0.16 nm spaced multi-wavelength Brillouin fiber laser in a figure-of-eight configuration

A stable and compact multi-wavelength Brillouin fiber laser (BFL) operating at room temperature is experimentally demonstrated using a 100 m long photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in conjunction with a figure-of-eight configuration. At a Brillouin pump (BP) level of 15.3 dBm, 7 simultaneous lines with 20 GHz or 0.16 nm line spacing is achieved by removing the odd-order Stokes lines. The anti-Stokes lines are also generated via four wave mixing process in the laser cavity. Compared with the Erbium-based multi-wavelength laser, this BFL has advantages in term of channel spacing and flexibility in the choice of operating wavelength. The output spectrum of the proposed BFL can be tuned by 80 nm, dependent on the availability of an appropriate BP source. The multi-wavelength BFL shows a good stability with power fluctuations of less than 0.5 dB over more than 3 h.     

S-band multiwavelength Brillouin Raman Fiber Laser

In this paper we propose and demonstrate an S-band Brillouin-Raman Fiber Laser (BRFL). The S-band BRFL utilizes a Dispersion Compensating Fiber (DCF) as the non-linear gain medium in a linear cavity configuration and amplified by two 1425 nm, 380 mW pumped Raman Fiber Amplifiers (RFAs). A Brillouin Pump (BP) signal of 1515 nm at 12 dBm in power is injected into the setup to generate Stokes lines via the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) process. The S-band BRFL is able of generating a Brillouin comb with 32 Stokes lines with a flat peak output power of − 18 dBm. The best BP to Stokes power ratio of the system is determined to be 50:50, while a ratio of 70:30 is observed to generate Stokes with a higher peak power, but at the expense of the number of wavelengths. The S-band BRFL has many potential applications as multiwavelength sources for communications and sensors.     

Tunable microwave generation based on a Brillouin fiber ring laser and reflected pump

A simple approach for photonic generation of a tunable microwave signal is proposed and successfully demonstrated. By mixing the output from a single-longitudinal-mode Brillouin fiber ring laser with the reflected laser pump at photodetector, a microwave signal at the Brillouin shift can be obtained. Since the Brillouin shift can be changed by tuning the pump wavelength, tunable microwave can be generated. As a result a microwave signal tunable from 10.39 to 10.67 GHz has been achieved, with linewidth less than 600 KHz.     

Hybrid Brillouin/Erbium fibre laser in a linear cavity for multi-wavelength communication systems

A novel technique of producing multiwavelength laser source was described utilising a linear cavity of hybrid Brillouin/Erbium fibre laser (BEFL). Twenty-two stable output lasers with 10.88 GHz line spacing were obtained from this architecture at 1557.5 nm that was at the peak of Erbium gain. The requirement of an internal feedback that is commonly used in a ring configuration to generate cascaded Brillouin Stokes for multiple wavelengths operation was achieved by the proposed linear cavity design.     

A novel-configuration multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium fiber laser and its application in switchable high-frequency microwave generation

A novel configuration of compound-cavity multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium fiber laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. With an incident optical carrier power of 8 dBm, at least 14 lasing lines are obtained with a wavelength spacing of ∼0.08 nm. Stability and power uniformity of the multi-wave-length lasing are ensured by the flat hybrid gain of Brillouin and erbium, the compound-cavity structure, and the four-wave mixing suppression using a long (10 km) single-mode fiber. A stable and frequency-switchable microwave can be achieved by incorporating a fiber Bragg grating filter to select the desired nth-order Stokes wave and beating it with the optical carrier at a photodetector. In our experiment, the 1st-4th-order Stokes waves are filtered respectively and hence a high-quality microwave with a switchable frequency from ∼10 to ∼40 GHz and a tuning step of ∼10 GHz is achieved. The signal-to-noise ratio is measured to be >25 dB.     

