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.     

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.     

Multiwavelength actively mode-locked fiber ring laser with a dispersion compensated cavity

A multiwavelength actively mode-locked fiber ring laser that utilises a single semiconductor optical amplifier as both a gain and mode-locking element is presented. It is verified experimentally that the number of mode-locked wavelengths may be maximised by compensating for the anomalous intra-cavity dispersion. This is achieved through the inclusion of an appropriate length of normal dispersion fiber in the laser cavity. Using this technique, the number of wavelengths simultaneously mode-locked at 10 GHz was increased from 2 to 5.     

Multiwavelength pulse generation in semiconductor-fiber ring laser using a sampled fiber grating

A novel multiwavelength scheme has been demonstrated using a sampled fiber grating in semiconductor-fiber ring laser. By using semiconductor optical amplifier as an inhomogeneously broadened gain medium, three wavelength channels of 10 GHz are simultaneously generated. The number of the lasing channels can be changed through the polarization state adjustment in the cavity.     

Tunable 19 × 10 GHz L-band FP-SOA based multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser

We present a multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber ring laser incorporating a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a Fabry-Perot semiconductor optical amplifier (FP-SOA). Because the gain of the SOA is depleted by an external injection optical signal, the SOA acts as a loss modulator. The FP-SOA serves as a tunable comb filter. The presented laser source can generate 19 synchronized wavelength channels with the extinction ratio of about 21 dB, each mode-locked at 10 GHz, and mode-locked pulse width is about 40 ps. Oscillation wavelengths band can be tuned by adjusting the bias current of the SOA, and wavelength spacing also can be changed by using a tunable optical delay line (ODL) or a temperature controller. The polarization-insensitive devices ensure that the output power is rather stable. This fiber laser has potential applications in longer waveband (L-band) within the low-attenuation window.     

A self-consistent model for a SOA-based fiber ring laser including the mode-locked pulse properties

In this paper, we present a self-consistent model of an optically mode-locked semiconductor fiber ring laser. The fiber laser uses a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as the gain medium, while mode-locking is achieved by its gain modulation, via an external optical pulsed signal. We solved the model analytically developing a novel technique, where we have assumed double saturation of the SOA by both the mode-locked and the externally introduced pulsed signal. The study revealed the locus of the laser parameters to achieve mode-locking. In particular, it was found that SOA gain and energy of the externally introduced signal are two critical parameters that must simultaneously set properly for exact mode-locking. Another outcome of our analysis is that the study of the chirp parameter should be carried out keeping the nonlinear terms of the SOA gain. We have also investigated a slightly detuning regime of operation that revealed a fast change of the mode-locking process.     

Lyot filter based multiwavelength fiber ring laser actively mode-locked at 10 GHz using an electroabsorption modulator

A multiwavelength fiber ring laser comprising of a Lyot filter and hybrid gain medium is presented. A wavelength channel spacing of 100 GHz is achieved by appropriate tuning of the Lyot filter length. Four wavelength channels are simultaneously mode-locked at 10 GHz using an electroabsorption modulator. We highlight how the intra-cavity modulator can affect the stability of the mode-locked laser spectrum when used in conjunction with a Lyot filter. We show that, due its reduced polarization sensitivity, an electroabsorption modulator significantly improves the stability of the mode-locked laser spectrum when compared to using a Mach-Zehnder modulator.     

Optimized amplification of femtosecond optical pulses by dispersion management for octave-spanning optical frequency comb generation

We report a method for optimizing the amplification of femtosecond optical pulses by using dispersion management. The amount of dispersion provided to the seed optical pulse of an erbium-doped fiber (EBF) has an optimal region that enhances the output power of an amplifier. The power enhancement is accompanied by spectral broadening, which originates from adiabatic narrowing in the erbium-doped fiber. The amplified optical pulses can be used to generate an octave-spanning optical frequency comb (OFC) by employing a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF).     

