Environmentally Stable, High Pulse Energy Yb-Doped Large-Mode-Area Photonic Crystal Fiber Laser Operating in the Soliton-Like Regime

A high pulse energy passively mode-locking fiber laser operating in the soliton-like regime is demonstrated. The laser is based on a linear cavity design. A segment of Yb-doped single-polarization large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber serves as the gain medium, and the self-starting mode-locking is achieved by a high contrast semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The laser directly generates 600-fs pulses with 900 mW of average power at a repetition rate of 47.3 MHz, corresponding to a single pulse energy of 19 nJ. Furthermore, this fiber laser is directly used for pumping ZnTe to generate broadband terahertz radiation, resulting in a compact terahertz source.     

All-Fiber Q-Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser Using Phase-Shifted Fiber Bragg Grating

We propose a unique all-fiber Q-switched erbium-doped fiber ring laser. It consists of a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and an apodized FBG reflector. By using the piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to periodically stretch the apodized FBG and detune it with the phases-shifted FBG, the cavity loss of the fiber ring laser is switched between high and low states to achieve Q-switching. This Q-switched fiber laser has advantages of narrow spectral bandwidth, stable oscillation wavelength, and the repetition rate of the Q-switched pulses can be double of the PZT modulation frequency. A numerical model is developed and presented to simulate and analyze this FBGs-based Q-switched fiber ring laser with consideration of the dynamic response of FBGs during Q-switching. We experimentally demonstrate 10 and 20 kHz Q-switching operation with 10 kHz PZT modulation frequency. The experimental result is similar to the simulation result.     

Single-polarization operation of fiber distributed feedback (DFB)lasers by injection locking

This paper investigated injection locking characteristics of a fiber distributed feedback (DFB) laser operating in dual polarizations, and found that it could operate in a single polarization by injection locking. The locking bandwidth was less than 10 MHz, much narrower than DFB laser diodes as a consequence of longer cavity length and resulting longer photon lifetime. As a more practical method to realize single-polarization operation of the fiber DFB laser, we proposed self-injection locking with a polarization-selective optical feedback composed of a mirror and a polarizer, and demonstrated a stable single-polarization operation     

Simultaneous Switching of the Q -Value and Operation Wavelength in an Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser

We report a pulsed erbium-doped fiber laser with simultaneous switching of the laser cavity Q-value and generation wavelength. The laser generates a train of short pulses with adjacent pulses alternately being on one of two fixed wavelengths. This regime is realized at periodical modulation of physical length of overwritten fiber Bragg gratings composing the laser cavity     

Fiber Bragg Gratings in Small-Core Ge-Doped Photonic Crystal Fibers

This paper reports fiber Bragg gratings （FBGs） inscribed in a small-core Ge-doped photonic crystal fibers with a UV laser and a Talbot interferometer. The responses of such FBGs to temper- ature, strain, bending, and transverse-loading were systematically investigated. The Bragg wavelength of the FBGs shifts toward longer wavelengths with increasing temperature, tensile strain, and transverse-loading. The bending and transverse- loading properties of the FBGs are sensitive to the fiber orientations.     

Dual-Wavelength DFB Fiber Laser Based on Unequalized Phase Shifts

A novel structure for dual-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) fiber laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. This structure is based on a uniform fiber Bragg grating with two unequalized phase shifts, which markedly suppress the mode competition of the two lasing wavelengths; and then a 52-pm-spaced dual-wavelength DFB fiber laser operating at single-longitudinal-mode and single-polarization is achieved at room temperature. A simple method is also implemented to fabricate the phase shifts with high precision     

All-Fiber ${Q}$-Switched Ring Laser With Increased Repetition Rate

We demonstrate a novel approach to increase the Q-switching repetition rate of the fiber ring laser. This Q-switched fiber laser integrates an apodized fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) reflector and a Fabry-Perot (FP) etalon constructed from cascaded chirped FBGs into the cavity. The apodized FBG reflector acts as wavelength discriminative component for oscillation, while the FP etalon is tuned periodically using the piezoelectric transducer (PZT) and functions as a Q-switching component. By adjusting the tuning range of the FP etalon, we obtain 3.5-, 7-, and 14-kHz Q-switched pulses train with constant PZT modulation frequency of 3.5 kHz.     

