Chaotic dynamics of erbium-doped fiber laser with nonlinear optical loop mirror

We experimentally and numerically demonstrate the chaotic dynamics of the erbium-doped fiber laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror. When the polarization controllers are fixed at an appropriate orientation, we observe that the fiber laser exhibits a period-doubling route to chaos with increasing the pump power in the experiment and simulation. The numerical simulation shows a good agreement with the experimental results. The results show experimentally and numerically that the chaotic dynamics of the erbium-doped fiber laser is related to the polarization state and the pump power of light in the cavity.     

High-energy femtosecond stretched-pulse fiber laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror

A stretched-pulse fiber laser with a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) that produces 100-fs pulses with 1-nJ energy is demonstrated. These results constitute a 30-fold increase in pulse energy over previously reported femtosecond fiber lasers with a NOLM. Compared with previous stretched-pulse lasers, this laser offers a cleaner spectrum and improved stability, with comparable pulse duration and energy. Implications for the construction of truly environmentally stable lasers are discussed.     

Multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser employing a nonlinear optical loop mirror

A stable and broad bandwidth multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated successfully. A nonlinear optical loop mirror which induces wavelength-dependent cavity loss and behaves as an amplitude equalizer is employed to ensure stable room-temperature multiwavelength operation. Up to 50 wavelengths lasing oscillations with wavelength spacing of 0.8 nm within a 3-dB spectral range of 1562-1605 nm has been achieved. The measured power fluctuation of each wavelength is about 0.1 dB within a 2-h period.     

Passively mode-locked fiber laser based on nonlinear optical loop mirror with semiconductor optical amplifier

We propose a novel passively mode-locked fiber laser based on nonlinear optical loop mirror with semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Its operation principle is based on the creation of a polarization asymmetry between the counter propagating beams, through the use of a SOA and a polarization controller in the loop. Stable pulse train with duration of 2 ns (FWHM) and repetition rate of 257.7 MHz has been experimentally obtained. Theoretical simulation results in well agreement with the experimental results are also presented.     

Mode-locked fiber laser based on an attenuation-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror

We propose a mode-locked figure-eight fiber laser by utilizing an attenuation-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror (AI-NOLM) for the first time. Stable self-starting passively mode-locked pulses as short as 296 fs are obtained. We have also confirmed that the pulse width of the laser can be varied by changing the amount of attenuation in the AI-NOLM.     

Easily tuneable nonlinear optical loop mirror including low-birefringence,highly twisted fibre with invariant output polarisation

We investigate theoretically the operation of a versatile nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) structure to be used in optical communication systems. The proposed device is a fibre Sagnac interferometer that includes a low-birefringence, highly twisted fibre and a quarter-wave plate retarder in the loop. We study, both analytically and numerically, the evolution of the intensity-dependent NOLM transmission for both output polarisation components, using different models for the NOLM. From this analysis, we propose an easy way to adjust the position of the NOLM maximum transmission, simply by tuning the angle of the retarder. This procedure is particularly useful for amplitude regularisation of an optical signal. We also demonstrate that, if a tuneable optical attenuator is inserted in the loop, the positions of both maximum and minimum transmission can be tuned separately, using a perfectly reproducible procedure. It is therefore possible to optimise the NOLM transmission for both pedestal and amplitude fluctuations removal in an optical pulse train. For a circular input polarisation, this procedure ensures the highest possible contrast between minimum and maximum transmission, and an output polarisation state that is linear and independent of the input power. Finally, we demonstrate that the transmission characteristic of this NOLM is robust to environmentally induced changes in the fibre birefringence. Thanks to its versatility, robustness and polarisation invariance, this device is thought to be of primary interest for applications such as passive mode locking, pulse compression and pedestal suppression, amplitude regularisation in harmonically mode-locked, rational-harmonically mode-locked or subharmonic synchronous mode-locked lasers, as well as damping of relaxation oscillations.     

A tunable nonlinear optical loop mirror with feedback using linear highly birefringent fiber in the loop

The dynamics of a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) with feedback using a high birefringence fiber in the loop are investigated. The effect of rotating input polarization angle on the output power and polarization angle is numerically examined, illustrating the sensitivity of the NOLM with feedback to the input’s polarization state, as well as the polarization chaos present with sufficient input powers. The inclusion of a polarization-dependant loss in one or both arms of the coupler is also shown to change the output dynamical behaviour of the system.     

