Femtosecond harmonically mode-locked fiber laser with time jitter below 1 ps

We have made an experimental study of the time jitter in a harmonic passively mode-locked fiber soliton ring laser. We demonstrate that jitter as low as 600 fs (100-550 Hz), which is less than the soliton pulse width, can be achieved at a repetition frequency of 463 MHz. The results support the suggestion that the stability of the laser is dependent on the long-range soliton interaction through the excitation of acoustic waves that is induced by the propagating pulses.