Photonic-waveguide-enabled femtosecond dissipative solitons in mode-locked lasers

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Laser Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Managing dispersion and nonlinear effects is crucial for ultrafast fiber lasers.
• Dissipative solitons offer unique properties for laser applications.
• Integrating photonic components can enhance laser performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the cooperative management of dispersion and nonlinear effects in a fiber ring cavity.
• To generate vector dissipative solitons using a hybrid fiber-photonic approach.
• To improve the stability and noise characteristics of ultrafast fiber lasers.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a high-index doped silica glass waveguide into a large-normal-dispersion fiber ring cavity.
• Utilizing the waveguide's properties to manage polarization and enable vector soliton generation.
• Characterization of femtosecond dissipative solitons, including pulse width and intracavity compression.

Main Results:

• Generation of femtosecond dissipative solitons with a minimum pulse width of 254 fs and compression ratios up to 10.1.
• Significant improvements in laser performance compared to fiber-only cavities: >10 dB increase in mode-locking RF signal-to-noise ratio.
• 67.5% reduction in integrated relative intensity noise and 58.1% decrease in timing jitter.
• 61.9% improvement in long-term stability, with a decrease in 1-hour RMS power fluctuation from 0.1000% to 0.0381%.

Conclusions:

• The hybrid fiber-photonic cavity enables cooperative management of dispersion and nonlinearities.
• The integrated waveguide facilitates the generation of high-quality vector dissipative solitons.
• This approach significantly enhances laser stability, reduces noise, and advances low-noise ultrafast fiber laser development.