Comparison of pulse evolutions in low and ultra-large anomalous dispersion mode-locked fiber lasers

Abstract

We have investigated and compared the pulse evolutions in low and ultra-large anomalous dispersion erbium-doped fiber lasers mode-locked by the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. Two lasers deliver the pulses that exhibit quite distinct characteristics such as pulse duration, spectral width, and spectral sidebands. Experimental observations show that the spectral width decreases from several nanometers to less than one nanometer whereas pulse duration extends about three times by changing the cavity dispersion from −0.03 to −15.50 ps². The solitons in ultra-large anomalous fiber laser show dips in the optical spectrum, which is quite distinct from that of conventional solitons observed in low anomalous regime.