Chaotic dynamics of erbium-doped fiber laser with nonlinear optical loop mirror

We experimentally and numerically demonstrate the chaotic dynamics of the erbium-doped fiber laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror. When the polarization controllers are fixed at an appropriate orientation, we observe that the fiber laser exhibits a period-doubling route to chaos with increasing the pump power in the experiment and simulation. The numerical simulation shows a good agreement with the experimental results. The results show experimentally and numerically that the chaotic dynamics of the erbium-doped fiber laser is related to the polarization state and the pump power of light in the cavity.