Pulse formation mechanisms switching in hybrid mode-locked fiber laser

Abstract

Hybrid mode-locking has been widely used in enhancing pulse quality, however how the hybrid two mode-locking techniques work remains unclear. In this paper, we experimentally investigate three pulse formation mechanisms in saturable absorbers (SA) and nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) passively hybrid mode-locked fiber laser, which are SA-dominated, NPE-dominated, and SA-NPE co-domination switching. Clarified the exists dynamic competition and cooperation among the mode-locking techniques. For the first time, the method of simulating filtered gain spectrum with customized filtering is proposed, and the switching of pulse formation mechanisms is numerically investigated using the coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations. Our results deepen the understanding of hybrid mode-locked fiber lasers and provided a foundation for multi-wavelength mode-locked lasers with different mode-locking techniques in a single cavity.