Sub-200 fs, 344 MHz mode-locked Tm-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate a compact, self-starting mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE), with a fundamental repetition rate of " , similar to 344 MHz and a pulse duration of similar to 160 fs. The generated pulses centered at similar to 1975 nm have a maximum output power of similar to 560 mW, corresponding to a pulse energy of similar to 1.63 nJ. To the best of our knowledge, the achieved repetition rate represents the highest value of fundamentally NPE mode- locked fiber lasers at similar to 2 mu m, while the average output power is also higher than the previously reported similar to 2 mu m ultrafast single-mode fiber oscillators. The timing jitter in the integrated range [5 kHz, 10 MHz] and the integrated relative intensity noise in the range [10 Hz, 10 MHz] reach " similar to 35 fs and similar to 0.009%, respectively. Our high-performance laser is an ideal candidate for various applications, including mid-infrared frequency metrology and high-speed optical sampling. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America