Highly-stable mode-locked PM Yb-fiber laser with 10 nJ in 93-fs at 6 MHz using NALM

• DOI: 10.1364/oe.26.010428
• Publication Date: 2018-04-10T20:38:33Z
• Authors: Yang Yu; Hao Teng; Huibo Wang; Lina Wang; Jiangfeng Zhu; Shaobo Fang; Guoqing Chang; Junli Wang; Zhiyi Wei
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

We demonstrate highly stable mode-locked Yb-doped fiber oscillators using a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror, delivering linearly polarized laser pulses with high energy at a low repetition rate of several MHz. These lasers are composed of polarization-maintaining fibers and fiber-based components without intra-cavity dispersion compensation. The spectral and temporal characteristics are systematically investigated at different repetition rates. Spectral bandwidth of 31 nm is realized in the case of 6 MHz repetition rate, and the pulse energy reaches 10 nJ. A pair of gratings compresses the output pulse to 93 fs. RMS power stability is as low as 0.04% in 10 hours, which shows excellent stability. We believe that this type of fiber oscillator is an ideal seed for further high power amplification.