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.     

Uniform amplitude multi-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode Brillouin–erbium fiber lasers

A multi-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) Brillouin–erbium fiber laser has been proposed and demonstrated by using the broadband linear gain and the narrow band gain of stimulated Brillouin scattering both in Er-doped fiber. Eight orders of lased Stokes have been observed with relatively uniform amplitudes and rigid spacing of 11?GHz. Each Stokes frequency works on SLM operation owing to very short oscillating cavity. The output signal-to-noise ratio is as high as 50?dB. The hybrid gain of two mechanisms in Er-doped fiber is helpful to improve the flatness of the multi-wavelength combs.     

Multi-wavelength Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser with photonic crystal fiber and multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A simple multi-wavelength passively Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using low-cost multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-based saturable absorber, which is prepared using polyvinyl alcohol as a host polymer. The multi-wavelength operation is achieved based on non-linear polarization rotation effect by incorporating 50?m long photonic crystal fiber in the ring cavity. The EDFL produces a stable multi-wavelength comb spectrum for more than 14 lines with a fixed spacing of 0.48?nm. The laser also demonstrates a stable pulse train with the repetition rate increasing from 14.9 to 25.4?kHz as the pump power increases from the threshold power of 69.0?mW to the maximum pump power of 133.8?mW. The minimum pulse width of 4.4?μs was obtained at the maximum pump power of 133.8?mW while the highest energy of 0.74 nJ was obtained at the pump power of 69.0?mW.     

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.     

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.     

L-Band multi-wavelength erbium-doped fibre laser based on non-linear optical loop mirror and dual-channel Mach–Zehnder interferometer

In this letter, we propose and demonstrate an L-Band linear cavity tunable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fibre laser based on non-linear optical loop mirror (NOLM) and dual-channel Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) . The NOLM provides the intensity-dependent transmissivity, can effectively alleviate the mode competition and beating caused by the homogeneous gain broadening, so that the multi-wavelength lasing can be achieved at room temperature. The dual-channel MZI, configured by linking the two outputs of the single-channel MZI, serves as comb filter. By adjusting the polarization controller in NOLM and pump power, the tunable multi-wavelength output at 1600 nm can be achieved. Moreover, the output stability of the laser has also been accomplished .     

Suppression of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber lasers with a semiconductor optical amplifier

We experimentally demonstrate that the stability of cw and mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring lasers can be improved significantly with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) inside the cavity. The fast saturable gain of the SOA suppresses significantly the self-pulsing that is due to ion pairs in the erbium-doped fiber, which acts as a saturable absorber. A linear stabilization analysis of the laser system agrees with our experimental results.     

S-band multiwavelength ring Brillouin/Raman fiber laser with 20 GHz channel spacing

We propose and demonstrate a tunable S-band multiwavelength Brillouin/Raman fiber laser (MBRFL) with a tuning range of between 1490 to 1530 nm. The proposed MBRFL is designed around a 7.7 km long dispersion compensating fiber in a simple ring configuration, acting as a nonlinear medium for the generation of multiple wavelengths from stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and also as a nonlinear gain medium for stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) amplification. A laser source with a maximum power of 12 dBm acts as the Brillouin pump (BP), while two 1420 nm laser diodes with a total power of 26 dBm act as the Raman pumps (RPs). The MBRFL can generate a multiwavelength comb consisting of even and odd Stokes at an average power of -12 dBm and -14 dBm respectively, and by separating the even and odd Stokes outputs, a 20 GHz channel spacing is obtained between two consecutive wavelengths. Due to the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect, anti-Stokes lines are also observed. The multiwavelength comb generated is not dependent on the BP, thus providing high stability and repeatability and making it a highly potential source for many real-world applications. This is the first time, to the knowledge of the authors, that a tunable MBRFL has been developed using SRS to obtain gain in the S-band region.     

