Simulation and analysis of erbium fiber lasers and amplifiers with application to the harmonic modelocked non-linear optical loop mirror laser

Full spectral simulations of the continuous wave and pulsed laser and amplifier systems are undertaken by coupling the perturbed Non-Linear Schrodinger Equation to the laser rate equations that define the three-level nature of the Er{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub}{dollar} transition. A Non-Linear Optical Loop Mirror is incorporated into the Harmonic Mode-locked erbium fiber laser to yield gigabit rate ultrashort optical pulses. Application of the coupled Non-Linear Schrodinger equation to this laser predicts a minimum pulsewidth of 500fs. The minimum pulsewidth is found to be limited by dispersive wave radiation effects.