Scalar Nanosecond Pulse Generation in a Nanotube Mode-Locked Environmentally Stable Fiber Laser

Abstract

We report an environmentally stable nanotube mode-locked fiber laser producing linearly-polarized, nanosecond pulses. A simple all-polarization-maintaining fiber ring cavity is used, including 300 m of highly nonlinear fiber to elongate the cavity and increase intracavity dispersion and nonlinearity. The laser generates scalar pulses with a duration of 1.23 ns at a center wavelength of 1042 nm, with 1.3-nm bandwidth and at 641-kHz repetition rate. Despite the long cavity, the output characteristics show no significant variation when the cavity is perturbed, and the degree of polarization remains at 97%.