Abstract
A simple mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with three switchable operation states is proposed and demonstrated based on nonlinear polarization rotation. The EDFL generates a stable square pulse at a third harmonic pulse repetition rate of 87 kHz as the 1480 nm pump power increases from the threshold of 17.5 mW to 34.3 mW. The square pulse duration increases from 105 ns to 245 ns as the pump power increases within this region. The pulse operation switches to the second operation state as the pump power is varied from 48.2 mW to 116.7 mW. The laser operates at a fundamental repetition rate of 29 kHz with a fixed pulse width of 8.5 μs within the pump power region. At a pump power of 116.7 mW, the average output power is 3.84 mW, which corresponds to the pulse energy of 131.5 nJ. When the pump power continues to increase, the pulse train experiences unstable oscillation before it reaches the third stable operation state within a pump power region of 138.9 mW to 145.0 mW. Within this region, the EDFL produces a fixed pulse width of 2.8 μs and a harmonic pulse repetition rate of 58 kHz.