Generation of stable and narrow spacing dual-wavelength ytterbium-doped fiber laser using a photonic crystal fiber

Abstract

We demonstrate the design and operation of novel narrow spacing and stable dual-wavelength fiber laser (DWFL). A 70-cm ytterbium-doped fiber has been chosen as the gain medium in a ring cavity arrangement. Our design includes a short length photonic crystal fiber, acting as a dual-wavelength stabilizer based on its birefringence coefficient and nonlinear behavior and tunable band pass filter (TBPF) to achieve narrow spacing spectrum lasing. Our laser output is considered to be highly stable, with power fluctuation less than 0.8 dB over a period of 15 min. The flexibility and tunability of TBPF, together with polarization controller enable the spacing tuning of the DWFL from 0.03 nm up to 0.07 nm for 1040 nm region, and 0.10 nm up to 0.40 nm for 1060 nm region. The tunable wavelength spacing shows the flexibility of the DWFL in addition to stable and reliable properties of fiber laser in 1-μm region.     

Switchable triple-wavelength thulium-doped fibre laser based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer and fibre ring filter

A switchable triple-wavelength thulium-doped fibre laser based on an all-fibre Mach–Zehnder interferometer and fibre ring filter with a polarization-maintaining fibre is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In the proposed fibre laser, a Mach–Zehnder interferometer comprising two 1 × 2 optical couplers is inserted into the optical cavity to produce the comb filter effect. The fibre ring filter comprises two optical couplers with a 3:7 splitting ratio and a 2-m-long polarization-maintaining fibre to improve lasing stability. Single-wavelength lasing can be tuned continuously from 1864.4 to 1884.5 nm, and five different modes of dual-wavelength and switchable triple-wavelength lasers can be realized by changing the polarization state. The signal-to-noise ratios of all lasers are more than 33 dB. The maximum power fluctuations and wavelength variations are less than 1.5 dB and 0.3 nm at room temperature, respectively, and the 3 dB bandwidth is less than 0.2 nm. The results demonstrate that stable and switchable single- or dual-wavelength lasers can be generated using the designed fibre laser.     

All-fibre Mach–Zehnder interferometer based on seven-core and coreless fibres for generating stable wavelength-switchable laser

In order to realize a wavelength-tuneable fibre-laser output, a ring-cavity erbium-doped fibre laser based on an all-fibre Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally tested. The MZI consists of a single-mode fibre, two segments of coreless fibre, and a seven-core fibre. For the proposed fibre laser, the length of the gain medium is 4?m and the lasing threshold is 75?mW. By adjusting the loss of the laser cavity, switchable single-wavelength laser emission is realized across the range of 1527.6–1549.9?nm and the wavelength interval is less than 2.4?nm; the peak power difference of each lasing wavelength is less than 7.9?dB. Tuneable dual- and three-wavelength laser outputs were obtained by adjusting the polarization controller. The 3-dB linewidth was less than 0.57?nm. The single- and dual-wavelength laser output power fluctuations were less than 1.4 and 1.7?dB, respectively, when monitored over a period of 30?min.     

SOA-based multi-wavelength source

A simple fiber laser configuration based on a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is proposed for obtaining multi-wavelength oscillation at room temperature, in which a Sagnac loop mirror is used as the wavelength selective component. The SOA has a flat gain of approximately 23dB within a bandwidth of 12 nm at a small input signal power. The loop mirror was constructed using a 3dB coupler and polarization maintaining fiber (PMF). The output spectrum of the proposed laser can be adjusted by controlling the bias current of the SOA and is quite stable at room temperature. At a bias current of 150 mA, six lines are obtained with at least ?40 dBm output power and 25dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The channel spacing and number of lines is determined by the length of polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) used in the loop mirror. The channel spacing of the proposed laser is 1.49 nm with a PMF 3 m. The multi-wavelength comb output can also be tuned by adjusting the operating temperature of the SOA. The multi-wavelength laser has the advantage of a simple configuration, stability at room temperature, a broad wavelength band, and no need for optical pump lasers.     

