Pump-to-signal intensity noise transfer as the mechanism of self-pulsing in erbium doped fiber laser

We report experimental and theoretical characterization of self-pulsing in high concentration erbium doped fiber laser which is free from erbium clusters. Unlike previous models of self-pulsing which account for pair-induced quenching (PIQ) on the clustered erbium ions, new model includes statistical nature of the excitation migration and upconversion, and resonance-like pump-to-signal intensity noise transfer. The obtained results are in a good agreement with the experimental data.