Specifics of Bragg gratings inscription and characterization in polarization-maintaining Yb-doped fiber for DFB lasers

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with a length of about 4 cm and a phase shift of about π are written in the polarization-maintaining fiber doped with ytterbium ions. A tunable polarized single-frequency laser is employed for the measurement of the FBG reflection spectrum. A relatively high spectral resolution allows the estimation of the FBG parameters. Polarized single-frequency ytterbium-doped distributed-feedback (DFB) fiber lasers radiated at about 1.1 μm are constructed using the written FBGs. The passive line width of the laser radiation (about 50 kHz) is estimated from the beat spectrum of the two DFB lasers.     

Corrugated neat thin-film conjugated polymer distributed-feedback lasers

Wave-guided thin-film distributed-feedback (DFB) polymer lasers are fabricated by spin coating a PPV-derived semiconducting polymer, thianthrene-DOO-PPV, onto oxidised silicon wafers with corrugated second-order periodic gratings. The gratings are written by reactive ion beam etching. Laser action is achieved by transverse pumping with picosecond laser pulses (wavelength 347.15 nm, duration 35 ps). The DFB-laser surface emission and edge emission are analysed. Outside the grating region the polymer film is used for comparative wave-guided travelling wave laser (amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)) studies. The pump pulse threshold energy density for wave-guided DFB-laser action (4–9 μJ cm^-2) is found to be approximately a factor of two lower than the threshold for wave-guided travelling wave laser action. The spectral width of the DFB laser (down to Δλ_DFB≈0.07 nm) is considerably narrower than that of the travelling wave laser (Δλ_TWL≈14 nm). The DFB-laser emission is highly linearly polarised transverse to the grating axis (TE mode). Only at high pump pulse energy densities does an additional weak TM mode build up. The surface-emitted DFB-laser radiation has a low divergence along the grating direction. For both the DFB lasers and the travelling wave lasers, gain saturation occurs at high excitation energy densities. Received: 7 January 2002 / Revised version: 15 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Circular grating DFB and DBR semiconductor lasers: threshold current analysis

The threshold current is analyzed for distributed feedback (DFB) and distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) semiconductor lasers with circular gratings. It is shown that in circular grating DFB lasers, the threshold current becomes minimum at a certain cavity radius, while in circular grating DBR lasers it increases monotonically as the active region radius increases.     

Shielded method for fabricating the long-length phase-shifted distributed feedback fiber lasers

The successful fabrication of phase-shifted distributed feedback (DFB) fiber lasers is very difficult for a long time. The paper introduced the shielded method for fabricating the long-length phase-shifted DFB fiber lasers. The method is simple, convenient, effective and efficient for it can be finished one-off.     

Solid-state dye laser with moiré gratings

We fabricated distributed-feedback (DFB) solid-state dye lasers with moiré gratings. We formed a moiré grating pattern by superimposing two grating patterns with a rotation angle. The moiré gratings were fabricated by an “etchless” process utilizing a two-beam interference method. The gratings were coated with solidified rhodamine-B. The five laser devices were pumped with the second harmonic generation of a Nd:YAG laser and we obtained narrow-banded laser oscillations at 590, 600, 610, 620, and 630 nm wavelength. Full widths at half maximum of laser spectra were less than 0.5 nm. The results indicated that a moiré fringe can function as a resonator of DFB solid-state dye lasers.     

光纤光栅温度应变智能传感原理及增敏技术研究

文章分析了光纤光栅对温度和应变传感的响应机理，对光纤光栅的纤芯材料选择、光纤光栅的写入方法及封装方法等方面进行了综合评述，在此基础上讨论了实现光纤光栅对温度和应变传感增敏的基本原理和方法，介绍了长周期光纤光栅与光纤布拉格（Bragg)光栅融合测量和如何选用对温度和应变灵敏的纤芯材料，研究了超短脉冲激光直接写入法和如何选用热膨胀系数和弹性模量不同的特种聚合材料对光纤光栅进行封装处理。     

Raman fiber distributed feedback lasers

We demonstrate fiber distributed feedback (DFB) lasers using Raman gain in two germanosilicate fibers. Our DFB cavities were 124 mm uniform fiber Bragg gratings with a π phase shift offset from the grating center. Our pump was at 1480 nm and the DFB lasers operated on a single longitudinal mode near 1584 nm. In a commercial Raman gain fiber, the maximum output power, linewidth, and threshold were 150 mW, 7.5 MHz, and 39 W, respectively. In a commercial highly nonlinear fiber, these figures improved to 350 mW, 4 MHz, and 4.3 W, respectively. In both lasers, more than 75% of pump power was transmitted, allowing for the possibility of substantial amplification in subsequent Raman gain fiber.     

