Large-mode-area soliton fiber oscillator mode-locked using NPE in an all-PM self-stabilized interferometer
Marvin Edelmann, Malek M. Sedigheh, Yi Hua, Erwin C. Vargas, Mikhail Pergament, Franz X. Kärtner
Abstract
In this work, we investigate an approach to scale up the output pulse energy in an all-polarization-maintaining 17.3 MHz Yb-doped fiber oscillator via implementation of a 25 µm core-diameter large-mode-area fiber. The artificial saturable absorber is based on a Kerr-type linear self-stabilized fiber interferometer, enabling non-linear polarization rotation in polarization-maintaining fibers. Highly stable mode-locked steady states in the soliton-like operation regime are demonstrated with 170 mW average output power and a total output pulse energy of ∼10nJ distributed between two output ports. An experimental parameter comparison with a reference oscillator constructed with 5.5 µm core-sized standard fiber components reveals an increase of pulse energy by a factor of 36 with simultaneously reduced intensity noise in the high-frequency range >100kHz.