Low-noise mode-locking in a GHz repetition rate Tm3+-doped fiber laser.

ABSTRACT

We demonstrate a GHz repetition rate mode-locked Tm3+-doped fiber laser with low noise. Based on a home-made Tm3+-doped barium gallo-germanate fiber with reduced dispersion, a broad optical spectrum of mode-locking is achieved, and its amplified spontaneous emission quantum-limited timing jitter is largely suppressed. Besides, we carefully investigate the influence of the intracavity pump strength on the noise performance of the mode-locked pulses and find that manipulating the intracavity pump power can be an effective method for optimizing the timing jitter and relative intensity noise (RIN). Particularly, RIN, which originated from the relaxation oscillation, can be effectively suppressed by 33 dB at offset frequencies of >1 MHz. The integrated timing jitter and RIN are only 7.9 fs (10 kHz-10 MHz) and 0.05% (10 Hz-10 MHz), respectively.