Dual wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser using a tapered fiber

A tapered fiber is fabricated by heating and stretching a piece of optical fiber after the polymer protective cladding has been removed. An equidistant comb-like transmission spectrum, with a spacing of 1.6?nm and an extinction ratio of more than 5?dB, was obtained by the tapered fiber due to the multibeam interferences of the cladding modes. The tapered fiber was applied in a ring erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) to generate dual-wavelength lasing oscillations. The EDFL operates at wavelengths of 1557.0?nm and 1558.6?nm with a stable peak power and a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 40?dB.     

Switchable dual-wavelength fiber laser mode-locked by carbon nanotubes

We have proposed a switchable mode-locked fiber laser by means of carbon nanotube saturable absorber and fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The single-wavelength mode-locking operation can be switched between 1549.5 and 1559.5 nm, respectively, which correspond to the central wavelengths of two FBGs. With the appropriate setting of polarization controller, the stable dual-wavelength operation can be achieved due to the high stability of saturable absorber based on carbon nanotubes. Our method provides a simple, stable, low-cost, dual-wavelength ultrafast-pulsed source.     

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.     

Tunable microwave generation based on a dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser using a phase-shifted grating on a triangular cantilever

Frequency tunable microwave signal generation, based on a dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser, incorporating a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG) with two π-phase shifts, is demonstrated. In the proposed configuration, the PS-FBG with two ultranarrow transmission bands is embedded in a triangular cantilever to serve as a wavelength spacing tunable filter with a fixed center wavelength by applying various strains on the cantilever. A section of unpumped EDF is employed as a saturable absorber to ensure SLM operation in each of the two lasing lines. By beating the two wavelengths at a photodiode, a tunable microwave signal ranging from 8.835 to 24.360 GHz is successfully achieved.     

Generation of picosecond pulses at five close wavelengths by use of a self-seeded Fabry-Perot laser diode and a spectrum-split fiber Bragg grating

We have demonstrated simultaneous generation of stable picosecond laser pulses at five close wavelengths at a pulse repetition rate of approximately 2 GHz by using a self-seeding configuration that consisted of a gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser diode (FPLD) with an external cavity formed by a tunable spectrum-split fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The FBG selected only one of the modes of the FPLD and, at the same time, filtered the selected FPLD mode such that the reflection from the FBG, tapped with a directional coupler, provided an output of dual-wavelength pulses and the transmission through the FBG provided an output of three-wavelength pulses. We could change the intensities and the wavelength separations of the pulses by adjusting the modulating radio frequency and the temperature of the FPLD and the separation of the FBG reflection peaks. In our experiments the highest side-mode suppression ratios of the pulses obtained were 44.5 dB for the dual-wavelength output and 25.0 dB for the three-wavelength output. Also, the laser was demonstrated to minimize pulse intensity imbalance and produce equally separated wavelengths (with a wavelength separation of 0.2 nm). This simple laser offers considerable flexibility for various applications.     

Switchable and tunable multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser using graphene-polymer nanocomposite and asymmetric two-stage fiber Sagnac loop filter

A high-performance multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, using graphene-polymer nanocomposite as a multiwavelength equalizer and an asymmetric two-stage polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) Sagnac loop as a flexible comb filter. At first, the filtering characteristics of the PMF Sagnac loop filter (SLF) are investigated. Both theoretical and experimental results show that it can provide a flexibly switchable and tunable comblike filtering. Then, the two-stage PMF SLF is inserted into a graphene-assisted EDFL cavity for generating multiwavelength oscillation. The extreme-high third-order optical nonlinearity of graphene is exploited to suppress the mode competition of the EDFL, and a stable multiple-channel lasing is observed. By carefully adjusting the polarization controllers in the two-stage PMF SLF, not only can the lasing-line number per channel be switchable between single and multiple wavelengths, but also the wavelength spacing in the triple-wavelength condition can be tunable. In the case of triple wavelengths per channel, up to 12 wavelengths with four channels stable oscillations can be achieved. The multiple-channel EDFL can keep a high extinction ratio of >40 dB and a narrow linewidth of <0.01 nm.     

