Passive mode-locking of fiber ring laser at the 337th harmonic using gigahertz acoustic core resonances

We report the experimental demonstration of a passively mode-locked Er-doped fiber ring laser operating at the 337th harmonic (1.80 GHz) of the cavity. The laser makes use of highly efficient Raman-like optoacoustic interactions between the guided light and gigahertz acoustic resonances trapped in the micron-sized solid glass core of a photonic crystal fiber. At sufficient pump power levels the laser output locks to a repetition rate corresponding to the acoustic frequency. A stable optical pulse train with a side-mode suppression ratio higher than 45 dB was obtained at low pump powers (similar to 60 mW). (C) 2013 Optical Society of America