Broadband output from an actively mode-locked fiber ring laser.

Nonlinear effects are invoked with the inclusion of a dispersion shifted fiber in the cavity of an actively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser. The spectrally broadened output is analyzed both in the time and the spectral domains for different lengths of this specialty fiber. A maximum spectral width of 52 nm is achieved at a pump power of 180 mW under optimized conditions in this configuration.