Tunable all-optical switch/demultiplexer using nonlinear MMI waveguides

In this paper, a tunable optical switch/demultiplexer has been presented based on nonlinear multimode interference waveguides. The proposed structure can be utilized as a multi-wavelength optical switch or dynamic wavelength division demultiplexer. This dual application of the structure has been designed based on the cooperation of self-imaging and self-guiding phenomena of multimode waveguides. Simulation results show the mean value of insertion loss equal to ?1.91 dB for the switching application of structure. Also, the wavelengths with 3 nm channel spacing and almost 3 nm full width at half power of outputs can be received in the multiplexing application. Two-dimensional beam propagation method has been utilized in order to simulate and verify the performance of proposed device.     

Optical interleavers based on two-dimensional photonic crystals

An ultrasmall device size optical interleaver based on directional coupler waveguides in two-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) is proposed. The numerical results show that the proposed PCs waveguide structure could really function as an interleaver with the central wavelength 1550 nm and the channel spacing 0.8 nm (frequency spacing of 100 GHz) of the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) specification. It can be widely used as the wavelength selective element for multiplexer-demultiplexer to lower or raise channel densities in DWDM optical fiber communication systems.     

Four-channel coarse-wavelength division multiplexing demultiplexer with a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration on a silicon-on-insulator waveguide

A coarse wavelength division multiplexer is designed on a silicon-on-insulator waveguide using the Mach-Zehnder interferometers with novel multimode interface-periodically segmented waveguide couplers and segmented waveguide arms. It is viable for metro and access applications, since it can be inexpensive and provide easy fabrication, compact size, and good output performance. As a design example, the channel spacing of the demultiplexer is chosen to be 24.5 nm for applications to the 10-Gigabit Ethernet. The simulation results show that the wide-passband demultiplexer can have insertion loss less than 2.3 dB and crosstalk better than 18 dB.     

High-birefringence dual-wavelength single-polarization photonic crystal fibre polarizing filter based on surface plasmon resonance

A dual communication band single-polarization photonic crystal fibre polarizing filter based on surface plasmon resonance is presented in this paper. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the resonance strength of x- and y-polarized direction can reach 569.83 and 719.25?dB.cm^?1 simultaneously at the communication wavelength of 1.31 and 1.55?µm. By filling liquid analyte, the confinement loss of x- and y-polarized direction can simultaneously reach 831.7 and 580.53?dB.cm^?1 at the wavelength of 1.31 and 1.55?µm. Furthermore, when the fibre length L is equal to 700?µm, the peak value of the crosstalk can reach 493.86 and ?323.67?dB at the same time at the wavelength of 1.31 and 1.55?µm, and when the length of the fibre L is 400?µm, the bandwidths of the crosstalk better than 20?dB and less than ?20?dB are about 160 and 210?nm, respectively. These performances make it an ideal candidate for designing dual-band polarization filter equipment.     

Deposition and characterization of silica-based films by helicon-activated reactive evaporation applied to optical waveguide fabrication

Planar silicon dioxide optical waveguides were deposited by use of a plasma-activated reactive evaporation system, at a low deposition temperature and with reduced hydrogen contamination, on thermally oxidized silicon wafers. The deposited films show a refractive-index inhomogeneity of less than 0.1%, a thickness nonuniformity of less than 5%, and a material birefringence of approximately 5 x 10(-4). Rib-type channel waveguides were formed on the deposited films by means of hydrofluoric acid etching. The transmission loss of the rib waveguides is determined to be as low as 0.3 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1310 nm for TE polarization, after subtraction of the calculated leakage and scattering losses. Owing to the presence of the OH vibrational overtone band, an additional loss peak of 1 dB/cm is found near the 1385-nm wavelength. The experimental results of transmission loss at wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm are compared with analytic expressions for interface scattering and leakage loss.     

Optical fibre Fabry–Perot relative humidity sensor based on HCPCF and chitosan film

Abstract

An optical fibre Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor for relative humidity (RH) measurement is proposed. The FPI is formed by splicing a short section of hollow-core photonic crystal fibre(HCPCF) to single mode fibre and covering a chitosan film at the end of HCPCF. The refractive index of chitosan and film thickness will change with ambient RH, leading to the change in the reflected interference spectrum of FPI. RH response of the FPI sensor is analysed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. It shows nonlinear response to RH values from 35 to 95%RH. The interference fringe shifts to shorter wavelength as RH increases with a maximum sensitivity of 0.28 nm/%RH at high RH level. And the fringe contrast also decreases as RH increases with an available maximum sensitivity of 0.5 dB/%RH. The sensor shows good stability and fast response time less than 1 min. With its advantages of compact structure, good performance, simple and safe fabrication, the proposed optical fibre FPI sensor has great potential for RH sensing.     