NRZ to Manchester code conversion based on nonlinear optical fiber loop mirror

An approach to convert NRZ signal to Manchester code at 20 Gbit/s based on nonlinear optical fiber loop mirror (NOLM) is demonstrated. Using 20 Gbit/s NRZ data and optical clock as external pumps of the NOLM, the conversion of NRZ to Manchester code is successfully realized. The eye diagrams, waveforms and optical spectra are presented. We investigated the extinction ratio (ER) penalty (5 dB) to evaluate the system performance and analyzed the method to improve it. The proposed scheme is potential for applications in future networks.     

基于非线性光纤环形镜的少模脉冲幅度调制再生器

随着网络带宽需求的快速增加,波分复用系统的容量已接近非线性香农极限.为了适应未来网络的发展,空分复用技术引起了越来越多的关注.本文首次提出基于少模非线性光纤环形镜(FM-NOLM)的脉冲幅度调制(PAM)全光再生器,描述了其工作原理和具体设计过程.采用COMSOL软件对组成FM-NOLM的硫化物高非线性光纤进行了模式特性仿真.以LP01,LP11,LP21三个光纤模式为例,确定了再生器的参数,计算出每个模式的功率转移函数曲线.仿真分析了该少模PAM-4全光再生器的噪声抑制(NRR)性能,并与单模情形进行了比较.研究表明,1)对于每个空间模式的PAM信号,所有再生电平具有一致的功率转移性能;2)当输入信噪比(SNR)约大于20 dB时,三种模式的噪声抑制比均可超过3 dB,并随着输入信噪比线性增加,其斜率约为1.2;3)在相同输入SNR条件下,三种模式的噪声抑制比相差不大,不超过1.1 dB.为了说明再生器的再生性能,当输入SNR为25 dB时,我们还给出了再生前后PAM-4信号的功率分布直方图.与现有的再生方案相比,本文方案的均匀多电平再生转移性能,使其更适合高频谱效率的长距空分复用系统和任意电平数的PAM信号再生.此外,该方案也能够扩展到波长域,有效提高光通信系统的传输容量.     

Flat broadband erbium-doped fiber ASE source based on symmetric nonlinear optical loop mirror

A new type of flat broadband Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) amplified spontaneous emission source is proposed and demonstrated. The intensity-dependent loss induced by a symmetric nonlinear optical loop mirror is used to flatten the spectrum and broaden the bandwidth. The 3 dB bandwidth over 50 nm has been obtained with 15 m EDF and 100 mW pump power based on the single-pass forward pump configuration. This spectrum flattening and broadening method is quite effective over a large range both in pump power and EDF length.     

High speed ultra short pulse fiber ring laser using photonic crystal fiber nonlinear optical loop mirror

A scheme to generate high speed optical pulse train with ultra short pulse width is proposed and experimentally studied. Two-step compression is used in the scheme: 20 GHz and 40 GHz pulse trains generated from a rational harmonic actively mode-locked fiber ring laser is compressed to a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of ~ 1.5 ps using adiabatic soliton compression with dispersion shifted fibers (DSF). The pulse trains then undergo a pedestal removal process by transmission through a cascaded two photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLM) realized using a double-ring structure. The shortest output pulse width obtained was ~ 610 fs for 20 GHz pulse train and ~ 570 fs for 40 GHz pulse train. The signal to noise ratio of the RF spectrum of the output pulse train is larger than 30 dB. Theoretical simulation of the NOLM transmission is conducted using split-step Fourier method. The results show that two cascaded NOLMs can improve the compression result compared to that for a single NOLM transmission.     

High extinction ratio multiplexer/demultiplexer with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a fiber loop mirror

A novel structure of high extinction ratio multiplexer/demultiplexer with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and a fiber loop mirror (FLM) is proposed. The experimental results show that the extinction ratio can be enhanced about two times in comparison with the conventional MZI.     

Bit-error-rate analysis for a 100-Gbit/s nonlinear optical loop mirror demultiplexer employing soliton control and signal pulses

On the basis of a previously derived mathematical model, the power penalty associated with a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) demultiplexer was calculated, with timing jitter noise, bit-to-bit cross talk, and channel cross talk taken into consideration. Simulation results show that a 3-dBm improvement in the receiver sensitivity at a bit error rate of 10(-9) can be achieved by choice of the appropriate walk-off time between the control and the signal pulses within the NOLM demultiplexer.     

