Multi-gigahertz repetition rate passively modelocked fiber lasers using carbon nanotubes

There is an increasing demand for all-fiber passively modelocked lasers with pulse repetition rates in the order of gigahertz for their potential applications in fields such as telecommunications and metrology. However, conventional mode-locked fiber lasers typically operate at fundamental repetition rates of only a few megahertz. In this paper, we report all-fiber laser operation with fundamental repetition rates of 4.24 GHz, 9.63GHz and 19.45GHz. This is, to date and to the best of our knowledge, the highest fundamental repetition rate reported for an all-fiber laser. The laser operation is based on the passive modelocking of a miniature all-fiber Fabry-Perot laser (FFPL) by a carbon nanotube (CNT) saturable absorber. The key components for such device are a very high-gain Er:Yb phosphosilicate fiber and a fiber compatible saturable absorber with very small foot print and very low losses. The laser output of the three lasers was close to transform-limited with a pulsewidth of approximately 1ps and low noise. As a demonstration of potential future applications for this laser, we also demonstrated supercontinuum generation with a longitudinal mode-spacing of 0.08nm by launching the laser operating at 9.63GHz into 30m of a highly nonlinear dispersion shifted fiber. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America