A highly stable frequency single-mode optical fiber laser based on a Fabry-Perot etalon

Abstract

In this paper we report the development of a robust highly stable frequency single-longitudinal-mode optical fiber laser based on a Fabry-Perot etalon and an active feedback controlling system. The laser is fundamentally structured on an all-fiber compound-ring resonator which is configurated with two interleaved and optical-path-overlapped sub-ring resonators. By employing a length of erbium-doped fiber as the gain medium and a FBG as a reflector, the effective linewidth of the gain spectrum of the compound-ring resonator is restricted to be as narrow as the reflected spectrum of the FBG, which is about 0.043 nm. Because of the vernier effect between the two interleaved sub-ring resonators, the longitudinal mode spacing of the compound-ring resonator can be expanded to be as wide as the effective linewidth of the gain spectrum of it, which permits only one longitudinal mode oscillating. By employing an external Fabry-Perot etalon as a criterion and using an active feedback controlling system to tune the length of the cavity of the compound-ring resonator, the ambiance disturbances to the cavity can be compensated and the frequency of the emitted laser is locked to the offset frequency of the Fabry-Perot etalon. Therefore the frequency of the emitted laser has been stabilized to be 10−8.