Wavelength-selection erbium fiber laser with single-mode operation using simple ring design

In this demonstration, we propose and experimentally investigate a wavelength-selection erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser in single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) by using simple fiber ring scheme design. We use a tunable bandpass filter (TBF) inside the gain cavity to restrict the lasing frequency. The proposed ring cavities can also serve as the mode filters for side mode suppression. Based on the simple ring cavity design, the mode hopping can be avoided to achieve SLM output. The TBF inside the laser scheme also obtains the wavelength tuning in the range of 1520.02 to 1562.02 nm. In addition, the output performance of the proposed fiber laser has also been discussed.     

Stable single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser using PM FBG F-P etalon and PM fiber saturable absorber

we present a stable and high efficiency single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) fiber ring laser by using polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating Fabry-Perot (PM FBG F-P) etalon combining PM fiber saturable absorber. The PM FBG F-P etalon, which is directly fabricated in hydrogen-loaded PM fiber, is used as reflector and mode-selecting component to reduce the longitudinal-mode density greatly. Meanwhile, a segment un-pumped PM Er³⁺-doped fiber (EDF) serves as saturable absorber to suppress mode hopping and ensure the stable SLM operation. Stable SLM laser output at 1550.4 nm with linewidth of 2.0 kHz is observed. Laser output power is 43.7 mW for a pump power of 148 mW, optical-optical efficiency is 29.5% and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is larger than 55 dB.     

Stable single longitudinal mode erbium-doped silica fiber laser based on asymmetric linear three-cavity structure

We present a stable linear-cavity single longitudinal mode (SLM) erbium-doped silica fiber laser. It consists of four fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directly written in a section of photosensitive erbium-doped fiber (EDF) to form asymmetric three-cavity structure. The stable SLM operation at a wavelength of 1545.112 nm with a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.012 nm and an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of about 60 dB is verified experimentally. In laboratory condition, the performance of power fluctuation of less than 0.05 dB observed from the power meter for 6 h and wavelength variation of less than 0.01 nm obtained from the optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) for about 1.5 h are demonstrated. The gain fiber length is no longer limited to only several centimeters for SLM operation because of the excellent mode-selecting ability of the asymmetric three-cavity structure. The proposed scheme provides a simple and cost-effective approach to realizing a stable SLM fiber laser.     

Stable single longitudinal mode erbium-doped silica fiber laser based on an asymmetric linear three-cavity structure

We present a stable linear-cavity single longitudinal mode (SLM) erbium-doped silica fiber laser. It consists of four fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directly written in a section of photosensitive erbium-doped fiber (EDF) to form an asymmetric three-cavity structure. The stable SLM operation at a wavelength of 1545.112 nm with a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.012 nm and an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of about 60 dB is verified experimentally. Under laboratory conditions, the performance of a power fluctuation of less than 0.05 dB observed from the power meter for 6 h and a wavelength variation of less than 0.01 nm obtained from the optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) for about 1.5 h are demonstrated. The gain fiber length is no longer limited to only several centimeters for SLM operation because of the excellent mode-selecting ability of the asymmetric three-cavity structure. The proposed scheme provides a simple and cost-effective approach to realizing a stable SLM fiber laser.     

Single-longitudinal-mode erbium-doped fiber laser with novel scheme utilizing fiber Bragg grating inside ring cavity

In this paper, we experimentally investigate a single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) S-band erbiumdoped fiber (EDF) laser with dualring scheme using a S-band fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inside the gain cavity to restrict the lasing mode. The proposed laser is constructed by two-ring cavities serving as the mode filters. The FBG inside the proposed laser scheme can retrieve the SLM operation. Moreover, the output performance of the proposed fiber laser is also analyzed and discussed.     

Switchable triple-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser using a single fiber Bragg grating in polarization-maintaining fiber

A stable and narrow wavelength spacing multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated. The laser can produce simultaneous dual- and triple-wavelength lasing oscillations with a narrow wavelength spacing of less than 0.1 nm via using a single fiber Bragg gratings written in polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber. By adjusting polarization controller, the wavelength spacing of dual-wavelength lasing oscillations can be tuned to as small as 0.032 nm. The maximum amplitude variation for every lasing wavelength is less than 0.5 dB. The room-temperature operation principle is based on the polarization hole burning and deeply saturated effect in an ordinary erbium-doped fiber ring laser (EDFRL). The laser has the advantages of simple all-fiber configuration, low cost, high stability and operating at room temperature.     

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.     

Single-longitudinal-mode Brillouin fiber laser incorporating an unpumped erbium-doped fiber loop

A long-cavity single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) Brillouin fiber laser is firstly demonstrated by utilizing an unpumped Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) loop. The utilized EDF enables to form a self-induced ultra-narrow grating filter, and thus guarantees the SLM operation.     

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.     

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.     

Switchable multiple lasing oscillations in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser using a single stage of a Sagnac loop mirror

A simple scheme for a switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) ring laser is investigated by using a single stage of a Sagnac loop mirror. The multiple lasing outputs are obtained and switched readily by controlling the state of polarization (SOP). Since the transmission characteristics of the Sagnac loop mirror in terms of peak wavelengths and peak powers strongly depend on the SOP, the switching performance of the proposed multi-wavelength EDF laser can be effectively obtained. The proposed multi-wavelength EDF laser has versatile lasing outputs in states of a single-, dual-, triple-, and quadruple-wavelength oscillations. The multiple outputs are effectively switchable by adjusting the SOP.     