Tunable dual-wavelength thulium-doped fiber laser at 1.8 μm region using spatial-mode beating

This study describes a proposal and experimental demonstration of a tunable thulium-doped fiber laser with a multi-wavelength output operating at 1.8 μm. The introduction of a multi-mode non-adiabatic taper fiber into a single-mode cavity induces spatial-mode beating and a consequent narrow band filter mechanism. The fiber laser can be tuned by changing the state of the polarization in a ring cavity via adjustment of a polarization controller. The resulting outputs for single and dual wavelengths with different spacing are reported in detail.     

Tunable optical frequency comb generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

We propose and demonstrate a technique for the generation of an optical frequency comb (OFC) in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide based on stimulated Brillouin scattering. A single continuous wave laser is sent to a multi-wavelength Brillouin erbium fibre laser for generating a set of coherent and phase-locked multi-wavelength spectral lines. They are injected into a PPLN waveguide to obtain an OFC. We investigate the influence of the cavity structure on the OFC property in our two different schemes. The number of comb lines is affected by the 980 pump current and Brillouin pump power. The OFCs are tunable in a large range by changing their central wavelength.     

Application of MoS2 thin film in multi-wavelength and Q-switched EDFL

Multi-wavelength and Q-switched EDFLs are demonstrated using a MoS₂ thin film as stabilizer and saturable absorber, respectively. For a multi-wavelength output, a 50-m-long PCF is incorporated into the cavity to induce unstable multi-wavelength oscillation and a MoS₂ thin film is further incorporated into the cavity to achieve stable multi-wavelength. The laser generates 11 lasing wavelengths with constant spacing of 0.47 nm at pump power of 250 mW. In the case of the Q-switched EDFL, MoS₂ thin film is utilized as a saturable absorber. Q-switched operation occurrs at a threshold pump power of 28.86–51.48 mW and the spectrum is centered at 1561.15 nm. The pulse repetition rate showed increasing trend from 18.57–30.72 kHz whereas the pulse width decreased from 53.85–32.54 μs in the Q-switched pump power range. The highest pulse energy of 30.73 nJ is obtained at pump power of 51.48 mW.     

Tunable Brillouin-erbium fiber laser incorporating a low-cost biconic tapered fiber

A new method of tuning a multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL) within a Fabry–Perot cavity by incorporating a low-cost biconic tapered fiber is reported. The biconic tapered fiber was fabricated using a flame elongation technique and it was incorporated into the BEFL system to position the self-lasing cavity modes over a tuning range of 5.5 nm within the erbium-doped fiber gain profile. By injecting the Brillouin pump near to the tunable self-lasing cavity modes, it suppresses the modes and generates stable cascaded Brillouin–Stokes lines with more than 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio.     

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.     

Dual wavelength fibre laser with tunable channel spacing using an SOA and dual AWGs

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a dual wavelength fibre laser (DWFL) based on the use of an inhomogeneously-broadened semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) gain medium as well as two arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) together with two optical channel selectors (OCSs) and a broadband fibre Bragg grating (FBG) to generate dual wavelength output at variable channel spacings. The widest spacing obtained from the DWFL is 12.21 nm, while the narrowest spacing is 1.16 nm. The DWFL has good stability with only minor power fluctuations of less than 2 dB and a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of approximately 38.5 dB with fluctuations of less than 0.5 dB.     

Investigation of structural dependence of host erbium-doped triangular-lattice PCF on lasing properties and design of high performance laser

A detailed study is presented on the lasing properties of an erbium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) laser. The effects of the host PCF’s structure and laser parameters on continuous-wave laser emission are analyzed by considering the confinement and overlap of pump and signal fields in the gain medium for varying values of pitch, hole diameter, and doping radius. For analysis, we used a finite-difference mode-calculation algorithm devised with standard population and propagation rate-equation solver. Our analysis, applied to an experimentally realized PCF laser, reproduces the observed/reported data, thereby showing the efficacy of our analysis. Finally, a fiber geometry to realize a laser with threshold as low as 6?mW using a short fiber length of 0.52?m is prescribed. The aim of the design is to greatly reduce splice loss with standard single-mode SM28/G.652 fiber while maintaining the optimum performance. These results are new in PCF laser research and should be useful in realizing high performance PCF-based laser devices.     

