Abstract
Ultrafast lasers generating high-repetition-rate ultrashort pulses through various mode-locking methods can benefit many important applications, including communications, materials processing, astronomical observation, etc. For decades, mode-locking based on dissipative four-wave-mixing (DFWM) has been fundamental in producing pulses with repetition rates on the order of gigahertz (GHz), where multiwavelength comb filters and long nonlinear components are elemental. Recently, this method has been improved using filter-driven DFWM, which exploits both the filtering and nonlinear features of silica microring resonators. However, the fabrication complexity and coupling loss between waveguides and fibers are problematic. We demonstrate a tens- to hundreds- of gigahertz-stable pulsed all-fiber laser based on a hybrid plasmonic microfiber knot resonator device. Unlike previously reported pulse generation mechanisms, the operation utilizes the nonlinear-polarization-rotation (NPR) effect introduced by the polarization-dependent feature of the device to increase intracavity power for boosting DFWM mode-locking, which we term NPR-stimulated DFWM. The easily fabricated versatile device acts as a polarizer, comb filter, and nonlinear component simultaneously, thereby introducing an application of microfiber resonator devices in ultrafast and nonlinear photonics. We believe that our work underpins a significant improvement in achieving practical low-cost ultrafast light sources.
Highlights
High-repetition-rate pulsed lasers have garnered considerable attention during recent decades for applications in optical communications,[1] microwave photonics,[2] generation of frequency combs,[3] and spectroscopy.[4]
A knot resonator formed from tapered microfiber was attached to a glass substrate with a gilded surface and packaged with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer
After the complete solidification of PDMS, the hybrid plasmonic microfiber knot resonator (HPMKR) turns into a stable device with steady properties to be characterized
Summary
High-repetition-rate pulsed lasers have garnered considerable attention during recent decades for applications in optical communications,[1] microwave photonics,[2] generation of frequency combs,[3] and spectroscopy.[4] as the most extensively used pulsed laser source, mode-locked fiber laser typically produces pulse trains with fundamental repetition rates well below 1 GHz, owing to the limitations of the laser cavity’s length. A number of demonstrations of high-repetition-rate pulse trains adopting such a method have been reported, exploiting various devices, such as fiber Bragg gratings,[12] MachZehnder interferometers,[13] and silicon microring resonators.[14] Peccianti et al.[15] proposed a stable 200-GHz ultrafast fiber laser. A low-cost all-fiber resonator for generating high-repetition-rate pulse fiber lasers using DFWM is desired. Strong nonlinearity is required to trigger short pulse generation
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