Femtosecond pulse generation over 82 nm wavelength span from passively modelocked erbium-doped fibre laser

The accessible wavelength regime of a tunable passively modelocked erbium-doped fibre laser (EDFL) is extended by using an active filtering effect in erbium-doped fibre amplifiers. Femtosecond pulse generation beyond 1.6 µm is reported for the first time from an EDFL. Pulses of 310 – 420 fs duration are obtained over a wavelength range of 82 nm (1528 – 1610 nm).