A global design of an erbium-doped fiber and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier

A global design of an erbium-doped fiber and an open-loop erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in a steady-state operation is discussed by applying genetic algorithms. Taking a signal gain and a bandwidth as objective functions, 7 parameters of the EDFA (erbium concentration, core radius, erbium-doped radius, refractive index difference, fiber length, pumping wavelength and signal power) are optimized by solving optical propagation equations, assuming a homogenous two-level active medium and a single-mode propagation. There is evidence to show that the 1480 nm pump utilized in usual EDFAs is not an optimal choice, which should be chosen around 1460 nm. The optimal core radius ranges 0.465–0.548 μm on pumping power 50–200 mW. Under different design objects and with different pumping powers, however, there are different optimal Er-doped concentrations, reflective index differences and fiber lengths. As a single fiber EDFA, 35 dB signal gain or 35 nm bandwidth is obtained with the 7 optimal parameters, 100 mW pumping power and 0.001 mW input signal power.     

Experimental and theoretical studies on a double-pass C-band bismuth-based erbium-doped fiber amplifier

Performance of a Bismuth-based Erbium-doped fiber amplifier is experimentally and theoretically investigated using 1480 nm pumping with double-pass scheme. In the theoretical analysis, the rate and power propagation equations are solved to examine the optimum length for the C-band operation as well as the gain and noise figure characteristics. The calculated small signal gain is 38 dB with gain variation of less than 3 dB. The measured gain is 4 dB lower due to spurious reflections which were ignored in the theoretical analysis. At input signal power of 0 dBm, a gain of 14.5 dB is obtained experimentally with gain variation of less than 1 dB within the wavelength region from 1530 to 1565 nm. The noise figure is less than 12 dB within this region.     

Amplification and compression of ultrashort fundamental solitons in an erbium-doped nonlinear amplifying fiber loop mirror

A nonlinear amplifying loop mirror constructed from erbium-doped fiber is proposed for simultaneous amplification and compression of ultrashort fundamental solitons. Numerical simulations show that, unlike conventional erbium-doped fiber amplifiers in which nonlinear effects lead to serious degradation of pulse quality, the proposed device performs efficient high-quality amplification and compression of ultrashort fundamental solitons while it almost completely preserves the soliton nature of the input pulses. Moreover, the performance of the device is insensitive to small variations in the loop length and in the power-splitting ratio of the coupler.     

Remote all-optical nanosecond gain switching of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier

All-optical gain switching of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier located up to 50 km away from the signal and control lasers is demonstrated. The amplifier is deactivated by optical control pulses within the amplifier bandwidth that strongly saturate the gain at the signal Wavelength. Fall times are approximately equal to the control pulse duration of 21 ns. From 25 km, a maximum extinction ratio of 16 dB is demonstrated with the signal at 1527 nm and the control pulse at 1554 nm. The dynamic range for remote switching is limited by a stimulated Raman scattering of the control pulses.     

Gain optimization of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier and two-stage gain-flattened EDFA with 45 nm flat bandwidth in the L-band

An erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is simulated. The variation of gain with different parameters is obtained and the values of these parameters are optimized to achieve a maximum value of gain. A two-stage gain-flattened EDFA consisting of two EDFAs in series is also simulated. In the operating range of 1565-1610 nm, the flat gain of 46 dB is obtained.     

基于高能量耗散型脉冲掺铒光纤激光器的实验研究

在正色散掺铒光纤激光器中,利用非线性偏振旋转技术实现自启动锁模,得到了具有极大光谱宽度的高能量、无波分裂耗散型脉冲.该耗散型脉冲的形成是腔内增益、损耗、非线性偏振旋转、正色散和其他非线性效应等共同作用的结果,其形成机理与传统的负色散激光器完全不同.当抽运功率为500mW时,该类型脉冲的光谱覆盖了1530—1660nm范围,半高全宽光谱宽度可达42nm以上.脉冲具有极大的正啁啾,其时间带宽积为483,而单脉冲总能量最大可达34.4nJ.     