Theoretical and experimental analysis of tunable Sagnac high-birefringence loop filter for dual-wavelength laser application

We present detailed investigations of the spectral dependencies of the transmission of a fiber optical loop mirror (FOLM) consisting of a coupler with output ports spliced at arbitrary angles to a high-birefringence (Hi-Bi) fiber. The application for dual-wavelength lasers is discussed. For this aim, the spectral dependence of the reflection is tuned by the temperature of the Hi-Bi fiber that allows a fine adjustment of the cavity loss for generated wavelengths. The ratio between maximum and minimum reflection can be adjusted by the twist angle of the fiber at the splices, which also provides useful possibilities for the adjustment of cavity losses. We used the twist and temperature variation of the Hi-Bi fiber to change the operation from single wavelength to stable dual-wavelength generation with either equal or unequal powers of wavelengths.     

Switchable dual-wavelength fiber laser mode-locked by monolayer graphene on D-shaped fiber

A switchable mode-locking fiber laser is demonstrated by means of a monolayer graphene saturable absorber (SA) based on a D-shaped fiber. The monolayer graphene, which is grown by chemical vapor deposition, is transferred onto the D-shaped fiber and then the light–graphene interaction via the evanescent field of the fiber is enhanced greatly. Using such a graphene-based SA, the single-wavelength mode locking can be switched from 1531.5 to 1559.1 nm by appropriately adjusting the polarization controller (PC). In addition, the stable dual-wavelength mode-locking operation is also observed at the proper state of PC.     

Identical-dual-bandpass sampled fiber Bragg grating and its application to ultranarrow filters

We have theoretically proposed and experimentally demonstrated a new kind of ultranarrow identical-dual-bandpass sampled fiber Bragg gratings (SFBGs) with a pi phase shift technique. The spacing of two bandpasses of the proposed grating can be flexibly adjusted by changing the sampled period, and any desired spacing can be achieved in principle. An experimental example shows that the transmission peaks of two narrow transmission-band are near 1549.1 and 1550.1 nm. Based on the proposed SFBG, an ultranarrow identical-dual-channel filter is designed. Two channels of the proposed filter have an equal bandwidth, an even strength, and the same group delay. The bandwidth of each channel of our filter is as small as 1 pm and up to 10(-3) pm (corresponding to approximately 0.1 MHz), which is less than the bandwidth of the conventional SFBG filters by a factor of 10(2)-10(4). The proposed grating and filter can find potential applications with slow light and dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber lasers.     

Tunable dual-wavelength optical short-pulse generation by use of a fiber Bragg grating and a tunable optical filter in a self-seeding scheme

A simple self-seeding scheme is developed to generate tunable dual-wavelength optical short pulses in a flexible manner and with an increased wavelength-tuning range. The wavelength selection and tuning are achieved by simultaneous use of a fiber Bragg grating and a tunable optical filter. The side-mode suppression ratio of the output pulses is better than 30 dB over a wavelength-tuning range of 33.8 nm. The system is compact and convenient for dual-wavelength tuning.     

Dual-wavelength distributed feedback fiber laser based on double exposure and equivalent phase shift method

A special sampling structure based on double exposure technology is proposed to achieve dual-wavelength lasing in the distributed feedback fiber laser. This structure is composed of two grating pitches in one sampling period, which could be realized by changing the fiber's length in the fabrication. Through employing an equivalent phase shift, only a submicrometer-level precision is required for precise phase control. Then a stable dual-wavelength laser with the spacing of 400?pm is obtained in the experiment successfully. The output power is 30.46?μW and the sidemode suppression ratio is 46?dB under a pumped power of 146?mW.     

Switchable multiwavelength ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser based on a multimode fiber grating

A simple switchable multiwavelength double-clad fiber laser using a multimode fiber Bragg grating (MMFG) as a wavelength selective component is demonstrated. The MMFG is fabricated directly in the active double-clad fiber, resulting in low splicing loss and compact configuration. By properly adjusting the polarization controller in the cavity, the double-clad fiber laser can stably operate at different multiwavelength states at room temperature. At lower pump levels, the laser can be switched between single- and dual-wavelength operations, while at higher pump levels the laser can switch between dual- and triple-wavelength operations. The slope efficiency of the system is 41% with the maximum output power of 6.2 W.     

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.     

