Electronically tunable thulium-holmium mode-locked fiber laser for the 1700-1800 nm wavelength band

We demonstrate a widely tunable, mode-locked fiber laser capable of producing sub-picosecond pulses between 1705 and 1805 nm. The 100 nm tuning range is achieved by using intracavity acousto-optic tunable filter. The laser delivers highly stable pulses via self-starting hybrid mode-locking triggered by frequency-shifting and nonlinear polarization evolution. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America