Wavelength tunable ring cavity erbium-doped fibre laser based on tapered Fabry Perot filter fabricated by hydrofluoric acid corrosion for stretch sensing

Abstract

In this study, the erbium-doped fiber laser with a ring cavity and a Fabry-Perot (F-P) filter was proposed and experimentally verified. In the design of the laser, hydrofluoric acid was employed for chemical etching to prepare the F-P cavity, and tapering was applied to the F-P cavity to enhance sensitivity. The experimentally prepared F-P filter was placed in the resonant cavity and served as a frequency-selective device for the fiber laser. At a laser threshold of 48 mW, we obtained a single-wavelength laser output at 1565.28 nm, with a 3 dB linewidth of 0.29 nm. To evaluate the stretching sensing performance of the EDFL system, we performed stretching of the F-P filter. The experimental results demonstrated that within a stretching length range of 0 to 3 mm, we could obtain a single-wavelength laser that could be tuned from 1559.57 to 1567.04 nm, corresponding to a tuning range of 7.47 nm. The laser showed a sensitivity of 2.73 nm/mm and a goodness of fit 0.999. Monitoring the stability of a single-wavelength laser within 30 min, the signal-to-noise ratio was greater than 27.212 dB, and the power fluctuation was less than 0.712 dB. Additionally, the polarization controller was adjusted to obtain two different dual-wavelength lasers with a power fluctuation of less than 0.71 dB.