The synthesis of multiple parameters of arbitrary FBGs via a genetic algorithm and two thermally modulated intensity spectra

This paper describes the use of a genetic algorithm and two thermally modulated fiber Bragg grating (FBG) reflection intensity spectra to perform the inverse extraction of multiple physical parameters of arbitrary FBGs, including the grating period, grating position, grating length, chirped direction, and refractive-index modulation. The developed numerical approach is applied to synthesize the parameters of uniform and chirped FBGs. The experimental results confirm the ability of the proposed method to recover the grating period, grating length, grating position, refractive-index modulation depth, and apodize factor of a 10-mm-length uniform FBG. The proposed method is suitable for fiber communication applications and smart structure-monitoring systems.     

Generation of a 100-GHz optical pulse train by pulse repetition-rate multiplication using superimposed fiber Bragg gratings

We demonstrate the use of superimposed fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) operating in reflection as amplitude and phase filtering stages for multiplying the repetition rate of a given optical pulse sequence. In particular, we use a 1-cm-long structure of two superimposed linearly chirped FBGs to generate a continuous optical pulse train with a repetition rate of 100 GHz (duty cycle /spl ap/50%) at a wavelength of 1.55 /spl mu/m from a 10-GHz mode-locked fiber laser.     

Photodarkening and photobleaching in fiber optic Bragg gratings

A photobleaching effect is reported which reduces the broadband losses induced by the single-pulse writing of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). A primary application of the optical FBG reflector is as arrays of wavelength-encoded sensing elements for detecting mechanical strain. Instrumentation is being developed to interrogate >100 point sensors along a single fiber with FBGs and detectors operating in the 790-820 nm band. In this paper, we describe broadband absorptions induced by writing single-pulse FBGs which would impose a 10 dB power penalty with as few as 40 serialized FBGs. We have reduced these photo-induced losses more than seven-fold (measured near 800 nm) using a photobleaching process which minimally affects the FBG's reflectivities. After treatment, optical losses are sufficiently low to allow the interrogation of hundreds of FBGs along a single fiber. Photodarkening and photobleaching are measured in gratings prepared by single laser pulses, and by multiple pulses with and without hydrogen loading. Parasitic loss following photobleaching is lower for single-pulse FBGs operated near 800 nm than for FBGs written with multiple pulses in hydrogen loaded fibers and operated near 1300 nm     

A switchable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on Sagnac loop inserted with two FBGs

A novel switchable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber （EDF） laser is demonstrated. The wavelength selection ele- ment consists of two fiber Bragg gratings （FBGs）, a polarization controller （PC） and a 3 dB coupler forming a Sagnac loop inserted with two FBGs. We study the effect of coupling ratio on filtering performance in this paper. By adjusting PC, we can change the wavelength-dependent loss, and then using nonlinear polarization rotation effect to suppress the mode competition caused by the homogeneous broadening of EDF, we obtain single- and double-wavelength laser outputs. At room temperature, under 200 mW pump power, dual-wavelength laser is achieved, and the center wave- lengths are 1545.34 nm and 1548.20 nm, respectively. The peak power values are -13.36 dBm and -14.58 dBm, and side mode suppression ratios （SMSRs） are 41.10 dB and 39.88 dB, respectively. Within two hours, the maximum fluctuation of peak power is less than 0.7 dB, which shows that the demonstrated fiber laser is stable. Moreover, by adjusting PC, singel-wavelength laser output is obtained, the peak power is -6.27 dBm or -5.45 dBm, and SMSR is 40.03 dB or 39.96 dB at 1545.34 nm or 1548.20 nm, respectively.     

Single-frequency fiber laser from linear cavity with loop mirror filter and dual-cascaded FBGs

A single-frequency ytterbium fiber laser was demonstrated by introducing a loop mirror filter, a polarization controller (PC), and dual-cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in linear laser cavity. The loop mirror with unpumped ytterbium fiber as a narrow bandwidth filter discriminated and selected laser longitudinal modes efficiently. The spatial hole burning effect was restrained by adjusting PC appropriately. Dual closely cascaded FBGs as the output coupler, acting as an etalon, expanded the operation range of single frequency. Output power up to 18 mW at 1064 nm were obtained under the launched pump power of 107 mW at 976 nm, the optical-optical conversion efficiency was about 16.8%; the slope efficiency was about 20%.     

