Comparison of Brillouin-Raman comb fiber laser in two different configurations

The properties of a Brillouin-Raman comb fiber laser are compared for two different configurations: co-propagating and counter-propagating Raman pump. The optical spectrum is compared for changing the Raman pump power and the power or the wavelength of seed laser. A Brillouin-Raman comb with 400 linewidth lasers in a flat-amplitude bandwidth of 32 nm between 1538 and 1570 nm, with an average optical power 20 dB above the nearby frequencies was generated. The lasers in the comb had an OSNR of 20 dB and a wavelength spacing of 0.08 nm. The results for the counter-propagating configuration were observed to have better quality.     

Multiwavelength fiber laser based on a photonic crystal fiber loop mirror with cooperative Rayleigh scattering

In this work, a multiwavelength fiber Raman laser based on a highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber loop mirror is presented. A laser resonator is formed when the Raman amplification with cooperative Rayleigh scattering in a dispersion-compensating fiber is used as a distributed mirror and combined with a photonic crystal fiber loop mirror filtering structure. Stable multiwavelength lasing at room temperature is achieved due to the low temperature sensitivity of the highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber.     

Temperature-insensitive strain sensor based on four-wave mixing using Raman fiber Bragg grating laser sensor with cooperative Rayleigh scattering

A temperature-insensitive strain sensor based on Four-Wave Mixing (FWM) using two Raman fiber Bragg grating (FBG) lasers with cooperative Rayleigh scattering is proposed. Two FBG were used to form two linear cavities laser sensors based on Raman amplification combined with cooperative Rayleigh scattering. Due to the very low dispersion coefficient of the fiber, it is possible to obtain the FWM using the two lasers. This configuration allows the operation as a temperature-insensitive strain sensor where both sensors have the same sensitivity to temperature but only one of the FBG laser is sensitive to strain. The difference between the wavelengths of the signal sensor and the converted signal presents a strain coefficient sensitivity of 2?pm/??? with insensitivity to temperature. The FWM efficiency is also dependent on the applied strain, but it is temperature independent, presenting a maximum sensibility of 0.01?dB/???.     

Multi-wavelength Brillouin-Raman ring-cavity fiber laser with 22-GHz spacing

We experimentally demonstrate a multi-wave length Brillouin-Raman fiber laser configured in a ring-cavity resonator. Interactions between stimulated Brillouin scattering and Raman amplification in a dispersion compensating fiber, attributed to the generation of 16 output channels at injected Raman pump unit power of 650 mW and Brillouin pump power of 2.0 mW. The first output channel has a peak power of 14.8 mW. By discriminating the even-order Brillouin Stokes signals from circulating in the resonator, the generated output channels were found to have wavelength spacing of ∼22 GHz. The output channels were also found to have average optical signal-to-noise ratio value of 11.7 dB.     

Dual-wavelength fiber grating laser in linear overlapping cavity

We report a switchable dual-wavelength fiber grating laser in linear overlapping cavity. The laser features two overlapping cavities sharing a single Yb-doped gain medium fiber and two sets of fiber Bragg gratings. A coiling fiber setup is inserted into the 1035 nm laser cavity. Given that the bending loss is inversely related to the bending radius, the cavity loss of 1035-nm can be modulated. Modulating the bending loss facilitates the switching of the fiber grating laser to a single-or dual-wavelength output at 1030 or 1035 nm and convenient tuning of the power ratio of the two wavelengths. An approximately 152.6-mW output power and up to 38-dB polarization extinction ratio are observed. The simultaneous lasing at I030 and 1035 nm is a qualified seeder source for amplification to high power scale and can be applied to difference frequency generation of a terahertz signal. This dual-wavelength fiber grating laser is a potential pump source for generating terahertz radiation using a novel approach.     

基于增强瑞利反馈的单模窄线宽随机激光器

仿真说明了单模光纤(SMF)中瑞利散射(RS)的机理, 指出纤芯掺杂的不均匀性以及拉丝过程引起的光纤几何尺寸的随机变化是光纤中RS产生的主要原因, 并以此为基础制作了损耗为0.54 dB/km的散射光纤. 在通信波段, 5 km该散射光纤的瑞利背向散射(RBS)强度高于相同长度的SMF-28近5 dB. 在基于RBS单模随机激光器的数值模拟中, 大量的具有随机幅度和相位的纵模在经历不平坦增益的多次放大之后, 只有在增益最大点附近的模式能够克服损耗成为输出模式. 实验中以掺铒光纤作为增益介质, 500 m散射光纤提供随机反馈, 窄带布拉格光纤光栅(FBG)作为波长选择器件, 得到线宽约3.5 kHz、对比度近50 dB的单模激光输出. 与采用相同长度SMF-28的随机激光器相比, 其阈值电流降低了80 mA, 相同抽运条件下的最大输出功率提高了3 dBm. 该单模窄线宽随机激光器的输出波长的调谐特性仅由FBG的中心波长决定.     