Dual-wavelength superfluorescent fiber emitter

The feasibility of constructing a dual-wavelength, spatially single-mode, superfluorescent fiber emitter on the basis of erbium optical fibers with pumping by multimode semiconductor lasers is demonstrated. The emitter is fabricated by all-fiber technology and has a power output in excess of 10 mW, an average emission wavelength of 1.54 μm, and a spectral resolution of 27.5 nm at component linewidths of 3 nm and 9 nm. The depolarization of the radiation from the emitter as it propagates in an anisotropic, single-mode fiber waveguide is investigated. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 23, 37–42 (October 26, 1997)     

Passively Q-switched Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber lasers

By splicing on a length of Ho(3+)-doped silica fiber onto a diode-pumped double-clad Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber, stable passive Q switching of the Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber laser is demonstrated. The formation of Q-switched pulses was found to depend on both the length and the position of the Ho(3+)-doped silica fiber that was inserted into the fiber laser cavity. For stable Q-switched pulse generation, Ho(3+)-doped silica fiber lengths shorter than twice the absorption depth must be used. For long Ho(3+)-doped silica fiber lengths, randomly generated pulses are observed at operating wavelengths longer than 2090 nm, which are attributed to intracavity pumping of the Ho(3+)-doped silica fiber.     

Recirculating fiber delay-line filter with a fiber bragg grating

We propose a new recirculating fiber delay-line filter structure. In the proposed system a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is used as a multireflection mirror in a fiber delay loop, and an erbium-doped fiber is used to provide gain in the loop. By adjusting parameters such as the coupling efficiency, the reflectivity of the FBG, and the gain, we can change the characteristics of the filter transfer function.     

Application of thin-film optical filters to the temperaturecompensation of optical fiber grating-based devices

A major problem currently affecting the implementation of in-fiber refractive-index grating-based optical fiber devices is the drift in wavelength modulation due to the change in the ambient temperature. For accurate and reliable long-term operation of these devices, suitable temperature compensation techniques are a necessity. This paper presents a novel temperature compensation technique for in-fiber refractive index grating-based devices and components. The proposed technique is based on the temperature-dependent spectral characteristics of a dielectric multilayer thin-film interference filter fabricated on the endface of refractive-index grating impressed optical fiber. Temperature compensation is achieved by comparing the reflected intensities at the grating-reflected and the interference filter-reflected wavelengths. The proposed scheme also compensates for light source fluctuations and lead-in fiber bending losses     

Room-temperature dual-wavelength erbium-doped fibre laser based on a sampled fibre Bragg grating and a photonic Robin Hood

With the assistance of a kind of photonic Robin Hood that is originated from four-wave mixing in a dispersion-flattened high-nonlinearity photonic-crystal fibre, a novel dual-wavelength erbium-doped fibre (EDF) laser is proposed and demonstrated by using a sampled fibre Bragg grating. The experiments show that, due to the contribution of the photonic Robin Hood, the proposed fibre laser has the advantage of excellent uniformity, high stability and stable operation at room temperature. Our dual-wavelength EDF laser has the unique merit that the wavelength spacing remains unchanged when tuning the two wavelengths of laser, and this laser is simpler and more stable than the laser reported by Liu et al. [Opt. Express, 13 142 (2005)].     

Thulium:ZBLAN blue fiber laser pumped by two wavelengths

We demonstrate and analyze an upconversion blue fiber laser pumped by two wavelengths. Lasing at 0.48 mum with very low pump threshold power is obtained from a Tm-doped fluorozirconate fiber that is counterpropagating pumped by 1.21- and 0.649-mum light. We employed a rate-equation analysis using parameters obtained by fitting to the experimental data to predict the 0.48-mum output characteristics as a function of fiber length and output reflectivity.     

Design of short fiber Bragg gratings by use of optimization

We demonstrate an optimization approach for designing fiber Bragg gratings. A layer-peeling inverse-scattering algorithm is used to produce an initial solution, which is optimized numerically with an iterative optimization method. To avoid problems with local minima, we use merit functions that are zero for wavelengths for which the predefined demands (acceptance limits) are fulfilled, making it possible to alter the local minima under the optimization process without disturbing the global minimum. Because short gratings are difficult to design with inverse scattering, and because the time consume of the optimization increases rapidly with the grating length, the method is particularly useful for designing short gratings. The method is also useful when the demands are complex and difficult to handle with inverse-scattering methods. Design examples are given, including a dispersionless bandpass filter suitable for dense wavelength-division multiplexing and a filter with linear reflectivity.