Abstract

Mode-locked (ML) fiber lasers are becoming key components in industry, because they provide high performance while being relatively inexpensive. The generation of high-repetition rate pulses is gaining interest but it remains a challenge to achieve a GHz repetition rate with fiber lasers. On the other hand, whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators allow the strong confinement of light and miniaturizing an ML laser into a WGM microresonator will enable us to achieve a high pulse repetition rate, a small footprint and on-chip integrability. In this work, we explore the possibility of a passive ML laser with the system shown in Fig. 1(a). There are two key technologies involved; one is saturable absorption (SA) and the other is laser gain in a microresonator.

© 2019 IEEE