Single-frequency ytterbium-doped fiber laser stabilized by spatial hole burning

We have exploited spatial hole burning to achieve remarkably stable single-frequency operation and mode-hop-free tuning over 300 free spectral ranges in an ytterbium-doped fiber laser with a sample standing-wave geometry. This approach makes possible stable and narrow-linewidth single-frequency fiber lasers that do not require components such as Faraday isolators, fiber couplers, and Fabry-Perot filters.