Numerical Study on the Soliton Mode-Locking of the Er3+-Doped Fluoride Fiber Laser at ~3 μm with Nonlinear Polarization Rotation

• Main Authors: Feijuan Zhang, Wenyan Yan, Shengnan Liang, Chao Tan, Pinghua Tang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-03-01
• Series: Photonics
• Subjects: Er3+-doped fluoride fiber laser; mid-infrared; nonlinear polarization rotation mode-locking; ultra-short pulse
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/6/1/25

Recent interest in the application of mid-infrared (mid-IR) lasers has made the generation of ~3 µm ultrafast pulses a hot topic. Recently, the generation of femtosecond-scale pulses in Er3+-doped fluoride fiber lasers has been realized by nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR). However, a numerical study on these fiber lasers has not been reported yet. In this work, the output properties of the NPR passively mode-locked Er3+-doped fluoride fiber ring laser in ~3 µm have been numerically investigated based on the coupled Ginzburg–Landu equation. The simulation results indicate that stable uniform solitons (0.75 nJ) with the pulse duration of femtosecond-scale can be generated from this fiber laser. This numerical investigation can provide some reference for developing the high energy femtosecond soliton fiber lasers in the mid-IR.