200 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 30, NO.

1, JANUARY 1994

Additive-Pulse Modelocking in Fiber Lasers

H. A. Haus, E. P. Ippen, and K. Tamura

Abslrucf-A self-starting additive-pulse modelocked (APM) all- Polarizatiin

Controller
fiber ring cavity laser operating in the negative group velocity 90110

regime is analyzed. The advantages of using a ring cavity with output

Polarized
an isolator are discussed. The figure eight and the Sagnac loop Isolator
reflector fiber laser are investigated in a novel way, and one form
of their operation is related to the master equation of APM. We
point out that the ring laser has an advantage with respect to Erbium
980/1550nm
WDM Coupler
self-starting. Fiber

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Schematic of all-fiber APM ring laser.

A DDITIVE-PULSE modelocking (APM) [ 11-[3] and Kerr

lens modelocking (KLM) [4]-(71 are two new tech-
niques for passive modelocking of solid-state lasers. Both
schemes utilize purely reactive Kerr nonlinearities but con-
vert them into effective fast saturable absorber action that
~, ~
WBVB
plale
KBR
m ~ E
can be engineered. KLM relies upon self-focusing induced
changes of the optical mode diameter, and hence cannot be
used in all-fiber laser systems. In its simplest form, APM
is a nonlinear amplitude modulation produced by interfering
two self-phase modulated (SPM) versions of the mode in
a Mach-Zehnder like arrangement. One version of such a
thd j-$
Fig. 2. The APM action through polarization rotation.
nonlinear interferometer acts in the figure-eight configuration
of the laser first described by Duling [8]. This configuration Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The polarization controllers
has been pursued by several research groups [9], [lo]. It has
and the polarizer produce APM action by first transforming
revealed interesting effects with solitons of a fixed energy
linear polarization into elliptic polarization [ 171 (Fig. 2).
often occurring simultaneously and rather randomly in the
SPM in the fiber rotates the ellipse. The polarizer transforms
fiber resonator [9]. The repetition rates of these pulses have
the rotation of the ellipse into amplitude modulation. In
been controlled by coupling to an auxiliary cavity of properly
an ideal system in which the polarization axes would be
adjusted length, but amplitude changes with time were still
maintained in linear operation, only one polarization controller
observed [lo]. Very stable operation of an erbium-doped fiber
would be necessary. Our system employed two controllers to
laser has recently been reported [ 111, but it required group
velocity dispersion (GVD) adjustment via an external prism compensate for the uncontrollable polarization transformation
pair. in the non-polarization-maintaining fiber.
The all-fiber APM ring cavity laser we discuss here A simple ring cavity like this has been used by Kafka
[12]-[ 151 uses nonlinear polarization rotation [ 161, [ 171 et al. [18] in their actively mode-locked system. The active
to achieve APM action. It uses a ring resonator with modelocking selects the pulse repetition rate, generally much
a Faraday isolator to force unidirectional operation (Fig. faster than the roundtrip rate. The challenge in building a
I). In addition to the isolator and polarizer, the ring is simple ring cavity with (passive) APM is to produce single
composed simply of an erbium-doped fiber section and pulses with no (or small) background. Another challenge is to
the two polarization controllers that form the nonlinear make it self-starting.
The term self-starting is usually applied to lasers that do
not contain an active modulating element. Many systems that
Manuscript received October 22, 1992; revised March 15, 1993.
This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation
are denoted self-starting cannot be depended upon to start
Grant 9012787-ECS; the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant and to stay modelocked indefinitely unless triggered by some
F4962O-9 I-COO9 I, the Joint Services Electronics Program Contract means. The ring laser described in this paper really self-starts
DAAL03-92-C-0001, and Draper Laboratory DL-H-441693. K. Tamura is a
research assistant sponsored by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Communications
without any triggering, and stays modelocked as long as it is
Division. being pumped.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering and The ring configuration with the isolator greatly reduces
Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02 139. the backscatter from various reflecting obstacles that is un-
IEEE Log Number 9214945. avoidable in a standing wave cavity or in the figure-eight
OO18-9197/94$04.OO 0 1994 IEEE
HAUS et d.:ADDITIVE PULSE MODELOCKING
configuration. Such reflections cause the mode-spectrum of
the resonator to be (ever so slightly) nonuniform. When the
laser pulse builds up from an initial amplitude fluctuation
corresponding to the excitation of a few adjacent modes, the
APM action has to provide injection signals into the different
modes to produce phase coherence. When the initial pulse
is long, the injection signals via APM action are very weak.
