A stable multiwavelength SOA-based fiber ring laser with ultra-narrow wavelength spacing

This investigation demonstrates a stable multiwavelength fiber ring laser with ultra-narrow wavelength spacing using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). A delay interferometer and a mirror are used as a double-pass interferometer to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in this experiment. Up to 181 stable lasing wavelengths with a wavelength spacing of 10.7 GHz and a signal-to-noise ratio of over 24 dB are produced at room temperature.     

声光可调谐环形腔掺铒光纤激光器

应用单级偏振无关的准共线型声光可调谐滤波器为调谐元件,实现了环形腔掺铒光纤激光器的连续可调谐激光输出.简要阐述了与偏振无关的准共线型声光可调谐滤波器的工作原理,对其频移补偿原理进行了分析.实验研究得到:当抽运功率为13mW时,中心波长为1550nm的激光输出功率为322μW,阈值抽运功率在7.65mW左右,斜率效率约为6.02%;并获得了38nm带宽(1524.7—1562.4nm)的连续可调谐激光输出.     

All-fiber,wavelength-tunable ultrafast praseodymium fiber laser

The interest in tunable ultrafast fiber lasers operating in the 1.3 μm region has seen a significant increase due to rising demands for bandwidth as well as the zero-dispersion characteristic of silica fibers in this wavelength region. In this work, a tunable mode-locked praseodymium-doped fluoride fiber(PDFF) laser using single-walled carbon nanotubes as a saturable absorber is demonstrated. The mode-locked pulses are generated at a central wavelength of 1302 nm with a pulse repetition rate of 5.92 MHz and pulse width of 1.13 ps. The tunability of the mode-locked PDFF laser covers a tuning range of 11 nm.     

光谱线宽与中心波长可同时调谐的高功率光纤激光实现3 kW输出

光谱灵活可调的高功率光纤激光在光谱合束、光声光谱检测和非线性频率变换等方面具有独特优势,近年来受到国内外研究人员的广泛关注。基于光谱灵活可调的超荧光光纤种子源,通过主振荡功率放大器结构实现了光谱中心波长1065～1085 nm可调谐、3 dB线宽2.4～13.8 nm可调谐的3 kW光纤激光输出。

     

SOA-based multi-wavelength laser using fiber Bragg gratings

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a triple-wavelength fiber ring laser using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in conjunction with a series of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The three channels operate at 1554.4, 1555.3, and 1556.1 nm with a peak power above ?25 dBm and optical signal-to-noise (OSNR) above 30 dB at SOA drive current of 350 mA under the room temperature. The proposed laser configuration has the advantages of a simple and compact structure, multi-wavelength operation and the system can be upgraded to generate more wavelengths by increasing the number of FBG used.     

Compact 2 W wavelength-tunable Er:ZBLAN mid-infrared fiber laser

We report a high-power diode-pumped wavelength-tunable (2.7-2.83 mum) erbium-doped ZBLAN mid-infrared fiber laser. Continuous-wave output of >2 W with a spectral linewidth of 1.27 GHz was obtained. Nevertheless, the wavelength-tunable range was found to shrink with increasing pump power. The gain bandwidth narrowing under strong pumping may be ascribed to the enhanced reabsorption process and the weakened population inversion associated with shorter-wavelength emissions.     

Random Bragg-grating-based wavelength-tunable random fiber laser with a full-open cavity

A full-open-cavity wavelength-tunable random fiber laser(WT-RFL) with compact structure and hundreds of picometers tuning range is proposed and demonstrated. A π fiber Bragg grating(FBG) is used in the WT-RFL as a filter to select lasing wavelengths. The two random Bragg grating arrays(RBGAs) and a section of high gain erbium-doped fiber result in a low lasing threshold and high stability. A numerical model to analyze the tunable characteristics is developed. The results show that the laser threshold is 22 m W, and the maximum peak-power fluctuation is 0.55 d B. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that a compact and full-open-cavity WT-RFL with two RBGAs and a π-FBG is proposed.     

