Self-similar erbium-doped fiber laser with large normal dispersion

We report a large normal dispersion erbium-doped fiber laser with self-similar pulse evolution in the gain fiber. The cavity is stabilized by the local nonlinear attractor in the gain fiber through the use of a narrow filter. Experimental results are accounted for by numerical simulations. This laser produces 3.5 nJ pulses, which can be dechirped to 70 fs with an external grating pair.