Multi-order bunched soliton pulse generation by nonlinear polarization rotation mode-locking erbium-doped fiber lasers with weak or strong polarization-dependent loss

Abstract

With the assistance of weak or strong polarization-dependent loss (PDL) in the cavity, nonlinear polarization rotation mode-locking (NPRML) of an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated to show transformation on the soliton from a single to multiple bunched state with nearly one order of magnitude variation on pulsewidth. With the bent intracavity fiber providing the weak PDL, the NPRML shortens the pulsewidth from only 5.3 ps to 4.9 ps and correspondingly broadens the spectral linewidth from 0.43 nm to 0.56 nm when enlarging the pump power from 100 mW to 325 mW. With the use of an inserted polarizer providing strong PDL in an EDFL, the fundamental soliton pulsewidth is significantly compressed to 390 fs, with the spectral linewidth as wide as 7.14 nm. In particular, the parameters of the soliton pulses are nearly unchanged at different pump powers; however, the soliton pulses split to form tightly bunched pulses circulating in the EDFL cavity. There are as many as 18 solitons tightly bunched together at the maximum pump power of up to 325 mW. Such a tightly bunched package can be elucidated by soliton energy quantization and long-range soliton interaction according to the perturbation theory in a passively mode-locked EDFL.