If the injection signals are not strong enough to overcome
the initial nonuniformity in mode spacing, the pulse energy
is dispersed. Greater nonuniformity requires greater injection
signals. Hence, self-starting is inhibited by the backscatter
[ 191, [20]. An ideal Faraday isolator favors perfectly uniform
mode spacing in a ring resonator and assures it if multiple
scattering events can be neglected (except, of course, for the
nonuniformity due to GVD, which plays a role only over an
extended mode spectrum). This reasoning has led to the design
of a ring Ti:sapphire laser which is also truly self-starting [20].
Detailed comparisons reveal differences between different
fiber laser geometries. We follow the discussion of the ring
laser with an analysis of the figure-eight fiber laser and the
Sagnac loop reflector laser. In our analysis we pursue an
adjustment of the fiber ring parameters so that a close analogy
is established between the ring laser and the figure-eight laser.
Our approach is based on the importance of self-amplitude
modulation (SAM), i.e., saturable absorber action due to APM,
and the fact that the changes it produces in one roundtrip are
small. Of course, when large changes occur to the pulse(s) as
it/they pass(es) through the figure-eight laser, our analysis may
lose validity. Still, it is a worthwhile investigation, because
the production of clean pulse spectra, if not of the shortest
pulses, calls for small nonlinear changes of the pulses per
pass. Other explanations of fiber laser mode locking have been
given, generally, in terms of the soliton process. We find that
SAM plays the determining role in producing modelocking
and keeping it stable. Although the pulses resulting from
the process are sech-like, they do not behave as solitons
within the components of the system. They may be viewed
as solitons only by averaging over the system operation,
somewhat analogous to the average soliton behavior in a
repeaterless transoceanic cable [21]. This point of view is
supported by the following observation. It is well known
that the spectrum of a soliton-like pulse, perturbed by the
periodicity of the excitations in a resonator, deteriorates if
the nonlinear phase shift of the pulse approaches 360 per
pass [22]. This observation suggests that the cleanest spectra
are obtained when the nonlinear phase shift per pass is small.
But this means that the master equation [23], developed for
small nonlinear changes per pass, is legitimately applied to
the analysis, at least qualitatively. The same cautionary note
does not apply to linear processes (linear loss, dispersion) that
can cause large changes per pass. In these cases the master
equation has to be modified appropriately.
1 ) The APM Operation of Fiber Ring Laser: Figure 2 ex-
plains the APM principle for a nonlinear polarization rotation
inferometer constructed of a polarizer, wave plate, an isotropic
Kerr medium (fiber), and an analyzer. All these components
can be realized with fibers. The wave plate transforms linear
polarization into elliptic polarization. The elliptic polarization
20 1
isolator/
polarizer
+pa-a
dt2
Y - SAM
6 - SPM
Fig. 3. The changes Aa of mode a by each element.
rotates via the Kerr effect, the angle of rotation being propor-
tional to the intensity. In this way, one may achieve intensity
dependent transmission. If the wave plate produces a (bias)
polarization such that the rotation of the ellipse increases the
throughput, APM action is achieved.
Figure 3 shows the schematic of the fiber ring laser with the
pulse changes Aa, produced by passage of the pulse through
the element, indicated next to the element. The isolator-
polarizer is followed by a polarization controller playing the
role of the wave plate and the APM section consisting of
undoped fiber. This is followed by a gain section. (In practice,
both functions may take place in the same fiber.) The master
equation
(1.1)
sets the sum of the changes equal to a net phase-shift li/ around
the loop. Here 1 is the loss, g the gain per pass, R, the gain
bandwidth, D = D, +D, the net GVD; 6(aI2is the self-phase
modulation (SPM), $ the phase shift per pass, and ~ l a the 1 ~
self-amplitude modulation (SAM).
The solution of the above equation is
a = A0 [sech( :)] Il+jPI
(1.2)
The ansatz (1.2) introduced into (1.2) introduced into (1. I )
gives dependences of pulse width and chirp parameter on
dispersion, with the SPM coefficient as a parameter. This is
shown in Fig. 4 (taken from [23]). We see that the Kerr effect
calls for negative GVD compensation in order to produce a
chirp free pulse. The fibers in our experiment had negative
dispersion and it is this case on which we concentrate.
When p = 0, the pulse is soliton like. In fact in the
ensuing analysis we shall often invoke the soliton picture.
It should be noted, however, that in our approach we imply
that the cavity length is much less than the distance within
which a pulse acquires a nonlinear phase shift of 2 x. The
solitons that are predicted from the master equation are
average solitons similar to those that occur in repeaterless
transoceanic transmission [21]. These can experience large
attenuation and amplification within the distance between am-
plifiers (in our case one cavity roundtrip). The nonlinear phase
shift within this distance is small, however. Our entire analysis
 :p6=o
202 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 30, NO. I, JANUARY 1994

y=i If the pulse is soliton like, then the area of the pulse is
proportional to A07 and is fixed. Equation (1.3) is maximized
at constant area when:
P \.,.,
-2
4
\ ,..-.. 6.1

6-2 10 -yAi pv 0 . 6 ~ ( 1.4)

\
6

8
% 6-4 5
-
--.__
->.