Multiwavelength fiber ring laser using a gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier

We demonstrate a novel multi-wavelength fiber ring laser based on a gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier. The number of lasing lines can be tuned by adjusting the loss inside the cavity. The wavelength interval between the wavelengths is 100 GHz. The proposed laser shows a stable operation with total intensity fluctuation for a single laser line within ±0.02 dB at room temperature for a period of 30-minutes.     

Single-longitudinal-mode fiber ring laser using fiber grating-based Fabry-Perot filters and variable saturable absorbers

A single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) fiber ring laser is demonstrated by incorporating a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based Fabry-Perot (F-P) filter and a variable saturable absorber in a fiber ring cavity. An ultra-narrow bandpass filter is established by the combined mode filtering of the FBG-based F-P filter and the variable saturable absorber. No accurate control for cavity length is required, and stable single longitudinal-mode operation without mode hopping is conveniently achieved.     

L-band erbium-doped fiber laser with polarization-maintaining ring cavity

A new, simple and efficient L-band erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with polarization-maintaining ring cavity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The laser offers the unique advantage of being a polarization-maintaining lasing, which meets the requirement of external electronic-optical intensity modulation for DWDM communication and interferometric fiber sensors. Theory has been established. Experimental results are given to show that the laser has long-term stability over a couple of hours with 35 dB signal-to-noise ratio at 1598.644 nm and tunable from 1572.167 to 1608.480 nm.     

基于无源三环复合子腔的2050 nm波段单纵模掺铥光纤激光器EI北大核心CSCD

提出了一种在2050 nm波段的基于新型无源三环复合子腔的单纵模掺铥光纤激光器。对所提出的新型复合三环子腔滤波器进行了详细的理论分析,可以通过调整其有效自由光谱范围和透射带宽实现超窄带滤波,从而确保激光器的单纵模运行。所搭建激光器的输出波长为2048.48 nm,光信噪比为70 dB,100 min内的波长和功率波动分别小于0.02 nm和0.453 dB。实验结果表明,激光器可以工作在稳定的单纵模输出状态。该激光器有望用于自由空间光通信或用作多普勒激光雷达的高功率光纤激光器的种子源。     

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.     

Fourier domain mode locking pulse fiber laser

A novel pulse fiber laser is proposed based on the modulation of the lasing wavelength. Different from conventional amplitude or phase modulated mode-locking fiber lasers, the proposed fiber laser is with a so-called Fourier domain mode locking (FDML) operation (i.e., the cavity round-trip time of the optical pulse should match the period that the open time window of the tunable filter appears for the lasing wavelength or its harmonics). An FDML pulse fiber laser with a cavity round-trip frequency of 19.46 kHz is demonstrated and optical pulses with repetition rate of 19.46 kHz are achieved when the wavelength modulation frequency is 9.73 kHz.     

Multiwavelength fiber ring lasing by use of a semiconductor optical amplifier

A multiwavelength fiber ring laser obtained by use of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with a simple laser cavity configuration is reported. A Fabry-Perot filter was used in the fiber laser ring cavity to achieve more than 50 simultaneous wavelength lasing oscillations with a frequency separation of 50 GHz. The resulting stable broadband multiwavelength lasing operation was attributed to broadband and flat gain of the SOA, which has a gain flatness of 0.8 dB for more than 20 nm. The laser has a total output power of -3 dBm and a signal-to-spontaneous-noise ratio of 30 dB.     

Whispering gallery mode microlasers and refractive index sensing based on single polymer fiber

The realization of whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing in polymer fibers is hindered by an appropriate method to dissolve the polymer and the gain material. In this work, microfibers fabricated by directly drawing from a dye doped polymer solution are exhibited as high quality microlasers and microsensors. Multi‐mode and even single‐mode lasing is observed from the fiber under optical pumping at room temperature. The linewidth of lasing mode is narrower than 0.09 nm. The lasing mechanism is unambiguously verified by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis and ascribed to WGMs. Diameter‐ and polarization‐dependent lasing characteristics are systematically investigated, showing good agreement with the theoretical calculation. Particularly, application of the fiber laser for refractive index sensing based on resonant shift of lasing mode is demonstrated and the sensitivity up to about 300 nm/RIU is achieved. The promising potential of high quality polymer microfibers as optical sensors and multi‐function components for flexible photonic integrated systems is highly expected.     

一种结构新颖的L波段掺铒光纤激光器

提出了一种结构新颖的L波段环形腔掺铒光纤激光器。用掺铒光纤作为增益介,采用980nm激光器作为前向抽运源,利用起偏器和偏振控制器获得L波段激光,利用光环形器将后向的放大自发辐射再引入铒光纤的前端,重复利用。当抽运功率为103mW时得到了阈值功率约为23．87mW,输出功率达6．34mW的激光输出,斜率效率约为8．05％,与没有重复利用后向放大自发辐射谱的掺铒光纤激光器做比较,该结构对L波段掺铒光纤激光器的性能有明显的提升作用。对于长度不合适的铒纤,在没有重复利用后向放大自发辐射谱时没有获得激光输出;而在利用后向放大自发辐射后,在阈值功率约为88mW时得到了激光输出,从而很好地证明了上述结论。