All-fiber widely wavelength-tunable thulium-doped fiber ring laser incorporating a Fabry-Perot filter

We demonstrate 1940 to 2010 nm continuous CW wavelength-tuning in a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL), using only fiber-format components. A fiber Fabry-Perot (FP) tunable filter is employed to achieve the wavelength tunability of 70 nm. By imposing a 200 Hz triangle wave signal on the filter, rapid wavelength-sweeping is demonstrated from 1952 to 1992 nm every 5 ms, corresponding to 8 nm/ms. This all-fiber wavelength-tunable and swept laser may find applications such as gas monitoring in the wavelength region of 2 μm.     

Performance of a wavelength-tunable erbium-doped fiber laser using a Sagnac interferometer

We experimentally demonstrate a wavelength-tunable erbium-doped fiber laser that is composed of a ring cavity and a single-mode fiber Sagnac interferometer in a new and simple arrangement. We find that the fiber laser output wavelength is tunable by adjusting the filter effect of the Sagnac fiber loop through a fiber polarization controller set there. The quasi-single-wavelength continuously tunable laser outputs could be achieved within some wavelength range. The multi-wavelength laser outputs could also be observed under some appropriate settings of the polarization controller. A theoretical demonstration of the wavelength tunability about the transmission-type Sagnac loop filter has also been achieved using the Jones calculus theory.     

SOA-based fiber ring laser use in a photonic radio-frequency phase shifter

This investigation demonstrates the feasibility of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)—based fiber ring laser use in a photonic radio-frequency (RF) phase shifter. Experimental results indicate that a fiber ring laser can successfully replace an external pump laser in a photonic RF phase shifter. The RF phase shifter can be turned by adjusting the power of the fiber ring laser.     

Electro-optic wavelength-tunable fiber ring laser based on cascaded composite Sagnac loop filters

A continuous wavelength-swept fiber ring laser with a lithium niobate waveguide electro-optic polarization controller in an intracavity fiber Sagnac loop is experimentally demonstrated. Composite fiber Sagnac loop filters are cascaded to demonstrate discrete wavelength switching of a single-wavelength fiber ring laser. Stable single-longitudinal-mode operation is achieved by use of a Sagnac loop saturable-absorber filter.     

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.     

Bright spatially coherent wavelength-tunable deep-UV laser source using an Ar-filled photonic crystal fiber

We report on the spectral broadening of ~1 μJ 30 fs pulses propagating in an Ar-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. In contrast with supercontinuum generation in a solid-core photonic crystal fiber, the absence of Raman and unique pressure-controlled dispersion results in efficient emission of dispersive waves in the deep-UV region. The UV light emerges in the single-lobed fundamental mode and is tunable from 200 to 320 nm by varying the pulse energy and gas pressure. The setup is extremely simple, involving <1 m of a gas-filled photonic crystal fiber, and the UV signal is stable and bright, with experimental IR to deep-UV conversion efficiencies as high as 8%. The source is of immediate interest in applications demanding high spatial coherence, such as laser lithography or confocal microscopy.     

Tunable single-longitudinal-mode SOA-based fiber laser based on the spectral narrowing effect in a dispersion-shifted fiber

A tunable single-longitudinal-mode(SLM) semiconductor optical amplifier(SOA)-based fiber laser based on a dispersion-shifted fiber(DSF) is proposed and successfully demonstrated. SLM operation is obtained due to the spectral narrowing effect resulting from inverse four-wave mixing in a DSF. A tunable optical filter performs wavelength selection function. By inserting a length of DSF in the laser cavity, SLM lasing can possibly be obtained when laser oscillation is stably established after traveling through the DSF many roundtrips. Stable tunable SLM oscillation with a signal-to-noise ratio as high as 65 dB over a wavelength range of about 35 nm is achieved experimentally, and each spectral linewidth is less than 6.5 kHz.     

