Fast wavelength-tunable picosecond pulses from a passively mode-locked Er fiber laser using a galvanometer-driven...

We experimentally investigate fast wavelength-tuning characteristics of a polarization-maintaining Er fiber laser, which is mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Wavelength tuning was accomplished with an intracavity filter incorporating a galvanometer mirror and a diffraction grating. Within the tunability of 30 nm, we achieved a wavelength-tuning speed of <5 ms. We also show that the variation of repetition rates can be suppressed to <200 Hz by simply shifting the position of the grating. The presented scheme for generating wavelength-tunable pulses will be potentially useful for coherent Raman spectral imaging.