Simple tunable multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fiber laser utilizing short-length photonic crystal fiber

We have demonstrated a simple ring cavity tunable multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fiber laser (MWBEFL), in which 70 m highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (HNL-PCF) is used as the Brillouin gain medium. The fiber laser utilizes recycling mechanism to enhance stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). The configuration that consists of only 3 optical components is easy to be integrated and improves the practicality. At the maximum 1480 nm pump power of 110 mW and the Brillouin pump power of 3 dBm, 10 stable output channels with more than 10 dB optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) and 0.078 nm channel spacing could achieve 10 nm tuning ranges.     

Experimental and theoretical studies on ytterbium sensitized erbium-doped fiber amplifier

The performance of a high power erbium-ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The EYDFA provides a flat gain with an output power higher than 23 dBm in the wavelength region from 1541 to 1565 nm using a multimode pumping at 927 nm. In the theoretical analysis, the rate and power propagation equations are solved to examine the effect of fiber length on the bandwidth of the gain spectra. In the C-band region, the small signal gain of the EYDFA varies from 30 to 34 dB with 10 m long erbium-ytterbium doped fiber (EYDF) while the 927 nm pump power is fixed at 3.5 W. It is shown that the calculated output power is in good agreement with the experimental results, verifying the feasibility of our theoretical model. However, the experimental result shows a relatively lower gain compared to the theoretical result due to the spurious reflection in the cavity and the insertion loss of the EYDF which were neglected in our theoretical model.     

Microwave generation using an all polarization-maintaining linear cavity dual-wavelength fiber laser with tunable wavelength spacing

A stable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with a linear cavity is formed by a polarization-maintaining uniform fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG) and a polarization-maintaining linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (PM-LCFBG), both of which were fabricated on a high-birefringence (Hi-Bi) fiber. Experimental results show stable dual-wavelength lasing operation with a wavelength separation of ∼0.22 nm, which can be tuned down to as small as 0.05 nm and a large optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of over 40 dB under room-temperature. Microwave signal at frequency of 9.41, 18.03 and 27.46 GHz is achieved by heterodyned the output lasing wavelengths on a photodetector.     

Development of a nearly transform-limited, low-repetition-rate, picosecond optical parametric generator

A low-repetition-rate (10-Hz), picosecond (ps) optical parametric generator (OPG) seeded at the idler wavelength with a high-power diode laser is demonstrated. The output of the OPG at ∼566 nm is amplified in dye cells, resulting in signal enhancement by more than three orders of magnitude. The nearly transform-limited beam at ∼566 nm has a pulsewidth of ∼170 ps, with an overall output of ∼2.3 mJ/pulse. The laser is tuned either by tuning the nonlinear crystal or the seed-laser current. The applications of such a simple, compact, high-performance, tunable ps laser system for linear and nonlinear spectroscopies are outlined.     

A novel double-Brillouin-frequency spaced multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium-doped fiber laser based on non-linear amplified fiber loop mirror

In the paper, a ring double-Brillouin-frequency spaced multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium-doped fiber laser based on non-linear amplified fiber loop mirror filter is demonstrated, in which the non-linear amplified fiber loop mirror (AFLMF) is used as a filter. At the 980 nm pump power of 10.29 dBm, the tunable laser source center wavelength of 1563 nm and power of −3 dBm, up to 12 even output channels with 0.16 nm spacing are achieved. At the same time, we study the influence of 980 nm pump power, the polarization controller and the tunable laser source center wavelength on the number of Stokes light wave.     

全光纤多种子激光脉冲产生系统

报道一种可精确同步输出宽带啁啾脉冲、纳秒级整形脉冲以及窄带光参量啁啾放大抽运脉冲的全光纤多种子激光脉冲产生系统.采用掺镱光纤锁模激光器和掺镱单纵模光纤振荡器作为系统的光源,将掺镱光纤锁模激光器输出的超短脉冲分束啁啾展宽至0.9ns后,一路进行放大产生10μJ量级的宽带啁啾脉冲为高能拍瓦激光器系统提供种子光脉冲,另一路通过1.2nm滤波产生140ps的基元脉冲,通过光纤堆积器产生可编程整形的2.3ns脉冲,再经过放大达到10μJ量级,提供任意整形的压缩脉冲.同时,将部分掺镱光纤锁模激光器输出的超短脉冲进行光电转换并锁相后,产生与锁模超短脉冲高精度同步的电脉冲用于触发幅度调制器,将掺镱单纵模光纤振荡器输出的连续光削波放大,产生光参量啁啾放大抽运脉冲.该系统能够根据物理实验的需要,非常灵活地在输出各种脉冲之间做出选择.     