This fixes the peak power of the soliton. Its width is given by
4 . 2 0 2 4 4 2 0 2 4
D Dthe area theorem. Thus maximization of APM action quantizes
the soliton. This accounts for the observation of many solitons
Fig. 4. Chirp parameter and pulsewidth as a function of normalized dis-
oersion. with SPM coefficient as oarameter. D.... is the chim r
narameter.
~ ~ ~ ~c~
in long fiber
j ....,
;he normalized GVD parameter, ;
~~~~~~~~

the normalized equivalent fast saturable A potential limit to the pulse duration has been revealed
absorber, and /i the normalized parameter in recent studies on the periodic perturbation of solitons [22],
[26]. A soliton becomes highly unstable when the period of
perturbation approaches the length over which the nonlinear
phase shift of the soliton is 27r. Because a mode-locked laser
periodically perturbs the pulse at the cavity roundtrip length
L, the shortest soliton that can be stably supported must
accumulate less than 360 phase shift.
The occurrence of many solitons is, in general, undesirable,
because their relative timing cannot be easily controlled. A
design of a modelocked laser should strive for stability with
a single soliton per roundtrip (unless there are other ways in
which the timing and distribution of multiple solitons could
be controlled). This means that the loop should be made as
short as possible and the gain should be adjusted to be low
enough so that the energy of one single quantized soliton fully
depletes the gain. This consideration underlies the design of
the fiber ring laser.
2) Analysis of Fiber Ring Laser: In the following, we de-
velop a simple model of APM action in a fiber ring. The
Fig. 5. Multiple solitons in one roundtrip. fiber used in our experiment, and in other experiments, even
though called nonbirefringent has spurious birefringences
is predicated on this picture. In the ring laser experiments with beat length of the order of 2 m. Hence, it is expected
described here it was strictly valid. When not valid in figure- that in experiments with a fiber of 4.8 m, as reported in [12],
eight laser configurations, our analysis cannot lay claim to the model of simple elliptic polarization rotation cannot hold
fully explaining phenomena in such lasers. precisely. However, correction of the spurious polarization
Before we proceed with the discussion of the fiber ring transformation effects in the fiber by the second polarization
laser, we want to look at a phenomenon that has been widely transformer preceding the polarizer removes these effects to
observed in fiber laser systems, namely the occurrence of many lowest order. Hence it is expected that the analysis presented
pulses within one round trip time, the pulses all being of here will give the correct order of magnitude of the self-
standard energy [24]. Sometimes, the detector shows pulses amplitude modulation coefficient.
of twice or three times the height, but this can be generally The fiber ring laser contains an isolator forcing unidirec-
attributed to the response time of the detector, which registers tional propagation, and a polarizer. After the polarizer, the
two pulses spaced by less than its response time as a single mode is linearly polarized. This is followed by a polarization
pulse of twice the height. Figure 5 shows such an occurrence transformer, which generates elliptic polarization from the
as seen by us. We claim that this phenomenon is due to a linear polarization. The elliptic polarization rotates by virtue
quantization of soliton pulses in an APM system that has of the Kerr effect, the rotation being proportional to intensity.
excessive gain. The rotated ellipse passes again through the polarizer, now
The argument we present is the following: Because of the acting as an analyzer and thus an intensity-dependent loss
soliton area theorem, a mechanism limiting either the peak is generated. Another point of view is to consider the two
power or pulse width determines the energy of the soliton. polarizations to be the two arms of a nonlinear Mach-Zehnder
The APM action represented by 7 ( n I 2in (1.1) is produced interferometer, the analyzer providing one output port of the
interferometrically, and is represented more accurately by sin interferometer, the absorbed polarization representing the other
-ylaI2, indicating saturation of APM action. The energy gain port. This point of view interprets the intensity dependent
of a pulse passing through such an interferometer is given by: loss as intensity-dependent interference at the Mach-Zehnder
output, i.e., as additive-pulse modelocking. Clearly, gain must
d t 1o,I2sin(yl(i.12) (1.3) be provided to compensate for the loss. We shall neglect the
effect of the gain on the APM action.
HAUS et al.: ADDITIVE PULSE MODELOCKING 203

We start with the column matrix representation of a polar- where X is the free space wavelength, n2 is the nonlinear
ized mode amplitude:

a= [z]
The amplitudes are so normalized that their squares given the
index coefficient defined for linear polarization, L K is ~the ~
length of the Kerr medium and d,ffis the effective mode
cross-sectional area.
