Ultrafine optical-frequency tunable Brillouin fiber laser based on fiber strain

Abstract

We present an ultrafine tunable single-frequency Brillouin fiber laser in which the fiber Brillouin gain also acts as a high-precision tunable filter. Controlling the strain on the fiber, the Stokes frequency shift may be precisely changed, and thus the lasing frequency can be tuned. Assisted by the frequency pulling effect, this method provides continuous ultrafine tuning ability for ~30% of the free spectral range without mode hopping, and can cover 271 MHz. The experiments showed that the laser achieves tuning step of 60 kHz.