Self-starting mode-locked fiber laser using biased semiconductor absorber mirror

A. Isomäki; A. Vainionpää; S. Suomalainen; O. G. Okhotnikov

doi:10.1117/12.622869

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11 October 2005 Self-starting mode-locked fiber laser using biased semiconductor absorber mirror

A. Isomäki, A. Vainionpää, S. Suomalainen, O. G. Okhotnikov

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Proceedings Volume 5958, Lasers and Applications; 59580R (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.622869
Event: Congress on Optics and Optoelectronics, 2005, Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

We present an erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked using a reverse-biased InGaAsP multiple quantum-well saturable absorber. We have examined the performance of a p-type-intrinsic-n-type (PIN) structured semiconductor absorber mirror both in starting the pulse operation and in pulse shaping. We have also found that applying a reverse bias is a useful means to suppress the Q-switching instability. By varying the reverse bias voltage applied to the absorber mirror, we could change the recovery time of the device owing to the electric-field-induced carrier sweep-out. Through the sweep-out process we were able to control the mode-locking start-up capability and the pulse duration of the fiber laser. In the experiment the mode-locked pulse duration could be reduced from 50 to 20 ps by application of an 80 kV/cm sweep-out field in the intrinsic region of the PIN absorber. The equivalent spectral broadening by a factor of 2.5 was observed as well.

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A. Isomäki, A. Vainionpää, S. Suomalainen, and O. G. Okhotnikov "Self-starting mode-locked fiber laser using biased semiconductor absorber mirror", Proc. SPIE 5958, Lasers and Applications, 59580R (11 October 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.622869

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