Self-excited brillouin–erbium fiber laser for DWDM applications

The operation of the self-excited Brillouin/erbium fiber laser (BEFL) is experimentally demonstrated. It uses a forward pumped erbium-doped fiber (EDF) as a gain medium to generate a Brillouin-pump (BP) and amplify the Stokes frequency signals generated in a single-mode fiber (SMF). The operating wavelength varies with changes of coupling ratio of the looping arm. The optimum BEFL operation is obtained with a center wavelength at 1567.5 nm by looping back 20% of BEFL output into the other end of the SMF. The BEFL output power and number of lines increases gradually as 980-nm pump power increases. At the maximum 980-nm pump power of 118 mW, a stable and strong BEFL comb of up to 16 lines with 11 GHz spacing is demonstrated. The self-excited BEFL has the potential to be used in the future dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) communication system.     

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.     

Slow and fast light based on SBS with the spectrum tailoring

In this paper, slow and fast light of a signal pulse of nanosecond duration are achieved in the same experimental device by using band-pass filters to tailor the spectra of spontaneous Brillouin scattering (SPBS) coming from 50 km single-mode optical fibers (SMF) as the pump light. The phase matching condition of slow and fast light is satisfied by changing wavelengths of band-pass filters .In our experiment, we obtain the tunable delay time for various signal pulses range from 1 ns to 20 ns. By increasing the power of the pump field to 16 mW, a 1 ns signal pulse is delayed 1.5 ns and is advanced 1.0 ns respectively, while the signal pulse almost has no distortion. The experiment has demonstrated that larger relative pulse delay of slow and fast light can be obtained in the same experimental setup when pump power is lower.     

Stimulated Brillouin scattering limited intensity-dependent four-wave mixing between pump and signal in a non-zero dispersion shifted fiber

The intensity-dependent four-wave mixing (FWM) efficiency is derived by the nonlinear Schrodinger equations including the self phase modulation and cross phase modulation between the two Fabry–Perot modes of a pump and a single-wavelength signal. The maximum FWM for mixing the pump with signal in non-zero dispersion shifted fiber is explained as the minimum phase mismatch for FWM due to equal group delay for the pump and signal. It was also found that the experimental measurements for the generated FWM power are limited by the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold. Under the SBS threshold, the experimental results are still coincided well with the theoretical calculations of the FWM generated power ratio to have the difference of 0.12 dB for the input signal power of 12 mW.     

Amplification characteristics measurement of 1.55 μm multi-mode LD

The amplification characteristics of 1.55 μm multi-mode LD are presented experimentally. It demonstrates that nine wavelengths across 1547–1557 nm have a good amplification, the maximum gain of ∼43 dB at 1552.14 nm is obtained with pump power of 130 mW @980 nm, and noise figure of ∼5.6 dB at 1554.3 nm is achieved.     

Directivity influence of signals propagation through EDFA gain medium of Brillouin-erbium fiber laser

We experimentally demonstrate a multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser in two configurations; uni-directional and bi-directional propagation of Brillouin pump and Brillouin Stokes signals through an Erbium-doped fiber gain. The influence of these configurations on the performance of the output parameters in terms of lasing threshold, output channel generation and tuning range of the generated output channels are investigated. We discovered that there is a trade-off between these two fiber laser configurations. The uni-directional amplifier configuration provides greater tuning range of 46.8 nm against 23 nm at maximum Brillouin pump power of 2 mW and 1480-nm pump power of 130 mW. On the other hand, the bi-directional amplifier configuration provides 13 output channels against 6 output channels obtained from the uni-directional amplifier configuration at the same pumping powers. Nevertheless, the bi-directional amplifier configuration requires much lower pump power to initiate lasing.     

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.     

Modeling of Multi-Wavelength Brillouin Fiber Laser Based on Analytical Solutions in a Linear Cavity

Abstract

In this article, an accurate model of multi-wavelength Brillouin fiber laser is developed by analytically solving cascade-stimulated Brillouin scattering equations in a linear cavity. The dependence of Stokes signal power on the incident pump power and the successive reflected transmitted powers is calculated. Furthermore, an analytical approach that can be used to predict the generated Stokes signals power is derived. Finally, this derived model is checked with experimental results that show significant agreement with the analytical solution of the model.     

