Generation of J-shaped pulses in ultra-long Ytterbium doped mode locked fiber laser

We report, for the first time, generation of J-shaped pulses in figure-eight type ultra-long, all-normal dispersion Ytterbium-doped fiber laser mode locked by the combined effect of nonlinear polarization evolution and nonlinear optical loop mirror. Cavity birefringence based spectral filtering introduced by polarization controllers is used for the formation of J-shaped as well as step-like and flat-top pulses. The shape and duration of generated pulse is found to depend on applied birefringence as well as pump power. J-shaped pulses of 180 ns duration and 332 nJ pulse energy at 201.45 kHz fundamental repetition rate are generated at 200 mW pump power. Experimentally, a strong correlation between spectral and temporal profile of the generated pulse shapes is established where it has been shown that asymmetric spectral filtering is responsible for generation of J-shaped and step-like pulses. Numerically, the spectral transmission of figure-eight type resonator under different cavity birefringence and intra-cavity power is investigated which qualitatively supports the experimental results.