Environmentally stable all-normal-dispersion femtosecond fiber laser

We demonstrate a mode-locked all-normal-dispersion ytterbium-doped fiber laser constructed with polarization-maintaining fibers. Spectral filtering of a chirped pulse in the cavity, along with a semiconductor saturable absorber, produce self-starting femtosecond mode-locked operation with large normal dispersion. Environmentally stable generation of 2 nJ and 300 fs pulses is achieved.     

Stable SOA-based multi-wavelength fiber ring laser using Sagnac loop mirror incorporating a high-birefringence photonic crystal fiber

Multi-wavelength fiber laser using semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and Sagnac loop mirror (SLM) incorporating a newly designed high-birefringence photonic crystal fiber (HB-PCF) is experimentally demonstrated. The modal birefringence of the fabricated HB-PCF is estimated to be 1.1 × 10⁻³. Mainly, by adjusting a polarization controller in the fiber ring laser, the proposed fiber laser can operate at six lasing wavelengths with 2.7 nm intervals, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of around 30 dB. The output power stability is 0.8 dB. In addition, we obtained near-perfect temperature independence in our multi-wavelength fiber laser system. The temperature dependence of the SLM is around 3 pm/°C.     

SOA-based actively mode-locked fiber ring laser by forward injecting an external pulse train

An actively mode-locked fiber ring laser based on cross-gain modulation (XGM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is demonstrated to operate stably with a simple configuration. By forward injecting an easily-generated external pulse train, the mode-locked fiber laser can generate an optical-pulse sequence with pulsewidth about 6 ps and average output power about 7.9 mW. The output pulses show an ultra-low RMS jitter about 70.7 fs measured by a RF spectrum analyzer. The use of the proposed forward-injection configuration can realize the repetition-rate tunability from 1 to 15 GHz for the generated optical-pulse sequences. By employing a wavelength-tunable optical band-pass filter in the laser cavity, the operation wavelength of the designed SOA-based actively mode-locked fiber laser can be tuned continuously in a wide span between 1528 and 1565 nm. The parameters of external-injection optical pulses are studied experimentally to optimize the mode-locked fiber laser.     

40-GHz wavelength tunable mode-locked SOA-based fiber laser with 40-nm tuning range

A 40-GHz wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber ring laser based on cross-gain modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is presented. Pulse trains with a pulse width of 10.5 ps at 40-GHz repetition frequency are obtained. The laser operates with almost 40-nm tuning range. The relationship between the key laser parameters and the output pulse characteristics is analyzed experimentally.     

High-power and wavelength-tunable operation of an Er,Yb fiber laser using a volume Bragg grating

Efficient high-power operation of double-clad Er,Yb-doped fiber lasers with fixed-wavelength and wavelength-tunable resonator configurations using volume Bragg gratings for wavelength selection are reported. The fixed-wavelength laser yielded a maximum output power of 103 W at 1552.6 nm with a linewidth of ~0.4 nm (FWHM) for a launched pump power of 290 W at 976 nm. The wavelength-tunable laser could be tuned from 1528 to 1550 nm with a linewidth of 0.2 nm (FWHM) and with output power in the range 30-38 W for a launched pump power of 120 W. The prospects for further improvement in performance are considered.     

Simple erbium-doped dual-ring fiber laser configuration for stable and tunable dual-wavelength output

We propose and experimentally investigate a stable and tunable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) dual-ring laser scheme. Here, two tunable bandpass filters (TBFs) are used inside the dual-ring gain cavity to generate dual-wavelength lasing. And, due to the gain competition of the EDF gain cavity, the mode-spacing (Δλ_s) of lasing dual-wavelength will be limited at different operating wavelengths. Hence, the minimum and maximum mode-spacing in the proposed EDF laser scheme are 0.75 and 15.35 nm in C-band range. Besides, the output performances of proposed fiber laser have also been studied and analyzed.