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.     

All-fiber mode-locked fiber laser

An environmentally stable mode-locked fiber laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation is experimentally demonstrated. The laser is based on a novel laser configuration that has negligible low-power steady-state reflectivity from one side and, consequently, no CW gain. The laser is self starting and the configuration is implementable as an all-fiber laser with standard polarization-maintaining fiber-pigtailed components. A pulse duration of 5.6 ps is obtained at a repetition rate of 5.96 MHz and at an average power of 8 mW. As an application of the proposed laser configuration, 213 mW of supercontinuum (600-1750 nm) was demonstrated from a fiber laser system with no sections of free-space optics.     

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 tunable ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber ring laser

We have designed and realized a cw all-fiber tunable Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser in a unidirectional ring cavity. The side-pumping V-groove technique is used, yielding very good launching efficiency of the high-power pumping laser diode, together with a compact configuration. The fiber laser delivers as much as 800 mW of power and is tunable in the spectral range 1.04-1.10 microm . The laser linewidth is ~0.1 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。

     

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.     

全光纤结构高功率主振荡功率放大型单频光纤激光器

研制了一台全光纤结构主振荡功率放大型掺镱单频光纤激光器。该光纤激光器包括种子激光器和级联放大器两部分。种子激光器是自行搭建的环形腔结构的单频窄线宽光纤激光器。在976 nm半导体激光器泵浦下,能够输出线宽为10 MHz量级、波长为1 079.88 nm的单频光,激光功率为10.02 W,光-光转化效率为58.9%,斜率效率为65.3%。     

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.     

Optomechanical-organized multipulse dynamics in ultrafast fiber laser

A novel organized multipulse pattern and its birth dynamics under strong optomechanical effect in microfiber-assisted ultrafast fiber laser are investigated in this work. The background pulses are observed to obviously exhibit selectively amplifying self-organized process of evolving into quasi-stable equidistant clusters. The radio frequency spectrum of the multipulse pattern displays a harmonic mode-locking-like behavior with a repetition rate of 2.0138 GHz, corresponding to the frequency of torsional-radial (TR_2m) acoustic mode in microfiber. The results show the evidence of optomechanical effect in dominating the birth dynamics and pattern of multipulse.     

An energy-efficient tie-type architecture for stable and wavelength-tunable SOA-based fiber laser

A new and energy-efficient tie-type architecture for stable and wavelength-tunable semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based fiber ring laser is proposed and experimentally investigated. Here, the tie-type laser configuration is constructed by two Sagnac fiber loops. The proposed laser also can extend the lasing wavelength to longer wavelength (L-band) even only the C-band SOA is used. The proposed tie-type architecture has >5 dB higher output optical power at bias current of 80 mA when compared with the single ring SOA-based fiber laser. In this measurement, the output power, wavelength tuning range, side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) and output stability of proposed fiber laser have also been analyzed and discussed.     

All-fiber linearly polarized laser oscillator by fiber coiling loss control

In this paper,we demonstrate an all-fiber linearly polarized fiber laser oscillator.The single polarization of the oscillator is achieved through the careful designing of the active fiber coiling.The relationship between fiber coiling diameter and polarization extinction ratio and optical efficiency is studied,whose results lead to an optimized system.The thermal management of the oscillator is also refined,which allows the oscillator to reach a maximum output power of44.1 W with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 57.9%.A high average polarization extinction ratio of 21.6 d B is achieved during a 2-hour stability test.The oscillator also owns a narrow 3-d B bandwidth of 0.1 nm,as well as near-diffraction-limit beam quality of M~2~ 1.14.     

