Carrier-Envelope Offset Frequency Stabilization of a Fiber Laser by Cross Gain Modulation

We present the first carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency stabilization of a fiber laser by cross gain modulation. The Yb-doped fiber laser is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization evolution and emits 32-nm wide dissipative solitons at a repetition rate of 125 MHz with 150 mW of average output power. A continuous wave laser signal at a wavelength of 1025 nm is used as an intracavity power modulator. A low power of only 200 <i>μ</i>W of modulator signal is coupled into the fiber laser and amplified in the gain segment. This signal cross modulates the laser gain, achieving 40 times larger modulation bandwidth of the intracavity laser power than with standard pump-current control. A tight CEO lock is demonstrated with 361 mrad of residual integrated phase noise (from 1 Hz to 1 MHz). The method allows easy implementation in many existing fiber laser frequency combs based on various saturable absorbers and fiber configurations.