Standard and phase-matched grazing-incidence and distributed-feedback FIR gas lasers

In this paper we review theoretical and experimental studies on optically pumped 496 m CH₃F DFB lasers of different configurations, including grazing-incidence arrangement and phase matching by a gap in the periodic structure. These configurations combine the simple tuning mechanism of grazing-incidence systems with the high frequency selectivity of DFB. Our theoretical considerations based on coupled-wave theory are concerned with the dispersion relations and resonance conditions of standard and phase-matched DFB and grazing-incidence gas lasers. We have succeeded in calculating the relevant TM coupling coefficients for lasers with rectangular periodic waveguides. For laser cavities with various continuous gratings we have measured the resonant heights and tuning angles of the laser oscillations of first- and second-order DFB. We have found good agreement with theoretical resonance conditions. In order to improve the mode selectivity and to attain single longitudinal mode operation, which is a requirement for semiconductor lasers in many applications, we have introduced variable gaps in the center of the gratings. These provide phase matching and gap modes. We have compared the measured gap modes with our theory and found agreement in specific cases, where the phase-matched cavity implies single-mode laser operation. Our results on standard and phase-matched DFB cavities promise an improvement of the performance of phase-matched semiconductor lasers with respect to small bandwidth and optimized output power.     

InP-based optoelectronic devices for optical fiber communications

In this contribution we report the research and development of 1.55 μm InGaAsP/InP gain-coupled DFB laser with an improved injection-carrier induced grating and of high performance 1.3 μm and 1.55 μm InGaAsP/InP FP and DFB lasers for communications. Long wavelength strained MQW laser diodes with a very low threshold current (7–10 mA) have been fabricated. Low pressure MOVPE technology has been employed for the preparation of the layered structure. A novel gain-coupled DFB laser structure with an improved injection-carrier modulated grating has been proposed and fabricated. The laser structures have been prepared by hybrid growth of MOVPE and LPE techniques and reasonably good characteristics have been achieved for resultant lasers. High performance 1.3 μm and 1.55 μm InGaAsP/InP DFB lasers have successfully been developed for CATV and trunk line optical fiber communication. Presented at the 1st Czech-Chinese Workshop “Advanced Materials for Optoelectronics”, Prague, Czech Republic, June 13–17, 1998. Kunio Tada and Yoshiaki Nakano for their cooperation in the fabrication of the novel gain-coupled DFB lasers.     

Characterization of loss-coupled 1550 nm DFB lasers for microwave optical links

A loss-coupled 1550 nm distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode with automatically buried absorptive InAsP layer for the application to radio-over-fiber network was experimentally investigated where the automatically buried layer in the epitaxial growth reduced the process steps in loss-coupled DFB laser fabrication. It showed linearity in electro-optical conversion characteristics with reduced third order intermodulation distortion of -70 dBc which is comparable to the previous results of DFB lasers as the optical power increases to 5 mW under two-tone test at 1.8 GHz bands. PACS 42.55.Px; 42.79.Sz     

Single-frequency thulium-doped distributed-feedback fiber laser

We have successfully demonstrated a single-frequency distributed-feedback (DFB) thulium-doped silica fiber laser emitting at a wavelength of 1735 nm. The laser cavity is less than 5 cm long and is formed by intracore UV-written Bragg gratings with a phase shift. The laser is pumped at 790 nm from a Ti:sapphire laser and has a threshold pump power of 59 mW. The laser has a maximum output power of 1 mW in a single-frequency, single-polarization radiation mode and is tunable over a few nanometers. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a single-frequency DFB fiber laser that uses thulium as the amplifying medium. The lasing wavelength is the longest demonstrated with DFB fiber lasers and yet is among the shortest obtained for thulium-doped silica fiber lasers.     

Long-wavelength GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb DFB lasers emitting near 2.6 μm

We have successfully fabricated and characterized room temperature continuous wave (cw) GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb distributed feedback lasers emitting in the wavelength region between 2.499 and 2.573 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest emission wavelength realized with a GaSb-based DFB laser diode. The laser structure used for DFB processing was grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. A DFB concept requiring no subsequent overgrowth step was used by defining first-order Cr-Bragg gratings laterally patterned to a ridge waveguide. Threshold currents smaller than 60 mA and room temperature cw output powers up to 6.5 mW were obtained. The laser diodes show single mode emission with side mode suppression ratios (SMSR) of up to 32 dB.     