A Raman laser intensity sensor induced by the cooperative Rayleigh scattering in a ring configuration

In this work, a laser sensor is described that uses the multipath interference produced inside a ring cavity to measure the power loss induced by a moving taper intensity sensor. The laser is created due to the virtual distributed mirror formed by the Rayleigh scattering produced in a dispersion compensating fiber when pumped by a Raman laser. Two laser peaks were formed, one of them is obtained by the Raman gain (1555 nm) inside the ring and the second is created by the combination of the Raman gain and the Rayleigh scattering (1565 nm). A taper sensor is used as displacement sensor and when the losses is applied in the taper the second laser peak is reduced and the first peak is maintained constant and can be used as reference level.     

Pressure sensing utilizing linear cavity erbium-doped fiber laser

In this paper, we report a fiber laser pressure sensor based on linear cavity erbium-doped fiber laser. The fiber laser structure comprises of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier, a circulator, an optical coupler and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) which acts simultaneously as a lasing wavelength selecting components as well as a pressure sensor. The FBG is fitted to the shock tube where the pressure is applied. The fiber laser pressure sensor has a low threshold power of 7 mW, an output power of 2.28 mW and an optical signal to noise ratio over 55 dB. The proposed fiber laser sensor is expected to be an attractive choice for long-distance pressure monitoring.     

Threshold characteristics of linear cavity Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

The threshold characteristics of linear cavity Yb³⁺-doped double-clad fiber laser have been studied theoretically and experimentally. By solving rate equations, the expression for threshold pump power is obtained. The effects of fiber length, mirror reflectivity, pump wavelength, laser wavelength and Yb³⁺ concentration on threshold pump power are discussed. Then, the Yb³⁺-doped double-clad fiber laser with linear cavity is developed. By using various output couplers, threshold pump power has been measured. The experimental results are in accord with theory.     

A stable dual-wavelength fiber laser with tunable wavelength spacing using a polarization-maintaining linear cavity

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a stable dual-wavelength erbium-doped polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber laser with tunable wavelength spacing using an all-PM linear cavity that makes use of two reflection peaks from the PM fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG). Experimental results show stable dual lasing lines with a wavelength separation of ∼0.22 nm and a large optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of over 40 dB under room temperature. By applying axial strain to the PM-FBG, the center wavelengths of the two lasing lines can be tuned over several nanometers and the wavelength separation between the lasing lines can also be tuned to as small as 0.05 nm, which, to our knowledge, is the smallest wavelength spacing ever obtained from a stable room-temperature dual-wavelength fiber laser. The proposed laser configuration has the advantages of simple structure, low loss, stable dual-wavelength operation and a very small lasing linewidth of ∼5 kHz . PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.81.-i; 42.81.Gs     

A linear cavity brillouin/bismuth-based erbium-doped fiber laser with enhanced characteristics

A new linear cavity BEFL configuration for increased Stokes-line generation is proposed and demonstrated utilizing a 2 × 2 coupler at the end of the linear cavity. The proposed linear cavity is able to generate up to 33 Stokes lines in the 1590-nm region at a channel spacing of 0.089 nm. The Stokes lines are generated at a BP power of 4 dBm and a 1480-nm pump power of 100 mW. The number of Stokes generated by the proposed BELF is higher compared to conventional BEFL configurations in which the 2 × 2 coupler is placed in the middle of the linear cavity. The number of Stokes lines generated is observed to depend on the 1480-nm pump power as well as the operating wavelength region, which must be as close as possible to the lasing bandwidth of the free-running BEFL. The proposed multiwavelength BEFL is able to operate stably at room temperatures and is also compact due to the use of a 215-cm bismuth-based EDF as the linear gain medium.     

A self-gain random distributed feedback fiber laser based on stimulated Rayleigh scattering

We reported a narrow linewidth (~ 4 kHz) fiber laser with a mirror-less open cavity based on stimulated Rayleigh scattering (STRS) in a non-uniform fiber. Because of its variable core size and dispersion along the fiber, the threshold of the stimulated Brillouin scattering was increased by ~ 7 dB compared with that of conventional single mode fiber, which allows higher order Rayleigh scattering. The self-gain is initiated by the spontaneous Rayleigh scattering and amplified via STRS, and the distributed feedback mechanism is formed by different orders of Rayleigh scattering counter-propagating as the “random mirror reflection” in the non-uniform fiber.     

The optimum length of linear cavity Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

In order to improve the performance of the double-clad fiber laser, the optimum laser length needs to be estimated prior to the experiment. Previous expressions for the optimum length of fiber laser have been established under some assumptions, such as the output power without laser scattering loss and the pump power without reflection in the output-end. In this work, the issue of optimum laser length has been analyzed theoretically based on the strongly pumped fiber laser model. An extended expression for the optimum length of the linear cavity Yb³⁺-doped double-clad fiber laser is obtained. The respective effects of the laser scattering loss, the pump power, the Yb³⁺ dopant concentration, and the pump reflection on the optimum laser length are identified.     

