40 GHz pulse generation using a widely tunable all-polarisation preserving erbium fibre ring laser

Abstract

Optical pulses of less than 6ps duration have been generated at repetition rates up to 40GHz using an all-polarisation preserving actively modelocked erbium doped fibre ring laser. The wavelength tuning range was 43 nm at this repetition rate and extended over 52nm (1518–1570nm) at 20GHz. Minimisation of the overall ring dispersion offered wavelength tunability at nearly constant repetition rate throughout the whole tuning range.