Generation of dark and bright pulses in an SOA-based Q-switched fiber laser

摘要

Bright and dark pulses in a Q-switched optical fiber laser based on a semiconductor optical amplifier were demonstrated. By changing the setting of the polarization controllers, bright or dark pulses with differing pulse widths and frequency repetition rates can be obtained. The bright pulse and dark pulse are formed mainly by the effect of gain dispersion of the semiconductor optical amplifier.