Abstract

A nonlinear mirror formed by a nonlinear twin-core fiber recoupled to itself in a loop configuration is used as a mode-locking element. Under repeated amplification in an external gain medium of finite bandwidth, we observe the formation and stabilization of a train of solitons. The main part of the mode-locking mechanism is achieved by the solitonic effect that occurs within the nonlinear mirror with the stabilization permitted by the linear coupling properties of the twin-core fiber that prevents secondary pulses to develop and interact with the main circulating pulse.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

Soliton propagation in twin-core fiber rocking filters

David C. Psaila and C. Martijn de Sterke
Opt. Lett. 18(22) 1905-1907 (1993)

Analytical solution to soliton switching in nonlinear twin-core fibers

P. L. Chu, G. D. Peng, and B. A. Malomed
Opt. Lett. 18(5) 328-330 (1993)

Long-distance soliton transmission with a nonlinear twin-core fiber

Réal Vallee and René-Jean Essiambre
Opt. Lett. 19(24) 2095-2097 (1994)

High-power passively mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror

Song Wu, Jefferson Strait, Richard L. Fork, and T. F. Morse
Opt. Lett. 18(17) 1444-1446 (1993)

Passive mode locking through nonlinear coupling in a dual-core fiber laser

Herbert G. Winful and Donnell T. Walton
Opt. Lett. 17(23) 1688-1690 (1992)