Stretched pulse Yb³⁺:silica fibre laser

We report what we believe to be the first results on short-pulse generation in Yb3+:silica fiber. By applying the stretched pulse technique in a unidirectional, polarization-switch Yb3+ fiber laser incorporating a prism-based dispersive delay line, we obtain self-start mode locking and 100pJ pulses that can be compressed to give clean chirp-free <100fs pulses. We believe such sources to have great potential for use not only in all-solid-state high-power femtosecond pulse systems based on Yb3+:silica glass but also as seeds for conventional Nd3+:glass amplifier chains

80 fs pulses from a stretched-pulse Yb³⁺:silica fibre laser

We report the first demonstration of ultrashort pulse generation in a Ytterbium:silica fibre laser. The self-starting, stretched-pulse laser system produces 100 pJ, transform-limited, 80 fs pulses and represents a key step in the development of an all-solid-state, Yb3+-based, high power amplified system

Tunable, femtosecond pulse source operating in the range 1.06-1.33 micron based on an Yb³⁺-doped holey fiber amplifier

We report soliton pulse formation and amplification and soliton-self-frequency shifting in an anomalously dispersive, Yb3+ -doped holey fiber amplifier seeded with pulses from an Yb3+ -doped, 1.06 µm fiber based mode-locked oscillator. Our fiber-based system provides a highly practical, all-diode-pumped, continuously tunable femtosecond pulse source operational in the important and difficult to reach wavelength range from 1.06 to 1.33 µm. In other experiments multipulse, multicolored soliton formation was observed with wavelength-shifted pulsed output to beyond 1.58 µm. Supercontinuum generation and nonlinear compression of pulses to 65 fs were also obtained with other configurations

Practical low-noise stretched-pulse Yb³⁺ doped fiber laser

We report on the development of what we consider to be a practical and highly stable stretched-pulse laser based on Yb3+-doped silica fiber. The Fabry Perot cavity uses nonlinear polarization rotation as the mode-locking mechanism, and a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror to ensure robust self-starting and incorporates a diffraction grating pair to compensate for the normal dispersion of the fiber. Use of a single-mode grating-stabilized telecommunications-qualified pump laser diode ensures reliable, low-noise operation ( 0.05 amplitude fluctuations at 10-Hz measurement bandwidth). The laser generates high-quality, 60-pJ pulses of 110 fs duration at a repetition rate of 54 MHz (3-mW average power)