Review of novel ultrafast fiber oscillators

This work presents a comparative review of two classes of advanced, ultrafast, fiber lasers: dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) oscillators and Mamyshev oscillators. These two classes have received significant attention in recent years and have arguably the highest potential among new ultrafast fiber oscillators, which motivated this work. Working principles are carefully described, and the mechanisms used to mitigate or exploit nonlinearity are highlighted and discussed. An analysis of existing laser systems based on the two classes is performed, with focus on pulse duration, energy, and peak power. Examples of both classes based on ytterbium-, erbium-, and thulium-doped fibers are presented. It is found that the DSR laser generally achieves higher pulse energies than the Mamyshev oscillator, but the latter results in shorter pulse durations. Finally, it is concluded that Mamyshev oscillators perform better in terms of peak power and stability since they do not rely on suppressing nonlinearity. Suggestions for further improvements are made.