Simulation experiments to generate broadband chaos using dual-wavelength optically injected Fabry–Perot laser

Abstract

Broadband chaos can be generated by beating two wavelengths in a hybrid arrangement of Fabry–Perot (FP) Laser and Fiber ring cavity by injecting dual wavelengths. The bandwidth of generated chaos can be controlled by detuning different modes of FP Laser for beating. The bandwidth of generated chaos increased to many folds depending upon the injected strength and wavelength spacing matched to FP laser modes. The bandwidth enhancement in different simulation experiments conducted is optimized by varying different parameters of FP laser and cavity. The waveforms are analyzed and Lyapunov exponents are calculated in order to validate the existence of high bandwidth non-pulsating chaos.     

Wavelength switchable L-band erbium-doped fiber laser employing C-band EDFA as gain medium

A new structure for the L-band multiwavelength switchable erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed. Overlapping laser cavities are formed by cascading fiber Bragg gratings as reflectors in a ring structure with a C-band EDFA as a common gain medium. The proposed laser is made to be wavelength-switchable by individually adjusting the loss of each overlapping cavity. Instead of using an L-band EDFA as the gain medium in the L-band fiber laser, we have experimentally demonstrated that by tailoring the gain of the C-band EDFA to have a significant gain tilt in the L-band, a lasing power efficiency of 26% can be achieved over a wide range of switchable lasing wavelengths. Following this optimal design, the side-mode suppression ratio and the minimal separation between two switchable lasing wavelengths were found to be over 42 dB and 0.33 nm, respectively.     

Effective dispersion in an inhomogeneously broadened single mode laser

Recently, we have been investigating the development of a superluminal ring laser, where finely tuned anomalous dispersion leads to an enhancement in the sensitivity of the laser frequency to a change in the cavity length, by as much as six orders of magnitude, for applications such as hypersensitive rotation sensing and accelerometry, as well as for gravitational wave detection. For such a laser, as well as other lasers that are used for precision metrology, the effective dispersion – manifested in the manner in which the lasing frequency varies as a function of a change in the cavity length due to the index induced by the medium under saturated gain corresponding to steady-state lasing – is of utmost significance. In determining the effective dispersion, the role of inhomogeneous broadening (IB) must be taken into consideration carefully. In this work, we consider an inhomogeneously broadened gain medium in a single mode optical cavity, and study the effective dispersion experienced by the lasing field. It is well known that the steady state index for such a laser cannot be expressed analytically. Previous studies have employed approximate models to interpret the effective dispersion, in two limits: IB is much larger than homogeneous broadening (HB), and IB is insignificant compared to HB. Here, we use an iterative but quickly converging numerical code to determine the exact behavior of the effective dispersion under all conditions, and show that the results agree with the expected behavior in these two limits. This technique paves the way for taking into account the effective dispersion in any inhomogeneously broadened laser, including the superluminal laser, in determining accurately its sensitivity to change in cavity length, as well as it quantum noise limited linewidth.     

A novel optical device with wide-bandwidth wavelength conversionand an optical sampling experiment at 200 Gbit/s

This paper reports the characteristics of our proposed prototype optical parametric diffuser (OPD). An OPD is based on the theory of four-wave mixing (FWM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). However, to improve the conversion bandwidth and FWM efficiency, the gain bandwidth is spread and the gain peak wavelengths are set to a wavelength near the FWM light on the short-wavelength side by combining different MQW active layers. We measured the optical gain characteristics; the fiber-to fiber gain was 16.1 dB and the gain bandwidth over 8 dB was 117 nm when driven at 200 mA dc, and 190 nm when driven by an 800 mA pulse current. In a wavelength-conversion experiment, a high conversion efficiency of ⩾-20 dB was obtained across a detuning wavelength bandwidth of 43 nm. A clear waveform was obtained in an optical sampling experiment to measure 200 Gbit/s optical data sequences     

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.