Wideband multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser with frequency shifted feedback

Wideband multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring lasers with frequency shifted feedback are described. The use of an intra-cavity gain flattening filter (GFF) was proposed in order to increase the lasing spectral bandwidth, leading to a demonstration of 34 lasing wavelengths in 28 nm bandwidth in C-band. The GFF induced spectral output power fluctuation is discussed. Multiwavelength operation was also demonstrated for the first time in L-band, where wideband laser operation was obtained without a GFF. Optical bistability and Kerr effect induced pulsation were determined to be limiting factors to stable operation range in this kind of multiwavelength lasers.     

All-optical clock recovery of 20 Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK signals using polarization-maintaining fiber loop mirror filter and semiconductor optical amplifier fiber ring laser

All-optical clock recovery (CR) from 20 Gbit/s nonreturn-to-zero differential phase-shift-keying (NRZ-DPSK) signals are demonstrated experimentally by using a polarization-maintaining fiber loop mirror filter (PMF-LMF) and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring laser. Only by adjusting polarization controller (PC), NRZ-DPSK signals were conveniently and fast converted to pseudo return-to-zero (PRZ) signal via PMF-LMF. Then the PRZ signals are injected into the SOA fiber laser for CR. The recovered clock signals is with the extinction ratio (ER) of 10 dB and the root-mean-square (RMS) timing jitter of 750 fs in 2³¹ − 1 long pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) NRZ-DPSK signals measurement. Moreover, the broad wavelength tunability of recovered clock stemmed from the use of SOAs as modulator and the gain medium are shown too.     

Switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on cascaded polarization maintaining fiber Bragg gratings in a Sagnac loop interferometer

A switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) ring laser based on cascaded polarization maintaining fiber Bragg gratings (PMFBGs) in a Sagnac loop interferometer as the wavelength-selective filter at room temperature is proposed. Due to the polarization hole burning (PHB) enhanced by the PMFBGs, stable single-, dual-, three- and four-wavelength lasing operations can be obtained. The laser can be switched among the stable single-, dual-, three- and four-wavelength lasing operations by adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs). The optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is over 50 dB.     

Stable multiwavelength fiber ring laser with equalized power spectrum based on a semiconductor optical amplifier

We experimentally demonstrated a new structure of a multiwavelength semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) ring laser based on a fiber Sagnac loop filter that can generate up to 25 stable output lasing wavelengths at room temperature. By varying the length of a polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber within the Sagnac loop filter, the wavelength spacing between the output lasing wavelengths can be changed to a desired value. By tuning a polarization controller (PC) within the Sagnac loop filter, stable multiwavelength 1550-nm operation with up to 17 lasing lines within 3 dB power level variation and with a wavelength spacing of ∼0.8 nm was achieved. The optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNRs) of all the lasing wavelengths are greater than 40 dB.     

Wavelength-spacing continuously tunable multi-wavelength SOA-fiber ring laser based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer

A Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) which is used as a wavelength-spacing tunable comb filter in a fiber ring laser is built by employing an optical variable delay line (OVDL). Stable multi-wavelength semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-fiber ring laser based on an SOA and the MZI comb filter is achieved. Wavelength spacing can be continuously tuned by adjusting the OVDL and, as an example, multi-wavelength lasing with the wavelength spacing of 0.4, 0.8, or 1.6 nm is demonstrated. The output of the proposed multi-wavelength SOA-fiber ring laser is quite stable at room temperature and the output spectrum can be adjusted by controlling the bias current of the SOA.     