Short optical pulse profile characterization using a nonlinear optical loop mirror

We propose in this work a technique for short pulse profile retrieval based on the Kerr effect in a fiber nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). Under some assumptions, the profile can be determined from the energy transfer characteristic of the pulses through the NOLM, which can be measured with a low-frequency detection setup. Two numerical approaches are considered, both relying on the resolution of a system of nonlinear algebraic equations, and which differ in the way that the profiles are discretized. We show numerically that both approaches allow proper profile retrieval for a wide variety of pulse shapes. The two techniques are compared, and their advantages and drawbacks are discussed. The effect of the amplitude noise of the pulses is assessed, as well as the impact of an inaccurate knowledge of the NOLM transfer function, or of the energy transfer characteristic. The technique is demonstrated in the frame of the characterization of both ns and ps pulses.     

Nonlinear-optical loop mirror demultiplexer using a random birefringence fiber: comparisons between simulations and experiments

A numerical simulation of the switching characteristics of a polarization multiplexed nonlinear-optical loop mirror demultiplexer is presented and compared with experiment. The model assumes that the optical fiber that composes the loop has a randomly varying birefringence, that the signal and the control pulses have the same frequency, and that these pulses are nearly solitons. Factors that affect the shape and the width of the switching window curve are discussed. A phase-dependent modulation of the switching window curve, which is due to incomplete averaging of the light polarization state, is observed both experimentally and numerically. Models in which the randomness is neglected are not able to describe this modulation adequately.     

Soliton squeezing in a highly transmissive nonlinear optical loop mirror

A perturbation approach is used to study the quantum noise of optical solitons in an asymmetric fiber Sagnac interferometer (a highly transmissive nonlinear optical loop mirror). Analytical expressions for the three second-order quadrature correlators are derived and used to predict the amount of detectable amplitude squeezing along with the optimum power-splitting ratio of the Sagnac interferometer. We find that it is the number-phase correlation owing to the Kerr nonlinearity that is primarily responsible for the observable noise reduction. The group-velocity dispersion affecting the field in the nonsoliton arm of the fiber interferometer is shown to limit the minimum achievable Fano factor.     

非线性光纤环形镜的脉冲透过特性研究

研究了光纤反常色散区非线性环形镜（NOLM）的脉冲透过特性，得到NOLM周期性透过率函数 第一极大值处透过率、压缩比和对应的孤子阶数与环长之间的函数关系图.通过比较长环和 短环NOLM对无啁啾、啁啾脉冲的透过率和压缩比特性，得出了长环有利于脉冲整形而短环有 利于脉冲压缩的结论. 关键词： 非线性环形镜 透过率 压缩比 孤子阶数     

Cross-phase modulation induced performance degradation in nonlinear optical loop mirror switch

Performance deterioration induced by cross-phase modulation (XPM) in the basic nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) switch unit in the digital optical communication system and analog microwave photonic communication system is studied by using the split-step Fourier method (SSFM) that can solve the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation (CNLSE). The simulation results show that the switching performance of basic NOLM unit is distorted by the XPM induced nonreciprocity when the splitting ratio of NOLM coupler f ≠ 0.5 and the distortion effect would be more serious with the increase of the working speed or the modulation bandwidth. In the digital optical communication system, the power transmission function of NOLM decreases in the range of 0 < f < 0.5 and increases in the range of 0.5 < f < 1. In the analog microwave photonic communication system, XPM induces the distortion of waveforms and the leak of side lobes. And the larger the modulation bandwidth is, the larger the leak of side lobes is.     

All-optical pulse shaping for ultrawideband doublet pulses using nonlinear optical loop mirror with optical parametric amplification

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an alternative photonic scheme for the generation of ultrawideband (UWB) doublet pulses, which is based on an optical fiber-based nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) incorporating the optical parametric amplification (OPA) effect. The proposed scheme uses both cross-phase modulation and OPA within an optical fiber-based NOLM to produce an ideal transfer function for the shaping of input soliton pulses into doublet pulses. Using the proposed scheme, a successful conversion of input soliton pulses into doublet pulses is readily demonstrated. The system performance of UWB doublet pulses is also assessed by propagating the 1.25?Gbit/s doublet pulses over a fiber link. Error-free UWB doublet signal transmission is demonstrated.