Stable generation of femtosecond tunable pulses using a passively mode-locked fiber laser

A passively mode-locked fiber laser is developed to generate stable tunable pulses with duration of 270 - 325 fs pumped by a semiconductor laser diode. The lasing wavelength is tuned continuously over a wavelength range of 60 nm by rotating a bulk band-pass filter inserted in the cavity. We reduce the phase noise by minimizing the intensity fluctuation of the pump source, and by controlling the influence of airflow and temperature fluctuation of the cavity. The estimated jitters is to be below 31 X 10-6 (0.7 ps) at a center wavelength of 1.558 micrometers , and to be below 86 X 10-6 (1.8 ps) over a 25 nm wavelength tuning range, using a power spectrum technique.

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