It is useful to note that when K is transformed to the
linear polarization basis, one is left with a rotation matrix
~

power. Passage through a polarization transformer produces
an output b from an input a through multiplication by the
polarization transformation matrix T:
b=Ta . (2.2)
The most general polarization transformation matrix of a
lossless structure is:
by the angle A@& = (a+ - @-)/2 (multiplied by a com-
mon nonlinear phase factor, the self-phase modulation). The
polarization ellipse experiences intensity dependent rotation,
but the ellipticity is unchanged. This clearly illustrates the
equivalence between the nonlinear polarization rotation and
the APM point of view.
The polarization suppresses the y-component so that the
input into the polarization transformer is:

This is a unitary matrix. A unitary matrix of second rank has

a= [t] . (2.9)

four real parameters equation (2.2) has three such parameters; The circular polarization excitation after the polarization trans-
the fourth is omitted since it simply represents the common former is UTa. From the components of this column matrix
phase shift of the two polarizations through the transformer. we may evaluate the phase shifts @*caused by E+.
Next, the field passes through the fiber Kerr medium. In
general, a standard fiber has a weak linear birefringence
due to imperfections, such as ellipticity of the core. An
exact description of the nonlinear polarization evolution in The output of the polarizer is
the presence of birefringence requires the use of Jacobian
elliptic functions [25]. However, if the net amount of linear
birefringence is small (< 1 beat-length), most of the key
bl =[1 O]Ut ["
-j*+
e-ja-
O 1 UTa
physics of operation may be discerned within the approxi-
mation of an isotropic medium. In this limit, the rotation of
elliptic polarization rotation occurs. This may be a realistic
regime because the presence of many linear birefringent beat- (2.11)
lengths creates bandwidth modulation and allows for local (in
frequency) loss minima for CW radiation which may hinder
where the nonlinear phase shift matrix transforms the circu-
mode-locking.
larly polarized components, and multiplication by Ut trans-
In an isotropic medium, it is convenient to handle the Kerr
forms back into linear polarization. The throughput power
effect in the basis of the circular polarization modes E+
is
and E-. These related to the linear modes by the unitary
transformation, IAI2 [I - (1 - 2t2)cos(@+ - @-)
(b# = -
2

(2.4)
- 2tdC-F sin (a+ - a-) sin ( 4 + 0)](2.12)
from which one may evaluate the loss parameter e and the
where
U = - [l l j ] SAM parameter of the master equation.

e=1-t (2.13)
J z 1 -j
The coherence term vanishes in the circular basis, and the Kerr
effect can be represented by the diagonal matrix,
The SPM parameter is from (2.9)

SlaI2 = (a++ k ) / 2 = :~,lA1~. (2.15)

The nonlinear phase terms are given by,
The loss is zero when t = 1; of course, the SAM coefficient
(2.7) also vanishes when this is the case. The SPM coefficient is
where is the Kerr coefficient for circular polarization.
K . ~
independent of the adjustment of the polarization transformers,
to first order in d m , and only depends on the Kerr
parameter of the fiber and its length. A proper adjustment
of the polarization control parameters can maximize -y/L
204 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 30, NO. I . JANUARY 1994

3 ) The Figure Eight and the Sagnac Rejector Laser: FIGURE EIGHT

Offhand, one may suppose that the figure-eight laser and

the Sagnac reflector laser operate very differently from the
fiber ring laser. There are similarities, but also differences,
which we now explore. The point of view we adopt in the
analysis is that all modelocked laser systems that emit pulses
with clean spectra (even though not the shortest width) and
avoid multiple-pulse generation must be operable not too far
above threshold of the laser, with nonsaturable losses adjusted
to be a minimum. This immediately dictates how the analysis SAGNAC REFLECTOR

of such system has to be broken down.

1. One constructs from the basic diagram a laser resonator
that has, ideally, zero loss when adjusted for CW (linear)
operation.
2. Next, one introduces the Kerr nonlinearity and investi-
gates the change of loss as a function of nonlinearity. If (b)
the linear system has zero loss, the nonlinearity can only Fig. 6 . (a) Schematic of figure-eight laser. (b) Schematic of Sagnac loop
reflector laser.
introduce loss. This runs counter to the desired APM
action and must be compensated for with a bias.
