Supermode stabilized coupled-cavity 5-and 10-GHz mode-locked Ti : Er : LiNbO3 waveguide lasers

By coupling the active laser cavity to a passive low-finesse Fabry-Perot re sonator, supermode stabilization of mode-locked Ti : Er : LiNbO3 waveguide lasers for 5- and 10-GHz pulse repetition rates with side mode suppression ratios of 60 and 55 dB has been achieved. The 10-GHz source emits pulses wi th a pulsewidth of 5.7 ps and a time-bandwidth product lower than 0.52 with in an RF frequency tuning range of 3.2 MHz. The 5-GHz source has been used in a 2 x 5 Gbit/s soliton transmitter. In a back-to-back measurement, a Q-f actor of 25.1 dB has been obtained. In soliton transmission experiments ove r 160 km on step-index fiber, an extrapolated bit error rate of 6 . 10(-17) has been measured. The passive cavity can serve also as a pulse repetition rate multiplier. Pulse repetition rate multiplication from 2.5 to 10 GHz h as been demonstrated.