Ultrafast all-fiber based cylindrical-vector beam laser

Cylindrical-vector beams (CVBs) with axial symmetry in polarization and field intensity are gathering increasing attention from fundamental research to practical applications. However, a majority of the CVBs are generated by modulating light beams in free space, and the temporal durations are far away from the ultrafast regime. Here, an ultrafast all-fiber based CVB laser is demonstrated via intermodal coupling in two mode fibers. In the temporal domain, chirp-free pulses are formed with combined actions of the ultrafast saturable absorption, self-phase modulation, and anomalous dispersion. In the spatial domain, the lateral offset splicing technique and a two mode fiber Bragg grating are adopted to excite and extract CVBs, respectively. The ultrafast CVB has an annular profile with a duration of 6.87 ps and a fundamental repetition rate of 13.16 MHz, and the output polarization status is switchable between radially and azimuthally polarized states. This all-fiber-based ultrafast CVB laser is a simple, lo...

[1]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Generation of arbitrary spatially variant polarization beams with a trapezoid Sagnac interferometer. , 2012, Optics express.

[2]  Biao Sun,et al.  Mode-locked all-fiber laser producing radially polarized rectangular pulses. , 2015, Optics letters.

[3]  Min Gu,et al.  On-chip noninterference angular momentum multiplexing of broadband light , 2016, Science.

[4]  M. Meier,et al.  Material processing with pulsed radially and azimuthally polarized laser radiation , 2007 .

[5]  L. Nelson,et al.  Space-division multiplexing in optical fibres , 2013, Nature Photonics.

[6]  Thomas Feurer,et al.  Radially polarized mode-locked Nd:YAG laser. , 2009, Optics letters.

[7]  G Leuchs,et al.  Sharper focus for a radially polarized light beam. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[8]  Logan G. Wright,et al.  Controllable spatiotemporal nonlinear effects in multimode fibres , 2015, Nature Photonics.

[9]  M. Lipson.  Guiding, modulating, and emitting light on Silicon-challenges and opportunities , 2005, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[10]  Siyuan Yu,et al.  Integrated Compact Optical Vortex Beam Emitters , 2012, Science.

[11]  Huai-jin Zhang,et al.  Topological insulator as an optical modulator for pulsed solid‐state lasers , 2013 .

[12]  Siddharth Ramachandran,et al.  Generation and propagation of radially polarized beams in optical fibers. , 2009, Optics letters.

[13]  Zhinan Guo,et al.  Solvothermal Synthesis and Ultrafast Photonics of Black Phosphorus Quantum Dots , 2016 .

[14]  I H White,et al.  Wideband-tuneable, nanotube mode-locked, fibre laser. , 2008, Nature nanotechnology.

[15]  Uriel Levy,et al.  Demonstration of nanofocusing by the use of plasmonic lens illuminated with radially polarized light. , 2009, Nano letters.

[16]  Lixin Xu,et al.  An all-fiber laser generating cylindrical vector beam. , 2010, Optics express.

[17]  Q. Zhan,et al.  Enhanced sensitivity of the Z-scan technique on saturable absorbers using radially polarized beams , 2016 .

[18]  Shu-Zhen Wang,et al.  Generation of arbitrary vector beams with cascaded liquid crystal spatial light modulators. , 2014, Optics express.

[19]  Xiaoming Chen,et al.  High repetition rate Q-switched radially polarized laser with a graphene-based output coupler , 2014 .

[20]  R. E. Burge,et al.  Direct noninterference cylindrical vector beam generation applied in the femtosecond regime , 2006 .

[21]  D. Basko,et al.  Graphene mode-locked ultrafast laser. , 2009, ACS nano.

[22]  L. Novotný,et al.  Enhancement and quenching of single-molecule fluorescence. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[23]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  WS₂ saturable absorber for dissipative soliton mode locking at 1.06 and 1.55 µm. , 2015, Optics express.

[24]  H. Engan,et al.  Analysis of intermodal coupling in a two-mode fiber with periodic microbends. , 1987, Optics letters.

[25]  Luping Shi,et al.  Creation of a needle of longitudinally polarized light in vacuum using binary optics , 2008 .

[26]  Jing Chen,et al.  Optical orbital angular momentum from the curl of polarization. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[27]  D. Mao,et al.  Compact all-fiber laser delivering conventional and dissipative solitons. , 2013, Optics letters.

[28]  S. Gupta,et al.  Bragg gratings in multimode and few-mode optical fibers , 2000, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[29]  Lixin Xu,et al.  Tungsten disulphide based all fiber Q-switching cylindrical-vector beam generation , 2015 .

[30]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Cylindrical vector beam generation in fiber with mode selectivity and wavelength tunability over broadband by acoustic flexural wave. , 2016, Optics express.

[31]  H. Zeng,et al.  Nonlinear Saturable Absorption of Liquid-Exfoliated Molybdenum/Tungsten Ditelluride Nanosheets. , 2016, Small.

[32]  Q. Zhan.  Cylindrical vector beams: from mathematical concepts to applications , 2009 .

[33]  Ruxin Li,et al.  Radially polarized and passively Q-switched fiber laser. , 2010, Optics letters.

[34]  Di Lin,et al.  Polarization-dependent transverse mode selection in an Yb-doped fiber laser. , 2015, Optics letters.

[35]  Jianping Ding,et al.  Generation of arbitrary vector beams with a spatial light modulator and a common path interferometric arrangement. , 2007, Optics letters.

[36]  Ting Lei,et al.  Focused plasmonic trapping of metallic particles , 2013, Nature Communications.

[37]  Dieter W. Pohl,et al.  Operation of a Ruby Laser in the Purely Transverse Electric Mode TE01 , 1972 .

[38]  Xiangsheng Xie,et al.  Harnessing the point-spread function for high-resolution far-field optical microscopy. , 2014, Physical review letters.

[39]  Andrew Forbes,et al.  Controlled generation of higher-order Poincaré sphere beams from a laser , 2015, Nature Photonics.

[40]  Lixin Xu,et al.  Low-threshold single-wavelength all-fiber laser generating cylindrical vector beams using a few-mode fiber Bragg grating. , 2012, Optics letters.

[41]  D. Courjon,et al.  An all-fiber device for generating radially and other polarized light beams , 2002 .