Actively mode-locked fiber laser using acousto-optic modulator

In recent years we have observed growing interest in mode-locked fiber lasers. Development of erbium doped fiber (EDF) amplifiers and WDM technique made 3rd telecommunication window extremely interesting region for ultrafast optics. The main advantages of fiber lasers i.e. narrow linewidth and wide gain bandwidth make them very attractive sources in various applications. In this paper we present an actively mode-locked erbium doped fiber ring laser. Mode-locking is obtained using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) coupled into the laser cavity. The impact of different parameters (e.g. light polarization, modulation frequency) is investigated. We study mechanisms of controlling the wavelength of the laser.