宽带碲基掺铒光纤放大器多信道增益竞争的仿真分析

对新型宽带碲基掺铒光纤放大器(EDTFA)多信道间的增益演变关系进行了理论仿真。仿真结果表明:EDTFA多信道间的增益存在着一个竞争过程,竞争的强弱取决于碲基掺铒光纤内的能级粒子数分布;当上能级粒子数处于反转分布态时,具有较大的发射截面与吸收截面差值的波长信道拥有相对较大的竞争优势,可获得相对较高的信号增益;当上能级粒子数处于未反转分布态时,具有较大的发射截面与吸收截面比值的波长信道拥有相对较大的增益竞争优势。     

Generation of single and multiple dissipative soliton in an erbium-doped fiber laser

We experimentally report on the generation of single and multiple dissipative soliton via nonlinear polarization rotation technique. The spectrum of the mode-locked dissipative soliton exhibits typical steep edges with a flat top; the pulse duration is 10.07 ps. It is found that with the pump power increasing from 110 mW to 161 mW, the top of the mode-locked spectrum becomes flater and the 3-dB spectral bandwidth is broadened, which indicates that the gain-dispersion effect is lowered under stronger pump. However, the full bandwidth of the spectrum is narrowed, which proves that the spectral filter effect increases and overcomes the effect of self-phase modulation induced spectral broadening. Such a phenomenon was not noticed nor reported before. Our experiment also demonstrates that the pulse interval is highly dependent on the input pump power: with pump power increasing, the pulse interval tends towards more uniform. So our observation qualitatively analyzes the relationship between mode-locked pulse characteristics and input pump power.     

Noise performance analysis of bi-directionally pumped distributed fiber Raman amplifiers with consideration of fiber nonlinearity and its impact on EDFA output OSNR

Under small-signal assumption, equivalent noise figure normalized by fiber nonlinearities (NENF) of bi-directionally pumped distributed fiber Raman amplifiers (BiDFRA) is derived. Amplified spontaneous Raman scattering noise and double Rayleigh scattering noise are both included. The relation between NENF and Raman gain, forward Raman gain percentage is investigated under different polarization factor and Rayleigh scattering coefficient. It agrees well with numerical simulation results. Based on the analytical expression, the optical signal-to-nose ratio (OSNR) improvement of hybrid pre-BiDFRA/erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) compared with sole EDFA is studied. It is shown that there is an optimum Raman gain and forward Raman gain percentage to maximize the OSNR improvement. Finally, some guidelines on BiDFRA design are proposed.     

铋基掺铒光纤放大器中放大自发辐射处理研究

分别设计了一个带光隔离器和一个带光环形器的复合型宽带铋基掺铒光纤放大器(Bi-EDFA),理论上研究了Bi-EDFA中对于后向传输放大自发辐射(ASE)的处理对放大器性能的影响。研究表明,在C+L波段多波长信号同时输入情形下,通过在铋基掺铒光纤中插入一个光隔离器抑制后向传输的ASE,可以提高放大器各波长信号增益,降低噪声系数。利用一个光环形器引导后向传输的ASE去泵浦一段未抽运的低掺杂铋基掺铒光纤,可以显著地提高放大器长波段信号增益,而噪声系数只是略有增加,理论研究与报道的实验结果达到了比较好的一致。研究结果对于新型宽带Bi-EDFA的设计和应用具有一定实际指导意义。     

Theory of noise in a kilo-Hz cascaded high-energy Yb-doped nanosecond pulsed fiber amplifier

A theoretical analysis of noise in a high-power cascaded fiber amplifier is presented. Unlike the noise theory in low power communication, the noise of a high power system is redefined as the leaked output energy between pulses with coherent beat noise uncounted. This definition is more appropriate for high power usage in which the pulse energy receives more attention than the pulse shape integrity. Then the low power pre-amplifying stages are considered as linear amplification and analyzed by linear theory. In the high-power amplification stages, the inversion is assumed to recover linearly in the time interval between pulses. The time shape of the output pulse is different from that of the input signal because of different gains at the front and back ends of the pulse. Then, a criterion is provided to distinguish the nonlinear and linear amplifications based on the signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） analysis. Then, an experiment that shows that the output SNR actually drops off in nonlinear amplification is performed. The change in the noise factor can be well evaluated by pulse shape distortion.     

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.     