中红外超快光纤激光器研究进展

中红外波段覆盖重要的分子吸收区与多个大气透射窗口,该波段的超快激光器在多个领域具有广泛应用。基于光纤的中红外超快激光器近年来在激光发射与传输、超快脉冲产生与应用等方面发展迅速,为中红外波段超快激光开辟了新的研究手段与应用领域。综述了近十年来中红外超快光纤激光器的发展概况,介绍了近年来中红外波段的激光传输与增益手段。其中,重点回顾了近年来中红外超快脉冲产生技术的研究进展及其代表性工作,包括非线性偏振旋转、可饱和吸收体以及频移反馈锁模技术。此外,还介绍了中红外超快脉冲的压缩放大技术与超连续谱产生应用。最后讨论并总结了中红外超快光纤激光器面临的挑战与可能的发展方向。

     

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.     

All-fiber Tm-doped double-clad fiber laser with multi-mode FBG as cavity

An all-fiber LD-clad-pumped Tm-doped fiber laser was reported, and the CW maximal output power reached 24 W at nearly 1.94 μm. The double-clad Tm-doped fiber had a demission of 25/250 μm with the core NA 0.1 and inner-clad NA 0.46. A matched passive multi-mode FBG acted as the front cavity. Cooling by the water, the 56% high slope efficiency was achieved and threshold was 6.4 W, respected to the launched pump power. At the low power pump, the fiber laser spectrum had only one peak at 1.936 μm. Increasing the launched pump power, the output laser wavelength grew to 3–4 peaks. Because the multi-mode FBG reflectivity was not very high, both ends of the fiber laser had laser output power, and the ratio was nearly 10:1.     

All-fiber single polarized Yb-doped fiber laser with a high extinction ratio

We present an all-fiber design for a single polarization Yb-doped fiber laser with all-fiber connections spliced. Single polarization with a high extinction ratio was achieved by the design of a laser cavity consisting of a fiber Bragg grating inscribed on a single-polarization fiber as a high reflective mirror and a piece of end-cleaved single-polarization fiber as an output coupler. The fiber laser operates at 1063.25 nm with an output power of 1.7 W, an optical signal- to-noise ratio of 70 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 54 pm. The laser output has a polarization extinction ratio of 700:1 or 28 dB, and a very stable power output.     

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.     

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.     

Dynamics of parabolic pulses in an ultrafast fiber laser

We report experimental and numerical results on the dynamics and propagation of parabolic pulses in a passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser. Experimental data and numerical simulations are shown to match. Particular importance is attached to the pulse-shaping process in the different sections of the resonator. The paramount role of the gain fiber and saturable absorber in the laser is explicated.     

Ultra-long-period grating-based multi-wavelength ultrafast fiber laser [Invited]

We propose and demonstrate the cascaded multi-wavelength mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) based on ultralong-period gratings(ULPGs) for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Study found that the ULPG can be used as both a mode-locker for pulse shaping and a comb filter for multi-wavelength generation simultaneously. Using the dual-function of ULPG, three-, four-, five-, six-, and seven-wavelength mode-locked pulses are obtained in EDFL, seven of which are the largest number of wavelengths up to now. For the four-wavelength soliton pulses, their pulse width is about 7.8 ps. The maximum average output power and slope efficiency of these pulses are 8.4 m W and 2.03%, respectively. Besides the conventional pulses, hybrid soliton pulses composed of a four-wavelength pulse and single soliton are also observed. Finally, the effect of cavity dispersion on the multi-wavelength mode-locked pulses is also discussed. Our findings indicate that apart from common sensing and filtering, the ULPG may also possess attractive nonlinear pulse-shaping property for ultrafast photonics application.     

All-fiber actively Q-switched fiber laser tuned by a pair of temperature controlled fiber Bragg gratings

We report an all-fiber actively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser, where the linear laser cavity mirrors are composed of two fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The laser oscillation wavelength could be tuned by this pair of temperature controlled FBGs. The Q-switching is achieved by an all-fiber phase modulation device. Using this system, we could obtain stable Q-switched laser pulses output, which could be optimized by tuning the reflection wavelengths of the two FBGs to be adjacent to each other. Instead of being modulated by the FBG filter in high-speed oscillation, this fiber laser system is operating in the Q-switched regime using an all-fiber phase modulator, producing a more stable laser output spectrum.