Enhancing high-order harmonic mode-locking in Er/Yb-Doped fiber lasers with sub-MHz fundamental frequency via optoacoustic resonance

We present an experimental study of a long Er/Yb-doped fiber ring laser with a low fundamental frequency of 0.678 MHz. By solely adjusting the quarter-wave plate in the polarization controller, we uncovered a series of reproducible laser generation regimes. Among these, multiple soliton bunches were harmonically mode-locked to low-order cavity harmonics (from the 3rd to the 8th). Notably, we also identified a regime featuring a stable soliton train harmonically mode-locked to the 472nd cavity harmonic at 320 MHz. This regime demonstrated exceptional harmonic mode-locking stability, with a supermode suppression level of 49 dB corresponding to the timing jitter on the order of a few picoseconds. We attribute this remarkable stability to an exact optoacoustic resonance between the laser repetition rate and the fiber eigen acoustic mode frequencies, specifically identified as R06 and TR2,15. These findings represent a significant advancement in high-performance fiber laser operation, particularly in enhancing the stability of lasers with sub-MHz fundamental frequencies capable to generate regular pulses with much higher repetition rates.