High-repetition-rate, 491 MHz, femtosecond fiber laser with low timing jitter

We demonstrate a soliton fiber laser based on an anomalously dispersive erbium-doped fiber butt-coupled to a saturable absorber mirror for passive mode locking. The laser generates 1.80 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 491 MHz and exhibits a timing jitter as low as 20 fs over the frequency range 1 kHz-10 MHz. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America