Scaling of passively mode-locked soliton erbium waveguide lasers based on slow saturable absorbers

We assess the scaling potential of high repetition rate, passively mode-locked erbium-doped soliton lasers. Our analysis focuses on three recently demonstrated lasers using saturable Bragg reflectors (SBR) as the mode-locking element. We use the soliton Area theorem to establish the limitations to increasing the repetition rate based on insufficient intracavity pulse energy, SBR properties, and dispersion engineering. Finally, we examine possible approaches to alleviate these limitations by changing the laser's structure and composition. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America