Few-Mode Energy-Managed Soliton Fiber Laser

In mode-locked lasers employing single-mode fibers (SMF) in the $1.5-\mu \mathrm{m}$ wavelength region, conventional soliton dynamics constrain the pulse energy. The development of large mode area (LMA) microstructured single-mode fibers [1] and the use of highly-chirped intracavity pulses [2] have allowed a significant energy upscaling, from geometrical and temporal dimensions. Multimode fibers (MMFs) present a promising alternative to SMFs [3], offering LMA in solid-core fibers, at the expense of a delicate modal control. Besides, in the anomalous dispersion regime, MMF systems face significant challenges, such as managing both chromatic and modal dispersions, which strongly curtail the potential energy scaling [4]. The present work proposes to circumvent the current mode-locked pulse energy limitation in anomalous MM fiber lasers by leveraging a hybrid laser cavity comprising a few-mode gain fiber within the recently-demonstrated energy-management laser architecture approach that provides a highly flexible mode-locked operation [5].