Control of noiselike pulse generation in erbium-doped fiber lasers

Noiselike generation in lasers can be controlled by changing the cavity in order to obtain pulses with unique properties. Intense noiselike pulses, as narrow as a few picoseconds, were obtained. These are two orders of magnitude narrower than pulses obtained in previous work. In long cavities, coherent and incoherent two-color noiselike generation were demonstrated. The wavelength difference between the generated pulses could be tuned in a wide wavelength range, which is much broader than the amplifier bandwidth. High-energy /spl ap/16-nJ noiselike pulses with a broad-band spectrum and narrow intensity autocorrelation trace were also demonstrated.