Abstract

We report a "turn-key" picosecond Er/Yb fiber laser for 1.5 µm telecommunications applications. Mode-locking of Er fiber lasers^1-3 has been demonstrated using active modulators, saturable absorbers, polarization switching, and non-linear amplifying loop mirrors. Here we report a "turn-key" passively mode-locked 1.5 µm fiber laser employing Er/Yb co-doped fiber pumped by a Nd:YLF (1.053 um) microlaser that was pumped by a diode laser. The mode-locking was achieved using a InGaAsP saturable absorber deposited on a InP substrate. The laser generates stable pulses of 0.5 to 2ps duration and instantly becomes operational every time the power switch is turned-on. Currently available picosecond and sub-picosecond duration lasers require highly skilled personnel to operate the lasers because of too many optical alignments.

© 1993 Optical Society of America