Evolution between bright and dark pulses in a MoxW1-xTe2 based fiber laser

Abstract

We proposed an erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked with a Mo x W1-xTe2-based nonlinear optical modulator for the first time to our best knowledge. This fiber laser can deliver bright pulses, bright-dark pulse pairs, dark pulses, bright-dark-bright pulses, and dark-dark-bright pulses. The modulation depth and saturation intensity of the Mo x W1-xTe2-based saturable absorber were about 7.8% and 8.6 MW/cm2, respectively. When 10% of the laser in the cavity was output, conventional soliton pulses with central wavelength of 1560.1 nm can be obtained in the cavity. When 70% of the laser was output, dual-wavelength domain-wall dark pulses appeared in the laser cavity. This experiment revealed that an appropriate increase in the ratio of output energy can improve the chance of dark pulses in fiber lasers. The mode-locking states in this fiber laser can evolve with each other between bright pulses, bright-dark pulse pairs and dark pulses by adjusting the polarization controller. The results indicated that the Mo x W1-xTe2 can be used to make modulators for generating dark pulses. Furthermore, our work will be of great help to improve the chance of the generation of dark pulse in fiber lasers.