Mode-Locking of an All-Fiber Laser by Acousto-Optic Superlattice Modulation

CUADRADO LABORDE, CHRISTIAN; DIEZ, ANTONIO; DELGADO PINAR, MARTINA; CRUZ, JOSE LUIS; ANDRES BOU, MIGUEL

OPTICS LETTERS

Optical Society of America (OSA)

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2009 vol. 34 p. 1111 - 1113

0146-9592

Active mode locking of an erbium-doped all-fiber laser with a Bragg-grating-based acousto-optic modulator is demonstrated. The fiber Bragg grating was acoustically modulated by a standing longitudinal elastic wave, which periodically modulates the sidebands at twice the acoustic frequency. The laser has a Fabry-Perot configuration in which cavity loss modulation is achieved by tuning the output fiber Bragg grating to one of the acoustically induced sidebands. Optical pulses at 9 MHz repetition rate, 120 mW peak power, and 780 ps temporal width were obtained. The output results to be stable and has a timing jitter below 40 ps. The measured linewidth, 2.8 pm, demonstrates that these pulses are transform limited. © 2009 Optical Society of America