All-fiber mode-locked nanosecond laser employing intracavity chirped fiber gratings

We demonstrate that nanosecond pulses are generated directly from an all-fiber mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser. A pair of Chirped Fiber Gratings (CFGs) with different sign of dispersion is employed for intracavity dispersion management. Self-starting stabilized mode-locking operation is achieved by nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE). The 1.27 ns pulses are obtained after one CFG with large positive dispersion. The pulse energy is up to 15 nJ at a repetition rate of 3.48 MHz. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America