A. M. Khegai, F. V. Afanas'ev, K. E. Riumkin, S. V. Firstov, V. F. Khopin, D. V. Myasnikov, M. A. Mel'kumov, E. M. Dianov, “Picosecond 1.3-μm bismuth fibre laser mode-locked by a nonlinear loop mirror”, Kvantovaya Elektronika, 2016, Volume 46, Number 12,Pages <nobr>1077

This article is cited in 17 papers

Fibre lasers

Picosecond 1.3-μm bismuth fibre laser mode-locked by a nonlinear loop mirror

A. M. Khegai^a, F. V. Afanas'ev^b, K. E. Riumkin^a, S. V. Firstov^a, V. F. Khopin^b, D. V. Myasnikov^c, M. A. Mel'kumov^a, E. M. Dianov^a

^a Fiber Optics Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
^b Institute of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances RAS, Nizhnii Novgorod
^c IRE-Polus Research and Technology Association, Fryazino, Moscow Region

Abstract: The influence of the concentration of bismuth active centres (BACs) in phosphosilicate fibres on their optical parameters, including gain coefficient and non-saturable losses, has been studied. A range of BAC concentrations optimal for designing ultrashort-pulse (USP) lasers was chosen based on the obtained results. The optimised fibre was used to fabricate an all-fibre 1.3-μm USP laser mode-locked by a nonlinear loop mirror, which emits 11.3-ps pulses with an energy of 1.65 nJ and a repetition rate of 3.6 MHz. A bismuth fibre amplifier made it possible to increase the pulse energy to 8.3 nJ. After compression in a diffraction grating compressor, the pulse duration decreased to 530 fs.

Keywords: bismuth fibre laser, USP laser, lasing, mode locking, nonlinear loop mirror, non-saturable losses.

Received: 25.10.2016
Revised: 08.11.2016