Four-wave mixing in dual wavelength fiber laser utilizing SOA for wavelength conversion

In this paper, a novel configuration of a wavelength converter is set forth by utilizing a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as a nonlinear gain medium to generate a four-wave mixing (FWM) effect by using a dual wavelength bi-erbium-doped fiber laser that uses an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) together with two optical channel selector (OSC) as selective elements to function as a dual wavelength switchable pump power. The four-wave mixing (FWM) is produced with a wavelength detuning of 7 nm from the pump and signal which used is as the converted signal at wavelength 1532.8 nm or 1534.5 nm for transferring data from the input signal at wavelength 1547.0 nm. Thus, even though the conversion efficiency is as low as −43 dB, it is still possible for applications as a wavelength converter.     

Adaptive femtosecond pulse shaping to control supercontinuum generation in a microstructure fiber

Efficient confinement of laser radiation in the core of a photonic crystal fiber increases the nonlinear processes resulting in supercontinuum generation. The technique of adaptive pulse shaping using an evolutionary algorithm provides a method to gain control over such highly nonlinear processes. Adaptive pulse shaping of the driving laser radiation passing through the photonic crystal fiber is employed to modify the shape and composition of the output supercontinuum. Amplitude and phase shaping are used to optimize the broadband emission between 500 and 700 nm, as well as a soliton centered at 935 nm. The intensities of the emission and of the soliton driven by a shaped laser pulse increase in comparison to an unshaped pulse by factors of 4 and 3, respectively. The spectral width in the range of 500-600 nm is increased by approximately 40%. In addition, the suppression of self-steepening effects in supercontinuum spectra is demonstrated.     

Strictly all-fiber picosecond ytterbium fiber laser utilizing chirped-fiber-Bragg-gratings for dispersion control

A compact, strictly all-fiber, picosecond pulse source based on ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber is described. Stable solitary mode-locking is obtained in a fiber-oscillator utilizing a carefully designed chirped fiber-Bragg-grating (C-FBG) for both dispersion control and spectral filtering. Self-starting is assured through the use of a fiber-coupled semiconductor-saturable-absorber-mirror (SESAM). The oscillator’s 50 MHz 3.8 ps pulse-train output at 1064 nm wavelength is amplified to 1.2 W average power by an Yb-doped fiber-amplifier, yielding 6.45 ps parabolic pulses. Numerical simulations of the fiber-oscillator design based on the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), agree well with the experimental results.     

A theoretical study of double-pass thulium-doped fiber amplifiers

An efficient fluoride-based thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) is theoretically demonstrated using a double-pass scheme. A reflector is incorporated in the double-pass TDFA to allow double propagation of the test signal in the gain medium and thus improve the gain of the TDFA. The small signal gain improvement of more than 15 dB is obtained in the 1465 nm region. A gain as high as 42 dB is obtained in this region with 300 mW of 1050 nm pump using 20 m of thulium-doped fiber. However, a noise figure penalty of approximately 1 dB is also obtained in this wavelength region. Differential equations are solved using the Runge-Kutta method in the theoretical analysis. The theoretical result is in agreement with the experimental result.     

Narrow linewidth CW amplification of a Tm-doped double-clad fiber MOPA system

A Tm-doped double-clad fiber MOPA system is built. Amplification characteristics of a Tm-doped double-clad narrow linewidth fiber master oscillator (MO) are investigated both experimentally and numerically. Linewidth of the fiber MO is only 112 pm at 3 W output. The output and efficiency of the MOPA system increase with the injected seed power. When the seed power is increased to 2 W, a maximum output of 10.5 W is obtained with a slope efficiency of 41.5%. Spectral center of the output lies at 1996.7 nm with the linewidth no bigger than 120 pm throughout the experiment.     

Characteristics of pulse fiber amplifier with China-made LMA fiber and (6+1)×1 multimode combiner

A pulse master-oscillator fiber power amplifier system with china-made large-mode-area fiber and a (6+1)×1 multimode combiner is demonstrated. The system generates up to 4.8 W of amplified radiation (100 kHz) at a wavelength of 1064 nm with a near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M²=1.2), and the overall slope efficiency with respect to the launched pump power is 50%. Some basic characteristics of this system, including the pulse-amplification characteristics, the gain characteristics, as well as the emission spectrum characteristics are investigated in detail.     

Multi-wavelength conversion at 10 Gb/s using cross-phase modulation in highly nonlinear fiber

In this paper we demonstrate a technique of signal wavelength conversion via cross-phase modulation (XPM)-induced nonlinear coupling among a 10 GHz return-to-zero (RZ) signal and a continuous wave (CW) carrier co-propagating in dispersion-shifted (DS) highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). The wavelength conversion bandwidth up to ±20 nm was achieved experimentally and potential extension was verified by numerical simulations. The principle can easily be extended to 40 Gb/s and used as polarization insensitive all-optical wavelength converter.     

Multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation assisted by four-wave-mixing

We experimentally demonstrate a simple-structure but efficient multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation assisted by four-wave-mixing (FWM). Based on the combination of these two nonlinear mechanisms contributing to intensity-dependent loss to alleviate mode competition, the stable multiwavelength operation at room temperature can be realized in a length of dispersion-shifted fiber. We achieved up to 38-wavelength generation with a spacing of ∼0.4 nm in the laser. In addition, through tuning the birefringence fiber filter, the lasing wavelength can be accurately tuned in the free spectrum range.     

Passively mode-locked ytterbium fiber laser utilizing chirped-fiber-Bragg-gratings for dispersion control

A robust, self-starting picosecond pulse source based on ytterbium (Yb³⁺) doped fiber laser is described. Utilizing a chirped-fiber-Bragg-grating (C-FBG) for dispersion control, solitary mode-locking is obtained without bulk dispersion compensation elements. A semiconductor saturable absorber (SESAM) is used for stable self-starting. 3.6 ps pulses are produced, with 45 MHz basic repetition-rate and mW scale average output power at 1060 nm. Detailed numerical simulations based on the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation agree well with the experimental results and are used as a design tool for the solitary mode-locked picosecond laser. The presented design can be simply employed in an all-fiber environmentally-stable system.     

Passive Q-switching of short-length Tm-doped silica fiber lasers by polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe microchips

We demonstrate passive Q-switching of short-length double-clad Tm³⁺-doped silica fiber lasers near 2 μm pumped by a laser diode array (LDA) at 790 nm. Polycrystalline Cr²⁺:ZnSe microchips with thickness from 0.3 to 1 mm are adopted as the Q-switching elements. Pulse duration of 120 ns, pulse energy over 14 μJ and repetition rate of 53 kHz are obtained from a 5-cm long fiber laser. As high as 530 kHz repetition rate is achieved from a 50-cm long fiber laser at ∼10-W pump power. The performance of the Q-switched fiber lasers as a function of fiber length is also analyzed.     

Efficient anti-stokes signal generation through degenerate four wave mixing in an all solid photonic bandgap fiber

We reported the generation of visible red light through degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) in an all solid photonic bandgap fiber (PBGF), which was achieved by pumping the fiber with a 800 nm Ti:sapphire-based femtosecond pulse laser. At a fiber length of 30 m, a broadband anti-Stokes spectrum range from 620 nm to 740 nm was obtained at the highest pump power, the spectrum evolution as a function of pump power and propagation distance had been measured. Furthermore, the intensity-dependent parametric gain characteristic is also calculated, which accords well with the experimental results.     

Determination of nonlinear coefficient and group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based high nonlinear optical fiber by four-wave-mixing

Nonlinear coefficient and group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based nonlinear fibers were determined by four-wave-mixing measurements. The wavelength dependence of refractive index of bulk bismuth-based glasses was also measured to estimate the material dispersion and waveguide dispersion. A newly developed bi-directional four-wave-mixing configuration enabled us to determine all fiber parameters simultaneously. The obtained fiber nonlinearity γ ∼ 1000 W⁻¹ km⁻¹ of bismuth-based nonlinear fiber is the highest one in the step-index fiber made of oxide glasses as expected from a high refractive index at 1550 nm. Dispersion analysis reveals that the both material dispersion and waveguide dispersion affect to the large group-velocity-dispersion of bismuth-based nonlinear fiber.     

Ultra-wideband single-polarization single-mode, high nonlinearity photonic crystal fiber

We report a novel design of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a rectangular array of four closely-spaced, highly elliptical air holes in the core region and a circular-air-hole cladding. The proposed PCF is able to support ultra-wideband single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) transmission from the visible band to the near infrared band. With the aid of the inner cladding formed by the central air holes, one polarization of the fundamental mode can be cut off at very short wavelengths and ultra-wideband SPSM propagation can be achieved. The inner cladding also suppresses the higher order modes and allows large air filling fraction in the outer cladding while the proposed fiber remains SPSM, which significantly reduces the mode effective area and the confinement loss. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed PCF has a 1540 nm SMSP range with <0.25 dB/km confinement loss and an effective area of 2.2 μm². Moreover, the group velocity dispersion (GVD) of the proposed PCF can also be tuned to be flat and near zero at the near infrared band (∼800 nm) by optimizing the outer cladding structure, potentially enabling many nonlinear applications.     

Random distributed feedback fiber laser pumped by an ytterbium doped fiber laser

A random distributed feedback fiber laser operating at 1115 nm has been demonstrated experimentally in standard communication optical fibers by using a LD-pumped Yb-doped fiber laser as the pump source. We have studied the effect of different fiber spans on this new type of random fiber laser output power. It is shown that the generation power is the highest up to 198 mW in a 50 km fiber span. The slope efficiency is more than 28.7%. Stable, high-power continuous-wave (CW) lasing can be generated when the pump power is 3.6 W. The threshold power has also been calculated which well proves a random fiber laser operating via Rayleigh scattering, amplified through the Raman scattering.