Optimization of linear cavity design of Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

The output characteristics of a linear cavity Yb-doped double-clad fiber (DCF) laser, including the effects of fiber length, fiber loss, and output mirror reflectivity on laser output power and threshold pump power have been studied theoretically and experimentally. In this paper, the linear cavity of double-clad fiber laser (DCFL) was composed of a pair of fiber Bragg gratings, while the facet of fiber was anti-reflection (AR) coated at 1070nm to erase the Fresnel reflection. Analysis showed that the laser output increases as the reflectivity of the fiber Bragg grating used as the output mirror decreases. At last, under the pump power of 14.4 W, single-mode laser output at 1070 nm was up to 10.8 W, with slope efficiency of 75 %.     

Rayleigh scattering optical frequency correlation in a single-mode optical fiber

The bichromatic optical frequency correlation function for Rayleigh backscattering from a pulse of laser light propagating along a single-mode optical fiber has been calculated and measured. It is shown that the optical correlation frequency, Dnu(c) , is equal to the reciprocal of pulse width T(w) . These results are important for the development of wavelength diversity techniques for the reduction of coherent Rayleigh noise in distributed Rayleigh backscattering single-mode optical fiber sensors.     

A self-seeded fiber laser incorporated with a fiber Bragg grating external cavity semiconductor laser

A self-seeded fiber laser incorporated with a fiber Bragg grating external cavity semiconductor laser (FBG-ECL) and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) were reported in this paper. The MZI provided a Q-switching with response time in the order of micro-seconds. The FBG-ECL provided narrow pulses as seeds to shorten the Q-switched pulses. Experimentally, pulse width of 0.8 μs was measured, which was one fifth of the pulse width without self-seeding.     

High power dual-wavelength tunable fiber laser in linear and ring cavity configurations

We describe and compare the performances of two crucial configurations for a tunable dual-wavelength fiber laser, namely, the linear and ring configurations. The performances of these two cavities and the tunability in the dual-wavelength output varied from 0.8 to 11.9 nm are characterized. The ring cavity provides a better performance, achieving an average output power of 0.5 dBm, with a power fluctuation of only 1.1 dB and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 66 dB. Moreover, the ring cavity has minimal or no background amplified spontaneous emission (ASE).     

Highly efficient dual-wavelength ytterbium-doped fiber linear cavity laser based on cascaded fiber Bragg gratings

A highly efficient dual-wavelength ytterbium-doped fiber linear cavity laser is experimentally demonstrated. Two cascaded fiber Bragg gratings are used as the wavelength selection component. Stable dualwavelength operation and wavelength-switching modes can be realized by appropriately adjusting the polarization state of the intra-cavity light and the reflectivity of the laser cavity. For dual-wavelength operation, the power difference between the two wavelength lasers (1029.7 and 1040.4 nm) can be less than 0.6 dB and the signal-to-amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) ratio is more than 52 dB. The slope efficiency of the laser is as high as 63.9%.     

82-channel multi-wavelength comb generation in a SOA fiber ring laser

We demonstrate a multi-wavelength semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring laser with a dual-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) filter. Two SOAs with different gain spectra provide sufficient gain and a wider gain spectrum to facilitate multi-wavelength lasing. The dual-pass MZI, configured by adding an optical isolator to the two outputs of the conventional MZI, serves as comb filter for multi-wavelength operation, and its extinction ratio can be enhanced to twofold as that of the conventional MZI in the same parameters. To investigate the influences of a dual-pass MZI filter and a conventional MZI filter on multi-wavelength operation, two different cavity configurations are presented and compared, including a single-SOA ring cavity and a double-SOA ring cavity. Stable simultaneous operation at 82 wavelengths, with a wavelength spacing of 40 GHz and a power deviation of 5 dB, and with a minimum optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of 28 dB, is observed from the double-SOA ring cavity using a dual-pass MZI filter.     

Estimation of Rayleigh scattering loss in a double-clad photonic crystal fiber

In this paper the effect of photonic crystal fiber’s structure parameters on Rayleigh scattering was investigated. Rayleigh scattering loss (RSL) has been numerically estimated by average Rayleigh scattering coefficient based on the empirical relations for \(V\) and \(W\) parameters of double-clad photonic crystal fibers (DC PCFs). The dependence of RSL on the two structural parameters—the air hole diameter and the hole pitch was demonstrated. We have shown that RSL depends on the index profiles because of the different optical power confinement factors in every layer of DC PCF. Using these results, the RSL can be optimized by adjusting the fiber parameters—air-hole diameter as well as the air-hole pitch.