Dynamic O-band to C-band wideband wavelength converter for integrated VCSEL-based optical interconnects

ABSTRACT

Real-time wavelength conversion and traffic routing at key network nodes is a fundamental requirement for current optical interconnects. This work experimentally demonstrates a broadband wavelength conversion from O-band to C-band employing commercially available, power efficient VCSELs. A 1310?nm VCSEL is directly modulated with 8.5 Gbps data and transmitted over 22?km G. 652 fibre with a 0.53 dB penalty. The received data is used to run a 1550?nm VCSEL located at the network integration node, achieving the first reported wavelength conversion from O-to-C-band. VCSEL wavelength tuneability with changing bias current functionality is further exploited to route the converted wavelength over 400?GHz spectra range for integration into wavelength flexible networks. The newly converted wavelength is transmitted over 24.7?km of G. 655 fibre, incurring a maximum penalty of 1.86?dB. Results from this work proves an enabling development technology for wavelength converters for transparent contention resolution in current and future optical Interconnects.     

Single-mode operation in few-mode optical fibre based on resonant coupling

The design of a low-bending loss few-mode optical fibre is proposed. Low-bending loss for the fundamental mode is achieved by increasing the index contrast between the core and the cladding, and a microstructured mode filtering region is applied to filter out the higher-order modes in the fibre. Numerical results show that the fundamental mode loss is lower than 0.03 dB/turn and the high-order mode is higher than 4.4 dB/turn at the bending radius of 5 mm and 1300–1600 nm wavelength range.     

Design of cascaded volume holographic gratings to increase the number of channels for an optical demultiplexer

The design and demonstration of a holographic optical demultiplexer based on cascaded volume holographic gratings are presented. By serially adding a second holographic grating, which has a different grating period, slant angle, and center wavelength compared with those of the first grating, the operating wavelength range of the optical demultiplexer could be expanded, and, therefore, the number of channels of the holographic demultiplexer is doubled. As a result of the experiment, a 0.4 nm spaced 130- channel demultiplexer with a channel uniformity of 3.5 dB, a 3 dB bandwidth of 0.12 nm, and channel cross talk of -20 dB is experimentally achieved.     

Self-seeded reflective semiconductor optical amplifier based optical transmitter for up-stream WDM-PON link

A novel up-stream transmitter for wavelength division multiplexed-passive optical network (WDM-PON) using a self-seeded reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) was proposed. The RSOA was self-seeded by an amplified spontaneous emission itself using a fibre Bragg grating without an additional optical source. The side mode suppression ratio of self-seeded output signal and the extinction ratio were ~28 and 8.1 dB, respectively. Required power for 10^-9 BER at 622 Mb/s was about -28 dBm and the power penalty after 20 km transmission was <2 dB for 30 nm range of wavelength     

新型光隔离器结构设计与实验性能测试

提出一种功能复用光隔离器设计方案。在传统光隔离器中加入了透镜对,两透镜间拥有一个相邻共焦面,具有空间光交叉功能,能实现功能复用光隔离器输入输出多尾纤之间的对应耦合;二者结合组成空间复用功能系统,使光隔离器具有功能复用的作用。该光隔离器的主要性能测量结果表明,所设计的1550nm双通道功能复用光隔离器两个通道的插入损耗分别为0.43dB和0.31dB,隔离度分别为43dB和40dB,两个功能隔离器之间的串扰都大于60dB,达到了隔离器需要满足的性能指标,在低插损、高隔离的基础上具有功能复用效用。     

Bismuth-based Brillouin/erbium fiber laser

A multi-wavelength Brillouin/erbium-doped fiber laser (BEFL) operating in the 1573 nm region is proposed and demonstrated. The system employs both linear and nonlinear gain from a bismuth-based erbium-doped fiber (Bi-EDF) approximately 215 cm long and a single mode fiber (SMF) of various lengths to generate an optical comb with a spacing of approximately 0.089 nm. Two 3 dB couplers were used to form a looping arm in the system in order to produce cascaded Brillouin Stokes waves as internal feedback for multi-wavelength operation. A stable output laser comb with 10 lines at more than ??13 dBm was obtained with 4.85 dBm Brillouin pump power and two 140 mW pumps at 1480 nm. The 1480 nm pumps' power and SMF length have a significant effect on the number of wavelengths and on the output power of the generated wavelength comb.     

