All-fiber dual-wavelength Q-switched and mode-locked EDFL by SMF-THDF-SMF structure as a saturable absorber

We demonstrate all-fiber dual-wavelength Q-switched and mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) by utilizing the thulium-holmium-doped fiber (THDF) as a fiber saturable absorber (SA) and also a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) element. The 19 cm long THDF has a core diameter of 11.5 µm, refractive index difference of 0.005, and cutoff wavelength of 1810 nm. Stable dual-wavelength Q-switching operation was generated at 1555.14 nm and 1557.64 nm with free spectral range (FSR) of 2.5 nm. The repetition rate of 14.45-78.49 kHz was obtained between 12 and 100 mW pump power. At maximum pump power, the maximum output power and pulse energy were 2.58 mW and 32.87 nJ, respectively. By adding 195 cm long SMF in the same cavity, the stable dual-wavelength mode-locking operation was started at 166 mW and continue stable to 201 mW pump power. This mode-locking operation produced stable dual-wavelength pulses at 1530.34 nm and 1532.84 nm with a repetition rate of 1 MHz with a pulse duration of 128 ns and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 62 dB. It shares the same value of FSR in Q-switching operation. The highest output power of 1.57 nJ corresponds to the maximum output power of 1.57 mW was obtained. Our results validate the linear absorption characteristic at C-band region and multimode fiber effect of THDF can be utilized as SA to generate stable all-fiber dual-wavelength pulsed lasers. Remarkably, these findings expand a fiber gain medium application in short pulse generation.