3. A bias is introduced so that the small signal loss is polarization controller is lossless, the matrix T is unitary:
finite and so that the Kerr nonlinearity is capable of
lowering the loss to first order in the nonlinearity. To T T + = T + T = ~. (4.1)
compensate for the loss, gain is also introduced. APM If the action of the controller is time reversible, complex
action is successfully demonstrated when it is shown conjugation of ( 2 . 2 ) produces the action of the controller in
that the loss for high intensity is lower than that for low time reversed operation
intensity
This point of view will be pursued in the remainder of the b* = T*a* (4.2)
paper for a systematic study of the figure-eight and Sagnac a = b* is now the input from the right (Fig. 7), and a* = b
loop reflector configuration. Let us state at the outset, that is the output. Turning the structure around as shown in Fig.
the resulting model of the laser is one simple and realizable 7(c) reverses the y axis. Now the input must be written
operation of the figure-eight laser, but that under conditions of
a = Pa = Pb*, b = Pb = Pa* (4.3)
strong pulse shaping and large nonlinearities other operating
conditions may prevail. where multiplication by P
Let us start with the linear operation of the systems and let
us investigate how one may construct a loss-free resonator. We
concentrate on Sagnac loops with reciprocal linear elements.
p = [:, ]I: (4.4)

Faraday nonreciprocal phase shifters give simpler design rules
but are in general less desirable because of their cost and
limited bandwidth.
4 ) The Linear Loss-Free Resonators and the Scattering Ma-
trices ofthe Polarisation Controllers: We shall now determine
what transformers lead to loss-free modes of the figure-eight
and Sagnac reflector laser. The loop with a perfectly balanced
(50/50)coupler can act either as a perfect reflector, a perfect
transmitter, or somewhere in between, depending upon the
adjustment of the polarization controller [27]. When it is
close to a perfect transmitter, it is one of the loops in the
figure-eight laser. When it acts more like a reflector it is the
reflecting loop in the Sagnac loop reflector laser. The analysis
calls for a more sophisticated treatment of the scattering
matrix describing the transformation of polarization by the
polarization controllers in Fig. 6. The loop is traversed both
forwards and backwards, and this requires careful analysis of
time reversed propagation.
We use linear polarization as the basis as in (2.1). Passage
through the controller multiplies a by T as in (2.2). If the
takes care of the reversal of the y-axis. Thus, we find from
(4.1)--(4.4) for the scattering matrix TRof the controller turned
around (reversed):
TR = PTtP (4.5)
where the subscript t indicates a transpose.
Let us now consider the transmission of the loop, as used
in the figure-eight configuration. We want to make it perfectly
transmissive in the absence of gain and nonlinearity. Denoting
by b the output as shown in Fig. 8 we have
b = i[T - P T R P ] ~ . (4.6)
The - sign in the above expressions come from double
passage through the coupler with scattering matrix S
s = -1[ 1 j] (4.7)
J z j 1
We note that the transmission will be zero, when T = PTRP
and can be made total, for both polarization when
T = -PTRP. How does one achieve the second condition?
IiAUS et U/.: ADDITIVE PULSE MODELOCKING 205

eight laser and determine the state of polarization in the

resonator of Fig. 6(a). In one roundtrip around the two loops,
the original state of polarization has to be maintained. Hence,
in order to achieve loss-free modes in the figure-eight laser
one must introduce a polarization transformer in the loop with
the isolator which returns the polarization to its original state
as shown in Fig. 8(a). This figure shows a linear polarization
state as it travels around the figure-eight. It transforms from
Ito 11 and back to perpendicular. Clearly another polarization
that starts out as I is transformed into 11 and back again is
also an eigenstate. In practice, there may be some polarization-
dependent loss that will favor one particular polarization.
Let us now tum to the reflector case. Clearly, such a reflector
is perfectly reflecting if no polarization change takes place.
This is confirmed by an equation analogous to (4.6), where b
is now interpreted as the reflection back into the input port as
shown in Fig. 8 for T = R. Then:
b=ij[RfPR~Pl. (4.10)
The system is lossless with R = 1, as pointed out earlier.
(d)
However, it is not possible to achieve APM action to first
order in such a loop without a nonreciprocal (Faraday) phase
Fig. 7. Time reversal of excitation of polarization transformer. shifter. The system also can be made lossless with a turn in
polarization by choosing

FIGURE EIGHl (4.1 1)

If another transformer is put into the outside fiber as shown in

SAGNAC REFLECTOR
(b)
Fig. 8. (a) Schematic of figure-eight laser with polarization controller. (b)
Schematic of Sagnac loop reflector laser with polarization controller.
The pre- and post-multiplication by P changes the sign of
the off-diagonal elements and leaves the sign of the diagonal
elements unchanged. Therefore, in order to make PTRPinto
I
-T;T must be of the form (neglecting any multiplicative
phase factors)
Fig. 8(b), then again both polarizations are eigenstates, each
having an orthogonal partner. Polarization dependent loss will
favor one particular polarization state.
The transformation matrix (4.10) is obtained very simply
from the transformation matrix (4.8) by multiplication with
the P-matrix of (4.4). This corresponds to a cascade of the
T-transformer and a half-wave plate, the latter with its aces
along x and ?J.