Double spacing multi-wavelength L-band Brillouin erbium fiber laser with Raman pump

A new multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium fiber laser (BEFL), which operates in the L-band region with double frequency Brillouin spacing, is demonstrated. This design uses a Raman pump (RP) and a piece of 2?km highly nonlinear fiber as a gain medium. The double frequency spacing is achieved by employing a dual ring configuration, which is formed by utilizing a four-port circulator that removes the odd-order Stoke signals. Twenty Stokes and seventeen anti-Stokes lines, which have optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) greater than 15?dB, are generated simultaneously with a spacing of 0.16?nm when Brillouin pump and RP powers were fixed at the optimum values of 8 dBm and 40?mW, respectively. The BEFL can be tuned in the range between 1591?nm to 1618?nm. The proposed configuration increases the number of lines generated and the OSNR, and thus allows a compact multi-wavelength laser source to be realized.     

Wavelength-switchable C-band erbium-doped fibre laser incorporating all-fibre Fabry–Perot interferometer fabricated by chemical etching

A switchable and stable triple-wavelength, ring-cavity, erbium-doped fibre laser incorporating an all-fibre Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) is designed and experimentally demonstrated. In the proposed fibre laser, the all-fibre FPI is fabricated using the chemical etching method and is used to generate the filter effect. The laser threshold is 88 mW. Switchable single-wavelength lasing at 1529.9, 1545.1 and 1560.2 nm can be realized with a power fluctuation less than 0.64 dB under 20 min of scanning time at room temperature. In addition, the wavelength-switchable dual-wavelength lasers can be tuned by changing the polarization state in the experiment, and the maximum power fluctuations for the 1545.1 and 1560.2 nm lasers are less than 1.19 and 1.57 dB at 26 °C, respectively. Furthermore, a triple-wavelength laser is obtained by adjusting the polarization controller. The results demonstrate that switchable single-, dual-, or triple-wavelength lasers can be generated through the proposed fibre laser.     

Wide-band flat-gain optical amplifier using Hafnia and zirconia erbium co-doped fibres in double-pass parallel configuration

ABSTRACT

A new compact and wide-band erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated by combining Hafnia-bismuth Erbium co-doped fibre (HB-EDF) and zirconia–yttria–aluminum Erbium co-doped fibre (Zr-EDF) as a hybrid gain medium, in parallel double-pass configuration. The proposed amplifier comprises a 0.5?m long HB-EDF and 4?m long Zr-EDF optimized for C- and L-band operations, respectively. The HB-EDF and Zr-EDF has erbium ion concentration of 12,500?ppm and 2800?ppm, respectively. At -10 dBm input signal, a wide-band flat gain of 15.7?dB is achieved with gain fluctuation of less than 1.5?dB within a wavelength region from 1525 to 1600?nm. Compared to same configuration of HB-EDF and Zr-EDF amplifiers which are using two pieces of HB-EDF and Zr-EDF, respectively with the same total amount of erbium ions, the proposed EDFA with hybrid gain medium provides even better performances in term of flat gain, bandwidth and noise figure.     

High sensitivity liquid surface deformation sensor based on cascaded Bowknot Type Tapers

A liquid surface deformation sensor with high sensitivity based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) was demonstrated. The MZI was constructed by cascading two Bowknot Type Tapers (BTTs) with an interval of 1.0?cm. As the liquid surface changes gradually from the position higher than the optical fibre to a position lower than the optical fibre, the external environment of the optical fibre changes gradually from the liquid to air, this will result in a change of the interference of the MZI. By measuring the intensity variations of the resonant wavelength, the liquid surface deformation in the range from 0 to 5.22?mm can be determined with a high sensitivity of 0.99?dB/mm.