Self-sweeping ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on a fiber saturable absorber

Abstract

Abstract Generally speaking, the self-sweeping effect relies on the dynamical grating formed in active fiber. Here, the normal self-sweeping was generated in a ytterbium-doped fiber which serves as a fiber saturable absorber and is introduced to the laser cavity by a circulator in this experiment. The sweeping rate and the sweeping range alter as usual, both of which can be controlled by the pump power. Further, a new self-pulse signal is observed and discussed, which shows both the grating feature and saturable absorption of YDFSA. Our work provides a new self-sweeping way and can act as a platform to further deeply study this effect.