A new figure-eight fiber laser based on a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror with lumped dispersive elements

In this letter, we report a new self-starting figure-eight fiber laser based on a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror (DI-NOLM) with lumped dispersive elements for the first time. We have shown that the device can operate in several different operation modes such as a noiselike square pulse, a harmonic mode-locked multipulse, and a single-pulse operation modes depending on its pump power and polarization state in the cavity. As no active elements is inside the DI-NOLM and no continuous-wave light can pass through the DI-NOLM, this laser potentially has many advantages over conventional pulsed fiber laser systems.