Abstract
A novel interval-adjustable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is experimentally demonstrated in this paper. The proposed EDFL is based on the cascaded structure of two-segment Sagnac filter and nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). By properly adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs), the wavelength interval and number of output wavelengths can be changed. When the wavelength interval is 2nm and 0.5nm, the number of wavelengths is 1-3 and 5-8, respectively. At the same time, when the number of output wavelengths is 6~8, the wavelengths can be tuned within a certain range. In order to compare the effects of two similar nonlinear loop mirrors on the outputs, a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) is used to replace the NOLM in the laser cavity. The number of output wavelengths is increased to 10 when using NALM. The structure and principle of NOLM and NALM are analyzed. The influences of the two structures on the stability and output power of the laser are also discussed.
Highlights
The multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) has advantages of compact structure, low insertion loss, and multi-wavelength output
Yin et al obtained a tunable and switchable EDFL based on polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG) and polarization-maintaining chirped moiré fiber Bragg grating (PM-CMFBG) [12]
In the experiment, the wavelength interval can be changed by adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs) in the two-segment Sagnac filter
Summary
The multi-wavelength EDFL has advantages of compact structure, low insertion loss, and multi-wavelength output. Based on the suppression mechanism of wavelength competition, researchers have proposed a variety of multi-wavelength fiber lasers with different output characteristics. Al-Alimi et al introduced a wide bandwidth and flat multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser based on dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) and HNLF [16]. It can be seen that the OSNRs of Brillouin-erbium fiber lasers are usually low, which is not conducive to the practical application. G. Yin et al used a NOLM and a twin-core fiber-based MZI to obtain a EDFL with an average OSNR of 28 dB and 30 lasing wavelengths [17]. A switchable EDFL based on erbium-doped twin-core fiber (ED-TCF) and NPR was proposed by Lian et al [18]. An interval-adjustable multi-wavelength EDFLs with the assistance of NOLM or NALM are designed and demonstrated. The influences of the two structures on laser stability and output power are compared
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