications in optical tweezers, optical imaging, and so on.