5 ) The Bias and the Nonlinear Modulation Coefficients:
The simplest way to introduce (saturable) loss into the figure-
eight fiber ring is to take advantage of the fact that the
incoming and outgoing excitations on the left port of the ring
(Fig. 9) have orthogonal polarization between the coupler and
the polarization transformer T (or R). If one introduces a wave
plate that shifts one polarization by the phase delay 0 relative
to the other polarization a bias is produced (see polarization
transformer 19 in Fig. 9). For an incident wave of amplitude A ,
the two retuming excitations adding at the coupler with this
relative phase delay produce an output
1
b = - (1+ e-je)A = e-Je/ cos
2

T=[: i]. (4.8) If power gain G is introduced asymmetrically in the loop as

shown, then one polarization experiences a nonlinear phase
If we introduce (4.8b) into (4.6) we obtain delay a+:

(4.9)
L J
and the other polarization experiences
The polarization has been transformed from I[: to y and from
y to -I[:, respectively. Let us proceed further with the figure- a- = ~.elA(~
206
FIGURE EIGHT
4 ppm, N A of 0.13, and mode field diameter of 8.1 pm. The net
Y n
NONLINEAR AMPLIFYING LOOP MIRROR
(b)
Fig. 9. The bias of figure-eight laser and Sagnac reflector laser. (a) Figure
eight. (b) Nonlinear amplifying loop mirror.
with
(5.3)
with X the free space wavelength, 712 the nonlinear index
coefficient, L the length of the loop and .&E the effective
mode cross section. This phase delay adds to the bias delay to
produce the net output amplitude:
j
b = exp[ --(0
2
+ @+ + @-)I
. cos [ ( B + a+ - k ) / 2 ] (5.4)
One may obtain from this expression the SAM and SPM
coefficients y and b as well as the loss parameter 1:
y=-
G-1
4
ne sin (5)
e=i-cos (5)
where y and 6 have been referred to the amplitude A incident
upon the loop. The Sagnac ring reflector can be made to
operate very similarly if one uses the configuration with
R given by (4.11), a configuration that also rotates the
polarizations traveling through the ring. Then the loss bias
and the nonlinear phase shift are produced in the same way
as in the figure-eight ring laser, and the SAM, SPM and loss
coefficients are also given by (5.6)-(5.8).
6. Experimental Results on Fiber Ring Laser: We now
discuss experimental results obtained with the laser depicted in
Fig. 1 [ 121. A fiber pigtailed polarization sensitive isolator was
used to force unidirectional operation of the ring. The pigtails
were constructed of SMF28 fiber. The output was taken from
a 90/10 output coupler constructed of dispersion-shifted fiber.
A 980/1550 nm wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)
coupler constructed of Coming Flexcor 1060 fiber was used
to launch pump light from a Tisapphire laser tuned to 980 nm.
IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS. VOL. 30. NO. 1. JANUARY 1994
The erbium-doped fiber had an erbium concentration of 1000
length of the loop was 4.8 m. Fiber polarization controllers
were used to set the polarization in the ring.
At high launched pump powers (=lo0 mW, 980 nm), a
Q-switched state with an envelope modulating a modelocked
pulse train was observed at certain settings of the controllers.
This is in agreement with the theory that predicts a regime
of APM parameters outside which @switching is predicted
to occur 1201. A modelocked state with multiple quantized
pulses was also observed (Fig. 5). As the pump power was
lowered, the number of pulses could be reduced to a single
one per roundtrip time.
The single-pulse regime was investigated by adjusting the
polarization controllers to the proper setting for modelocking,
then slowly raising the pump power. At 18 mW of launched
pump power, a CW threshold was observed. The CW operation
continued up to 50 mW of pump at which point single pulse
modelocking self-started from noise at an average power
of 240 pW. The center wavelength was 1535 nm, and the
repetition rate was 42 MHz. From this point, a hysteresis was
observed; modelocking could be maintained down to 120 pW
output power. Below this point, the laser retumed to CW. In
the upper limit of pump power, the single pulse state could
be maintained up to approximately85 mW pump and 384 pW
average signal power. Above this point, the pulse would break
up into two pulses that drifted in temporal separation. The
drift occurs in part due to the fact that the different solitons
experience attraction and repulsion forces depending on their
relative phase, and in part because different solitons may
possess different carrier frequencies since the APM mechanism
is broadband. Note that all of the pump powers are well within
the capability of a 980-nm diode.
An oscilloscope trace of the single pulse regime is shown in
Fig. 10. The shortest limit on the stability was slow drift in the
alignment of the 980 nm Ti:sapphire pump system. Even so, it
ran stably for hours. With diode pumping, the stability should
only be limited by environmental effects on the fibers, which
over days required some minor adjustments of the polarization
controller settings.
An autocorrelation of the pulse at 192 pW signal output
power is shown in Fig. 11. The FWHM of the trace is 700 fs,
corresponding to a 452-fs pulse if a sech profile is assumed.
