Abstract
We theoretically explore the mechanism in a thulium $ Q $-switched ytterbium-doped all-fiber fiber laser using a set of rate equations to model the correlations between the photons and the five energy levels of thulium involved in the $ Q $ switching mechanism. We demonstrate that by coupling with a gain-switched resonator, the $ Q $-switched laser is stabilized up to the maximum pulsing rate that is limited by the lifetime of level $^3\!{H_5}$. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that revealed that level $^3\!{H_5}$ plays an essential role in reinitialization, achieving sequential pulses, and limiting the maximum repetition rate.
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