Abstract
Rare-earth doped optical fibres offer wide gain bandwidths and provide an ideal medium for the generation of ultra-short optical pulses. To date research in mode-locked fibre lasers has centered on active mode-locking schemes incorporating fast phase [1] and amplitude modulators [2]. However, the large non-linear effects obtainable in optical fibres make passive mode-locking an attractive proposition. A self-starting, passive mode-locking scheme based on the reflection properties of the Non-linear Amplifying Loop Mirror (NALM) [3] has recently been reported [4,5]. The system is capable of both picosecond/nanosecond duration square pulse operation [4] and ultra-short femtosecond soliton generation [5,6]. In this paper we discuss the various modes of operation of the laser and present results on pulse repetition rates, an important characteristic for a practical source of ultra-short solitons.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
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