A long-range scan of over 80 ps was also performed in
order to verify the presence of only a single pulse within
the 80 ps resolution limit of our sampling oscilloscope. The
corresponding peak power is estimated to be 101 W inside
the cavity.
A typical spectrum is shown in Fig. 12 and reveals sharp
spikes along with the broad spectrum of the modelocked
signal. These spikes are found to occur at specific frequencies,
independent of the adjustment of the polarization controllers.
Only their amplitudes are affected by such adjustments. We
attribute them to spurious CW oscillations in the ring. Proper
filtering could remove them, but it is difficult to introduce
filters into an all-fiber ring.
The average dispersion of the fiber was estimated to be
approximately -19 ps.ps/km. For a soliton of 452 fs FWHM,
HAUS et al.: ADDITIVE PULSE MODELOCKING
Fig. 10. The pulse train.
Time (ps)
Fig. I 1. The autocorrelation trace.
I I
Wavelength (microns)
Fig. 12. The spectrum
the peak soliton power calculated for the given fiber ge-
ometry and dispersion is 110 W, which is comparable to
N
the measured level. The distance within which the nonlinear
phase shift of the soliton is 27r(8Z0) is on the order of
SO m, which is much longer than the loop length. For the
single-pulse regime, the pulsewidth was found to remain
constant as the pump power was increased to the point
of multiple pulsing. The autocorrelation trace revealed the
development of a large pedestal extending over 40 ps, which
was not observed at lower pump powers. The pedestal may
be attributed to increased coupling of pulse energy to the
continuum. This point of view is reinforced by the observation
that large nonlinear phase shifts per pass cause coupling to the
continuum from the unavoidable nonuniformity of gain and
loss along the fiber.
207
11. DISCUSSION
The ring laser shows the way for the construction of self-
starting APM all-fiber lasers with negative GVD producing
pulses with low background (clean spectra). The rules for the
design of such lasers are the following:
I. One pulse, with energy quantized by the saturating APM
action should be able to saturate the gain. This calls for
relatively short, high-repetition-rate resonators.
2. Unidirectional operation should be enforced with an
isolator, thus favoring self-initiation of modelocking.
3. The nonlinear phase shift of the pulses should be small
compared with 27r per roundtrip in order to suppress
sideband generation.
We have presented a simple analysis of the figure-eight laser
and the Sagnac loop reflector laser based on the assumption
that the changes per pass are small. We argued that this
assumption is justified, especially for comparison, because
operation under conditions in which the nonlinear changes
per pass through the nonlinear elements are large may lead
to inferior performance and instability.
There is another observation that suggests soliton behavior
within components of the system is to be avoided, namely
the operation of the Sagnac loop nonlinear reflector. If the
pulses circulating in the Sagnac loop strip themselves of their
continuum radiation after entry into the loop and really become
solitons, their interference at the coupler deviates from the
standard APM action. Solitons have constant phase across their
profile, and hence their shaping cannot be likened to that of
an equivalent saturable absorber [23].
The negative GVD is not essential for the operation of the
laser. If the GVD is positive, chirped solutions are obtained
from (1.1). Just as in the case of (perturbed) solitons, it
was found from computer simulations that stable pulses are
obtained if the SPM-induced phase shift of the pulse is less
than 27r. Hence, similar criteria as outlined here for negative
GVD ought to prevail for a laser operating with positive GVD.
In a more general vein, it appears that self-starting could
be promoted in all solid-state APM and KLM systems by
implementation in a ring configuration with Faraday isolation.
REFERENCES
F. Ouellette and M. Piche, Pulse shaping and passive modelocking with
a nonlinear Michelson interferometer, Opt. Comm..vol. 60, p. 99, 1986.
K. L. Blow and B. P. Nelson, Improved mode locking of an F-center
laser with a nonlinear nonsoliton extemal cavity, Opt. Lett., vol. 13,
p. 1026, 1988.
J. Mark, L. Y. Liu, K. L. Hall, H. A. Haus, and E. P. Ippen,
Femtosecond pulse generation in a laser with a nonlinear external
resonator. O p f .Lett., vol. 14, p. 48, 1989.
D. E. Spence, P. N. Kean. and W. Sibbett, Sub-100 fs pulse gen-
eration from a self-modelocked titanium-sapphire laser. in Digest of
Conference on Lasers and E1ecfr.o-Optics(Optical Society of America.
Washington, DC. 1990), paper CPDP10-I.p. 619.
D. K. Negus, L. Spinelli, N. Goldblatt, and F. Feuget, Sub-100
femtosecond pulse generation by Kerr lens modelocking in Ti:AI rO:<,
in Di,qest of Topical Meeting on Advuttced Solid State Lasers (Optical
Society of America, Washington, DC, 1991). postdeadline paper.
