Abstract

Passively mode-locked soliton fiber lasers (PSLs) based on the Nonlinear Amplifying Loop Mirror (the figure-8 laser) have recently become of considerable interest owing to their ability to produce ultra-short pulses from a simple cavity configuration and also due to the many physical effects involved in the laser action and affecting laser output [1-3]. This laser demonstrates many interesting features such as the existence of soliton and non-soliton components in the laser output and energy quantization [4], resulting in a dependence of the number circulating pulses on laser pump power and fixed parameters for the generated pulses.

© 1993 Optical Society of America