Stable picosecond pulse generation at 1.3 μm in a Pr3+-doped all-fiber laser actively mode-locked using a novel fiber-optic phase modulator

Abstract

Rare-earth doped fibers are ideal candidates for the realization of simple, compact sources of ultrashort pulses. Considerable effort has been devoted to obtain short pulse generation in Er3+-doped fiber lasers at 1.55 μm. In contrast, little work has been done on Pr3+-doped fiber lasers emitting in the important 1.3 μm region where there is still a lack of compact, tunable short pulse sources. In this work we report on a all-fiber laser incorporating a Pr3+-doped active fiber, fiber Bragg gratings (FBG’s) as cavity mirrors, and a novel piezoelectric fiber-optic phase modulator (PFOM) for active mode-locking [1]. The experimental set-up is schematically shown in the following Figure.