Ⅲ–Ⅴ/Si Hybrid Laser Array with DBR on Si Waveguide

We report an eight-channel silicon evanescent laser array operating at continuous wave under room temperature conditions using the selective-area metal bonding technique.The laser array is realized by evanescentl.y coupling the optical gain of InGaAsP multi-quantum wells to the silicon waveguides of varying widths and patterned with distributed Bragg reflector gratings.The lasers have emission peak wavelengths in a range of 1537-1543 nm with a wavelength spacing of about 1.0 nm.The thermal impedances Z_T of these hybrid lasers are evidently lower than those DFB counterparts     

Coherent combining of the output of two semiconductor lasers using optical phase-lock loops

We have experimentally demonstrated current-injection optical phase-lock loops (OPLLs) based on commercial single-section semiconductor distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers. Using two parallel OPLLs, we have obtained 87% efficient coherent power combining of the two DFB lasers. The rms differential phase error between the two lasers is about 30 degrees .     

分布布拉格反射光纤激光器的特性分析

利用耦合模理论和数值方法,对分布布拉格反射光纤激光器的特性进行分析,对利用不同光栅作反射镜的激光器阈值增益谱进行了比较。为进一步的设计与制作提供了理论指导。     

Influence of the UV-induced fiber loss on the distributed feedback fiber lasers

It was found that the output power of the distributed feedback fiber lasers would be improved after annealing or left unused for several days after the laser had been fabricated, and the output of the fundamental mode would not increase but be clamped while the ±1 order modes would be predominant with the enhancement of the coupling coefficient during the fabrication. The paper discussed the influence of UV-induced fiber loss on the fiber phase-shifted DFB lasers. Due to the gain saturation and fiber internal loss, which included the temperament loss and permanent loss, there was an optimum coupling coefficient for the DFB fiber lasers that the higher internal fiber loss corresponded to the lower optimum values of coupling coefficient.     

Observation of type I and type II gratings behavior in polymer optical fiber

We report the first observation of type I and type II fiber grating behaviors in making polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings. Our observation reveals that there are two distinctive stages in the fabrication of polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings. Notably the two stages of grating formation correspond to low and high-index modulation gratings, which match well with those in silica fiber grating fabrication. Thus we refer them as type I and type II polymer fiber gratings, following the same nomenclatures for different types of silica fiber gratings. In addition, the characteristics and formation mechanism for type I and type II polymer fiber gratings are also examined.     

The fabrication and performance of 1.3μm DFB EMBH lasers with coplanar contacts

The fabrication and performance characteristics of coplanar contact etched mesa-buried heterostructure (EMBH) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers emitting at 1.3μm wavelength are described. The processing was designed such that the lasers could be evaluated as coplanar contact or conventional (top/bottom) contact devices. The threshold current was as low as 14mA and the 3dB small signal response was as high as 9.4 GHz. Both these properties showed negligible differences when the device was biased either coplanarly or conventionally.     

The fabrication and performance of 1.3μm DFB EMBH lasers with coplanar contacts

The fabrication and performance characteristics of coplanar contact etched mesa-buried heterostructure (EMBH) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers emitting at 1.3μm wavelength are described. The processing was designed such that the lasers could be evaluated as coplanar contact or conventional (top/bottom) contact devices. The threshold current was as low as 14mA and the 3dB small signal response was as high as 9.4 GHz. Both these properties showed negligible differences when the device was biased either coplanarly or conventionally.     

Fabrication of planar gratings by direct ablation using an ultrashort pulse laser in a common optical path configuration

Planar gratings have wide applications and to date, many methods for the fabrication of gratings have been reported. Ultrashort pulse lasers have been used for the machining of gratings primarily because they allow direct ablation and the manufacturing of sub-wavelength structures. In this paper, we present a novel direct ablation technique for the fabrication of planar gratings which makes use of the interference of ultrashort pulses in a common optical path configuration. This technique of grating fabrication not only simplifies the optical setup, but also immunizes the system to extraneous and inherent vibrations, thus enabling the manufacturing of planar gratings of good edge acuity. We have successfully fabricated planar gratings on a copper substrate. Received: 6 November 2001 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +65/77-904-674, E-mail: mvenkata@ntu.edu.sg