Formation and evolution of passively mode-locked fiber soliton lasers operating in a dual-wavelength regime

formation and evolution of dual-wavelength solitons in passively mode-locked fiber soliton lasers are investigated both numerically and experimentally. By solving the Ginzburg-Landau equation and taking the gain profile into account, mode-locked soliton emissions at 1532 and 1555 nm are achieved simultaneously. Numerical results show that the two solitons exhibit the same intensity and duration, indicating that the dual-wavelength pulses possess the soliton energy quantization effect. In the process of pulse-pulse collisions, two solitons pass through each other and maintain their properties, qualitatively distinct from single-wavelength solitons that never overlap each other. The dual-wavelength mode-locked operation evolves into single-wavelength mode locking with the decrease of the pumping strength. The dual-peak gain spectrum of erbium-doped fiber and the birefringence-induced cavity filtering effect play crucial roles in the formation of dual-wavelength solitons. Numerical results agree well with analytical solutions and experimental observations. Our study provides an optional method of measuring the fiber dispersion by means of the dual-wavelength solitons. (c) 2012 Optical Society of America