Single-polarization generation in fiber Fabry-Perot laser byself-injection locking in short feedback cavity

Single-frequency and single-polarization lasing can be generated in a compact self-injection locked fiber Fabry-Perot laser with a short fiber Bragg grating feedback cavity. No discrete polarization control components are required. Different wavelengths actress the laser gain bandwidth can be generated by an appropriate combination of cavity designs and feedback fiber Bragg gratings. A 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero transmission test demonstrates the laser's applicability for optical fiber communications     

42.8-Gb/s RZ-DQPSK Transmission With FBG-Based In-Line Dispersion Compensation

Phase ripple impairments induced through cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are discussed for 42.8-Gb/s transmission. We show the feasibility of transmission over 1140 km (12 times 95 km) using return-to-zero differential quadrature phase-shift keying modulation and FBG-only dispersion compensation. We further compare FBGs with dispersion-compensating fiber for dispersion compensation and analyze the influence of wavelength detuning.     

A switchable dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on saturable absorber and active optical fiber ring filter

We propose a specific aspheric cylindrical optical system to transform Gaussian beam to flat-top and rectangular beam. The Gaussian beam shaping system is composed of dual orthogonal aspheric cylindrical lenses. The principle of shaping Gaussian beam is studied theoretically. The mapping function of arbitrary rays in an incident plane and an image plane is deduced based on the law of energy conservation, and the real ray tracing method is adopted to design the shaping system. Finally, the lens system is processed by single point diamond turning techniques. Testing results indicate that the system achieves the theoretical expectation, and the uniformity of flat-top and rectangular beam is 88.2%. The method is not only simple but also practical.     

光纤光栅应力传感器信号检测中双值问题的研究

介绍了采用匹配光纤布拉格光栅解调法(detector FBG)进行强度解调的基本原理，选择反射谱与传感光纤布拉格光栅(sensor FBG)反射谱部分重叠的解调光栅，通过探测解调光栅反射光强的变化进行解调。对这种光栅匹配解调法引起的反射光功率与应力为高斯函数而不是线性对应的问题——双值问题进行了研究，提出了一种新颖的多档光栅并联解调的解决方案，选择并联解调光栅的中心波长和带宽，从而实现所传感的应力与探测到的光功率之间的线性对应，并建立理论模型进行了模拟，从理论上进行了公式推导。最后以两档光栅并联解调为例，用实验证明了该方案切实可行，同时达到的传感范围为522με，测量精度为2．6με。     

Polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg gratings for wavelengthselection in actively mode-locked Er-doped fiber lasers

Fiber Bragg gratings written in polarization-maintaining fiber are proposed for wavelength selection in actively mode-locked Er-doped fiber lasers. Combined with single-polarization optical circulator, they form unidirectional transmission filters that can be incorporated in polarization-maintaining laser cavities. We have fabricated such a grating in hydrogen-loaded PANDA fiber and we have incorporated it in a polarization-maintaining actively mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser designed to generate soliton-like pulses. Dependencies of pulse duration and spectral width on average intracavity power were measured. The power range over which soliton-like pulses were generated without pedestals was found to be ultimately limited by the grating's bandwidth     

掺镱双包层光纤光栅激光器输出特性的研究

通过对泵浦源LD的温度控制,研究了不同温度对泵浦源波长以及光纤激光器输出特性的影响。利用熔接在掺镱双包层光纤两端的光纤光栅作为光纤激光器的谐振腔,采用锥度光纤耦合的方法实现了5.1W的单模激光输出,输出波长1100nm,最大转换效率63%。     

单频单偏振窄线宽光纤激光器及其放大研究

为了获得高功率单频单偏振窄线宽激光,对一个带单级放大结构的环形腔结构掺铒光纤激光器系统进行了研究。采用作为可饱和吸收体的未抽运掺铒光纤结合作为波长选择器的高反射率光纤布喇格光栅形成超窄带滤波器,在环形腔内加入光纤偏振控制器和具有高消光比的保偏环行器获得单偏振光。环形腔输出后进行单级光放大以提高输出激光光功率。获得了206mW激光输出,输出功率长时间稳定度达到1.4%。通过光纤延迟自外差线宽测试系统得到输出激光线宽小于500Hz,光纤激光器输出光偏振度长时间稳定在99.7%。结果表明,非保偏可饱和吸收体加光纤布喇格光栅结合部分保偏结构可产生单频单偏振窄线宽激光,激光放大对线宽有明显的展宽效果。