Stable double spacing multiwavelength Brillouin-Erbium doped fiber laser based on highly nonlinear fiber

A double frequency spaced multiwavelength Brillouin-Erbium doped fiber laser (BEDFL) with figure-of-eight cavity have been successfully developed and tested. Double frequency spacing is achieved by using a piece of 2 km of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) as a gain medium. Figure-of-eight configuration removes the odd order Stokes signals via a four-port circulator. Fifteen Stokes channels are simultaneously generated with a spacing of 0.154 nm that is around 20 GHz, when the Brillouin pump and 980 nm pump powers are fixed at the optimized values of 6 dBm and 40 mW, respectively. Fourteen anti stoke channels are also obtained, which are generated through four wave mixing (FWM) process in the laser cavity. The output is smooth triangular comb. The BEFL can also be tuned from 1526.5 to 1567.5 nm.     

L-Band Multi-Wavelength Brillouin–Raman Fiber Laser with 20-GHz Channel Spacing

Abstract

A tunable multi-wavelength L-band Brillouin–Raman fiber laser with a 20-GHz channel spacing utilizing bidirectional ring cavity is proposed and experimentally investigated. The laser employs a co-pumped dispersion compensating fiber as a gain medium for both Brillouin and Raman gains. With a Raman pump of 425 mW, the laser system can generate up to 12 double-spaced Brillouin Stokes signals. This simple laser configuration provides stable Brillouin Stokes signals in the absence of self-lasing cavity modes with a tuning range exceeding 35 nm without using any filtering mechanism. The Stokes signals have more than 20 dB of optical signal-to-noise ratio.     

Multi-wavelength generation of L-band brillouin/erbium fibre laser

In this paper, the operation of the Brillouin/erbium fibre laser (BEFL) in the long wavelength band (L-band or 1565–1625 nm) is experimentally demonstrated. The Stokes frequency is shifted 10 GHz from its Brillouin pump (BP) from 1598 to 1612 nm for the single wavelength BEFL. Multiple wavelength generation in the BEFL is realised by adding two 3-dB couplers, which are joined in a reverse-S arrangement to take a portion of the generated BEFL signal and re-inject it into the single-mode fibre (SMF) to seed a cascaded BEFL line in the same direction as the first BEFL line. Twenty lines including the anti-Stokes are obtained with a maximum BP and 980-nm pump power of 8.8 and 92 mW, respectively. The L-band BEFL has the potential to be used in future wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) communication system.     

Multiwavelength self-seeded Brillouin-erbium fiber laser with 45-nm tunable range

We have demonstrated a tunable multiwavelength self-seeded Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL) without externally Brillouin pumping. In this scheme, the stable multiwavelength comb can be produced within a ∼45-nm wavelength tuning range through adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs) in a high-birefringent Sagnac loop mirror. The generation of ∼200-line Stokes comb has been achieved by adjusting PCs under bidirectional pumping of two laser diodes, which is the largest wavelength number to the best of our knowledge. The effect of 980 nm pump power on the multiwavelength generation was also investigated.     

150 km long distributed temperature sensor using phase modulated probe wave and optimization technique

This paper describes and demonstrates the performance enhancement of a 150 km distributed sensing system based on Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA). We present a BOTDA system combining the phase modulation and global evolutionary computing based optimization technique (Differential Evolution algorithm (DE)) for receiver optimization. We achieved an SNR improvement of 3.3 dBm compared to amplitude modulated probe wave for 150 km sensing range. We successfully demonstrate the presence of hot spot at a distance of 51 km of the sensing fibre for different temperatures.     

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.     

光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔中受激布里渊散射的理论研究

对光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔中稳态受激布里渊散射模型进行了理论分析,在其耦合强度方程组基础上,推导出仅产生一阶斯托克斯波时,耦合强度方程组的解析表达式,由此计算出光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔中抽运波与斯托克斯波透射功率和反射功率。对于光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔中二阶斯托克斯波的产生,推导出光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔入射端抽运波的解析表达式和忽略光纤损耗时能量守恒方程,利用Shooting和L-M算法数值求解出耦合强度方程组。分析讨论了抽运波,一阶斯托克斯波和二阶斯托克斯波的反射与透射功率随着入射波功率变化的情况。最后,仿真出光纤光栅法布里-珀罗腔中,抽运波与斯托克斯波沿腔长分布的情况。