Research Progress on All-Polarization-Maintaining Mode-Locked Fiber Lasers

This article reviews the research progress of all-polarization-maintaining mode-locked fiber lasers. Owing to their excellent resistance to environmental interference and high stability, all-polarization-maintaining mode-locked fiber lasers hold significant application value in various fields, including industrial processing, communications, medical applications, and military applications. This article provides a detailed introduction to the structures, working principles, and performance characteristics of all-polarization-maintaining mode-locked fiber lasers based on different mode-locking mechanisms, such as SESAMs, two-dimensional materials, nonlinear polarization rotation, nonlinear optical loop mirrors, nonlinear amplifying loop mirrors, and figure-9 cavity. Additionally, this article discusses the challenges faced by all-polarization-maintaining mode-locked fiber lasers and their future development directions, including integration, miniaturization, multi-wavelength output, and the potential applications of new materials.