A novel method of sourceless continuous wave laser for fiber-to-the-home application

Abstract

We propose a novel scheme of a sourceless continuous wave laser using a broadening of an optical pulse in a highly dispersive medium. The optical pulse is converted to a continuous wave (CW) by passing it through the highly dispersive medium in a loop. The broadening of the pulse is accompanied with a delay in dispersive medium, which restricts the repetition rate of the pulse being converted into continuous wave. We present the expression of flatness achieved in the conversion process for Gaussian pulse. Flatness of the CW laser depends upon the dispersion parameter, number of passes and the delay provided by the dispersive medium. We present a comparative study of the photonic crystal fiber, standard single mode fiber and optical waveguide as the dispersive elements. We study the effects of pulse width, repetition rate, number of passes through dispersive element and operating wavelength on flatness. Simulation results confirm the generation of CW laser with 90 dB flatness obtained at 100 GHz repetition rate of input pulse with a photonic crystal fiber.