Generation of domain-wall solitons in an anomalous dispersion fiber ring laser

We report experimental observations performed using a net anomalous dispersion Er-doped fiber ring laser without polarization-selective elements, highlighting the domain-wall solitary pulses generated under the incoherent polarization coupling. By adjusting the pump power and the polarization state appropriately, bright and dark solitons can stably co-exist in the cavity, both centered at 1562.16 nm with a 3-dB spectral width of ～ 0.15 nm and a repetition rate of 3.83 MHz. Moreover, the 0.8 mm long thulium-doped fiber (TDF) facilitated the mode-locking and self-starting of the laser. This is the first demonstration of a laser being used to generate bright and dark solitons synchronously while using TDF as the saturable absorber (SA). Except possessing the all-fiber structure, the laser exhibits good stability, which may have a significant influence on improvement of the pulse-laser design, and may broaden practical applications in optical sensing, optical communication, and soliton multiplexed systems.     

Numerical study of a harmonic mode-locked semiconductor optical amplifier fiber ring laser

An improved harmonic mode-locked Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring lasers has been presented and numerically investigated based on the self-reproduction theory. The numerical result shows that a narrower optical pulse train with a more symmetrical-temporal shape can be obtained, when the modulation SOA is DC biased on high current, whereas the gain SOA is DC biased on the low current functions as a gain compensator in the experimental setup. Also, the system parameters effects on the characteristic of the harmonic mode-locked pulse have been investigated.     

The effect of AWG-filtering on a bidirectional WDM-PON link with spectrum-sliced signals and wavelength-reused signals

The AWG-filtering effect was investigated on a bidirectional 100-GHz-channel-spacing WDM-PON link using spectrum-sliced and RSOA-amplified light sources for downstream signals and a wavelength reuse technique for upstream signals. Three different AWGs including Gaussian, trapezoidal, and rectangular filtering types were applied and their signal performance was compared for link transmission. The performance influence to both directional signals was analyzed and optimized according to an extinction ratio of a downstream signal. It was found that there was an optimal pass bandwidth of AWG for achieving balance between relative intensity noise decrement and cross phase modulation noise increment as the bandwidth got wider.     

All-optical logic OR gate using SOA and delayed interferometer

All-optical OR operation has been demonstrated using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and delayed interferometer (DI) at 80 Gb/s. The DI is based on a polarization maintaining loop mirror. Q-factor of the operation is discussed through numerical simulations. The results show the OR gate operation rate is limited by the gain recovery time and input pulse energy.     

A novel actively and passively mode-locked semiconductor optical amplifier fiber ring laser

A novel actively and passively mode-locked semiconductor optical amplifier fiber ring laser was presented, where semiconductor optical amplifier provided cavity gain and introduced nonlinear polarization rotation, whereas, intensity modulator not only acted as modulator but also polarizer. The pulses with duration below 3 ps (FWHM) and peak power about 16 mW at a repetition rate of 10 GHz can be obtained in our system and the system stability may be enhanced. To investigate system parameters effects on mode-locked pulses, a theoretical model was developed.     

Dispersion-tuned multiwavelength actively mode-locked fiber laser using a hybrid gain medium

We demonstrate a multiwavelength 10 GHz pulse source using a dispersion-tuned actively mode-locked fiber ring laser incorporated with a semiconductor optical amplifier and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. Simultaneous seven-wavelength operation of the laser is obtained. The side-mode suppression of all wavelengths is above 30 dB. Smooth wavelength tuning is achieved over more than 12 nm by changing the modulation frequency or the length of the optical delay line. Pulse characteristics are almost constant over the entire tuning span. Wavelength spacing can also be varied from 0.9 to 10 nm by adjusting the dispersion of the cavity. These experimental observations agree well with theoretical analyses.     

WDM-PON upstream transmission using Fabry–Perot laser diodes externally injected by polarization-insensitive spectrum-sliced supercontinuum pulses

We propose, a novel upstream transmission scheme for high speed wavelength division multiplexed passive optical networks. Upstream transmission at bit rate of 2.5 Gb/s was demonstrated using a Fabry–Perot (FP) laser diode (LD) externally injected by a spectrum-sliced polarization-insensitive supercontinuum pulse source, located at central office. The impact of Rayleigh backscattering on transmission performance is also investigated. The proposed scheme is expected to be cost-effective since low-cost FP LDs are used for light sources.