Observation of mode instability and coherence collapse in a single-frequency polarization-maintaining fiber ring laser

Abstract

Mode instability acts as a common feature in single-frequency fiber ring lasers. The mechanism of coherence collapse by mode instability is theoretically analyzed and demonstrated with an unbalanced fiber Michelson interferometer utilizing phase modulation, which is illuminated by a single-frequency erbium-doped fiber ring laser. Multiform mode instability phenomena accompanied with coherence collapse are observed and discussed in detail by tracing the dynamics of the interference fringe visibility. The results show that mode instability would introduce extra phase noises like a false alarm to interferometric fiber optic sensing systems.