High-order harmonic noise-like pulsing of a passively mode-locked double-clad Er/Yb fibre ring laser

Abstract

In this paper, we study noise-like pulse generation in a km-long fibre ring laser including a double-clad erbium–ytterbium fibre and passively mode-locked through nonlinear polarization evolution. Although single noise-like pulsing is only observed at moderate pump power, pulse energies as high as 120 nJ are reached in this regime. For higher pump power, the pulse splits into several noise-like pulses, which then rearrange into a stable and periodic pulse train. Harmonic mode locking from the 2nd to the 48th orders is readily obtained. At pump powers close to the damage threshold of the setup, much denser noise-like pulse trains are demonstrated, reaching harmonic orders beyond 1200 and repetition frequencies in excess of a quarter of a GHz. The mechanisms leading to noise-like pulse breaking and stable high-order harmonic mode locking are discussed.