Mode-locked all-fiber laser producing radially polarized rectangular pulses

We propose and demonstrate a radially polarized mode-locked fiber laser through the use of a figure-8 cavity in combination with cascade fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The mode-locked laser emits rectangular pulses with width tunable from 2.8 to 23 ns under an increasing pump power at 1056.3 nm with 0.2-nm 30-dB linewidth. A polarization purity as high as 96% for the output transverse mode has been achieved simultaneously. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America