Stable and high-performance multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on fiber delay interferometer

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed a novel scheme to realize the multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber lasers. By adding a length of dispersion shifted fiber (DSF) in the ring cavity, we can suppress the cavity mode competition resulting from homogeneous line broadening (HLB) effect. In addition, a comb filter based on fiber delay interferometer (DI) is used for frequency selecting. To enhance the extinction ratio while maintaining the free space range (FSR), the proposed isolator-assisted double-pass DI is utilized into the laser cavity, and a stable 7-wavelength simultaneous lasing spaced at 21.5 GHz is accordingly achieved with an extinction ratio of higher than 40 dB. The lasers are stable with a maximum power fluctuation per channel of less than 0.6 dB during an hour test.