Study of the output characteristics of nonlinear optical loop mirror on an erbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser

We experimentally discussed the output characteristics of a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser using a single-mode fiber (SMF) structure as a saturable absorber (SA) based on nonlinear optic loop mirror (NOLM). The NOLM acting as an SA has properties of controllable pulse interval and pulse width. Four different types of NOLMs are experimentally discussed and the results show that fine adjustment to the coupler ratio together with optimization of the SMF length inside the NOLM can simultaneously implement high pulse energy and pulse internal tunability. The laser configuration provides a method to generate well-performing mode-locked lasing, and the investigations of the effects of changing some parameters of the laser also provide some help for the development of mode-locked fiber laser based on NOLM.