M. PichYe, Beam reshaping and self-mode-locking in nonlinear laser
resonators, Opt. Comm.. vol. 86, pp. 156. 1991.
H. A. Haus, J . G . Fujimoto, and E. P. Ippen, Analytic theory of additive
pulse modelocking and Kerr lens modelocking, IEEE ./. Qiiunfiim
Elwfron., to be published.
208 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 30, NO. 1, JANUARY 1994

[SI I. N. Duling, Sub-picosecond all-fiber erbium laser, Electron. Lett.,
vol. 27, pp. 544-545, May 1991.
[9] D. J. Richardson, R. I. Laming, D. N. Payne, M. W. Phillips, and V. J.
Matsas, 320 fs soliton generation with passively modelocked erbium
fibre laser, Electron. Letf., vol. 27, pp. 730-732, 1991.
[IO] E. Yoshida, Y. Kimura, and M. Nakazawa, Laser diode-pumped fem-
tosecond erbium-doped fiber laser with a sub-ring cavity for repetition
rate control, Appl. Phys. Letf.,vol. 60, pp. 932-934, 1992.
[111 M. Fermann and A. Weiner, Poster paper at the Ultrafast Phenomena
Conference, June 6 1 2 , 1992, Antibes, France.
[I21 K. Tamura, H. A. Haus, and E. P. Ippen, Self-starting additive pulse
modelocked erbium fiber ring laser, Electron. Lett., vol. 28, pp.
22262227, 1992.
[I31 V. J. Matsas, T. P. Newson, D. J. Richardson, and D. N. Payne,
Selfstarting passively mode-locked fibre ring soliton laser exploiting
nonlinear polarisation rotation, Electron. Len., vol. 28, pp. 1391-1393,
1992.
1141 D. U. Noske, N. Pandit, and J. R. Taylor, Subpicosecond soliton
pulse formation from self-mode-locked erbium fibre laser using intensity
dependent polarisation rotation, Electron. Left., vol. 28, p. 2185, 1992.
[I51 C.-J. Chen, P. K. A. Wai, and C. R. Menyuk, Soliton fiber ring laser,
Opt. Lett.. vol. 17, pp. 417, 1992.
[I61 R. H. Stolen, J. Botineau, and A. Ashkin, Intensity discrimination of
optical pulses with birefringent filters, Opt. Left., vol. 7, p. 512, 1982.
1171 M. Hofer, M. E. Fermann, F. Haberl, M. H. Ober, and A. J. Schmidt,
Mode locking with cross-phase and self-phase modulation, Opt. Left.,
vol. 16, pp. 502-504, 1991.
[I81 J. D. Kafka, T. Baer, and D. W. Hall, Modelocked erbium-doped fiber
laser with soliton pulse shaping, Opr. Left., vol. 14, pp. 1269-1271,
1989.
lasers, Opt. Lett.. to be published.
[21] L. F. Mollenauer, S. G. Evangelides, Jr., and H. A. Haus, Long-
distance soliton propagation using lumped amplifiers and dispersion
shifted fiber, J . Lighrwave Tech., vol. 6, pp, 194-197, Feb. 1991.
[22] S. Kelly, Characteristic sideband instability of periodically amplified
average soliton, Electron. Lett., vol. 28, p. 806, 1992.
[23] H. A. Haus, J. G. Fujimoto, and E. P. Ippen, Structures for additive
pulse mode locking,J. Opt. Soc. Am. B.. vol. 8, pp. 2068-2076, 1991.
[24] D. J. Richardson, A. B. Grudinin, and D. N. Payne, Soliton energy
quantization in the output power of a passive femtosecond soliton laser,
Proc. CLE092, paper JWA5, p. 384, Anaheim, CA, 1992.
[25] H. G. Winful, Self-induced polarization charges in birefringent optical
fibers, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 47, pp. 213-215, 1985.
[26] N. Pandit, D. U. Noske, S. M. J. Kelly, and J. R. Taylor, Characteristic
instability of fibre loop soliton lasers, Electron. Lerr., vol. 28, pp. 455,
1992.
[27] M. E. Fermann, F. Haberl, M. Hofer, and H. Hochreiter, Nonlinear
amplifying loop mirror, Opt. Lett., vol. 15, p. 752, 1990.
H. A. Haus, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.
E. P. Ippen, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.

[201 g.,,.
[I91 H. A. Haus and E. P. Ippen, Self-staring of passively mode-locked
Opt. Lett.. vol. 16, pp. 1331-1333, 1991.
Tamun, J. Jacobson, E. P. Ippen, H. A. Haus, and J. G. Fujimoto,
Unidireclional ring resonators for self-starting passively modelocked K. Tamura, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.