Tunable scalar solitons from a polarization-maintaining mode-locked fiber laser using carbon nanotube and chirped fiber Bragg grating.

Generation of tunable scalar solitons from a polarization-maintaining (PM) mode-locked fiber laser is presented. A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) absorber is used for self-started mode locking. A chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) mounted on a cantilever is employed as a tunable all-fiber filter. Mode-locked solitons are obtained with typical pulse duration of ~6.94 ps and repetition rate of 28.94 MHz. Linearly polarized laser emission is characterized with degree of polarization (DOP) of ~99.5%. The wavelength of the emitted scalar soliton can be continuously tuned through adjusting the CFBG, while maintaining the polarization stability.