Abstract
We propose the use of an intra-cavity Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI), for increasing the repetition rate at which carrier-envelope phase-locked pulses are generated in passively mode-locked fiber lasers. The attractive feature of the proposed scheme is that light escaping through the open output ports of the MZI can be used as a monitor signal feeding a servo loop that allows multiple pulses to co-exist in the cavity, while rigidly controlling their separation. The proposed scheme enables in principle a significant increase in the pulse-rate with no deterioration in the properties of the generated pulses.
Highlights
The invention of carrier-envelope-phase locking (CEPL) of passively modelocked lasers a decade ago [1, 2] has revolutionized the measurement of frequencies and has important potential applications to chemical sensing [3], time transfer [4], time-keeping [5], and microwave generation [6]
CEPL lasers operate in a frequency range of 100–300 THz and typical repetition rates are below 2 GHz in solid-state lasers and below 500 MHz in fiber lasers
While CEPL lasers have revolutionized the measurement of frequencies and time, they are still for the most part laboratory instruments
Summary
The invention of carrier-envelope-phase locking (CEPL) of passively modelocked lasers a decade ago [1, 2] has revolutionized the measurement of frequencies and has important potential applications to chemical sensing [3], time transfer [4], time-keeping [5], and microwave generation [6]. CEPL lasers operate in a frequency range of 100–300 THz and typical repetition rates are below 2 GHz in solid-state lasers and below 500 MHz in fiber lasers. In an ytterbium-doped fiber laser, a repetition rate of 1.3 GHz was recently demonstrated [10], but this laser has many bulk components, and the repetition rate of fiber lasers is typically below 500 MHz. It is possible to multiply the repetition rate of a CEPL laser by using an external Fabry-Perot cavity [11, 12], but this approach has the drawback that it divides down the individual pulse energies. Multi-pulse passively modelocked lasers are available [21,22,23] While it is possible in some parameter regimes to lock the repetition rate of these lasers by making use of the acoustic effect [23, 24], this locking is fragile in practice, limiting the usefulness of these lasers.
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