受激喇曼过程对光纤中基态孤立子传输的影响

用计算机模拟研究了在光纤中传输的基态孤立子由于喇曼自泵浦所造成的能量谱的变化.发现,对于脉宽窄于亚微微秒的孤立子,伴随自频移效应,能量谱会相应发生畸变和带宽变化.     

光纤损耗对皮秒脉冲孤子效应压缩的影响

在计及常规光纤损耗的前提下，通过数值求解求解修正的非线性薛定谔方程，全面地计算和分析了损耗对皮秒脉冲在单模光纤中孤子效应压缩过程的影响。结果表明，与不计及损耗时相比，损耗一方面导致脉冲压缩比，压缩后的脉冲峰值功率和脉冲压缩质量的下降，另一方面还导致所选用的最佳光纤度的增加。进一步研究表明，损耗对脉冲压缩的影响程度还与输入脉冲的峰值功率和脉宽有关。     

Subpicosecond pulse compression in nonlinear photonic crystal waveguides based on the formation of high-order optical solitons

We investigate by numerical simulation the compression of subpicosecond pulses in two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal (PC) waveguides. The compression originates from the generation of high-order optical solitons through the interplay of the huge group-velocity dispersion and the enhanced self-phase modulation in nonlinear PC waveguides.Both the formation of Bragg grating solitons and gap solitons can lead to efficient pulse compression. The compression factors under different excitation power densities and the optimum length for subpicosecond pulse compression have been determined. As a compressor, the total length of the nonlinear PC waveguide is only ten micrometres and therefore can be easily incorporated into PC integrated circuits.     

Observation of wavelength-switchable solitons in an all-polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber cavity based on graphene saturable absorber reflector

We present the generation of wavelength-switchable single-polarization solitons in an all-polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked by a graphene saturable absorber. Ultrashort pulses centered at the wavelength of 1531.6 nm with the duration of 816 fs and centered at the wavelength of 1557.8 nm with the duration of 402 fs are separately obtained from the same fiber laser cavity. The cavity loss adjusted by the gold reflector plays a crucial role in wavelength switching.     

室温掺铒光纤放大器中实现参量控制无损耗光速减慢传输

本文对掺铒光纤放大器中的光速减慢传输系统进行深入研究,提出一种直接利用掺铒光纤放大器中抽运光 强度和掺铒光纤长度,通过优化控制参量来降低信号光强度损耗系数,从而可以实现无强度损耗光速减慢传输, 研究结果表明:当抽运光功率为3.5 mW时,信号光强度损耗系数近似为零;当抽运光关闭时,掺铒光纤长度为 0.1 m时,信号光强度损耗系数近似为零.     

Effect of initial chirp on near-infrared supercontinuum generation by a nanosecond pulse in a nonlinear fiber amplifier

Theoretical and experimental research on the effect of initial chirp on near-infrared supercontinuum generation by a nanosecond pulse in a nonlinear fiber amplifier is carded out. The complex Ginzburg-Landau equation is used to simulate the propagation of the pulse in the fiber amplifier and the results show that pulses with negative initial chirp produce the widest supercontinuum and pulses with positive initial chirp produce the narrowest supercontinuum when the central wavelength of the pump lies in the normal dispersion region of the gain fiber. A self-made line width narrowing system is utilized to control the initial chirp of the nanosecond pump pulse and a four-stage master oscillator power amplifier configuration is adopted to produce a high power near-infrared suppercontinuum. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulations which can provide some guidance on further optimization of the system in future work.     

Numerical analysis of stimulated inelastic scatterings in ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier with multi-ns-duration and multi-hundred-kW peak-power output

We investigate the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in an ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier that outputs optical pulses with multi-ns-duration and multi-hundred-kW peak-power. The ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier is simulated by a model which is composed of a set of propagation-rate equations. The simulated results show that SBS and SRS will deform the output signal pulse in both the time domain and the spectral domain, and degrade the performance of the ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier seriously. It is shown in our simulation that the troublesome SBS can be effectively suppressed by broadening the signal linewidth to a critical value of 0.07 nm in our calculation, and the effect of SRS can be suppressed using a large-mode-area fiber with proper length. The model and the simulated results are very useful for designing an ultra-high-power ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier.