Switchable wavelength generation by injection-locked fiber laser based on GS-RSOAs

Abstract

This paper proposes a switchable wavelength fiber laser (SWFL) based on an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and a gain-saturated reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA). The SWFL was experimentally implemented in the C- and L-bands. In order to achieve narrow-linewidth oscillation, the SWFL was driven by bidirectional injection-locked RSOAs. The RSOA was operated in the gain-saturated region, using gain compression properties to obtain uniform power over a wide bandwidth. Based on this configuration, we obtained 40 C-band international telecommunication unit (ITU) wavelengths with 100-GHz channel spacing. The SWFL displayed a narrow 3-dB bandwidth (<0.06 nm), a high and uniform peak power (P max > 0.22 dB, ΔP max < 0.26 dB), and a high and uniform side mode suppression ratio (SMSR > 66 dB, ΔSMSR < 1 dB). The peak-power and wavelength stabilities were ±0.24 dB and ±0.01 nm, respectively, at room temperature over a 1 h period.