Wide-band and fast wavelength-swept optical parametric oscillator with a photonic crystal fiber based on dispersion tuning technology at 1 μm

Abstract

A wavelength-swept fiber optical parametric oscillator (FOPO) based on dispersion tuning technology at wavelength around 1 μm is demonstrated. A continuous wave single-longitudinal-mode ytterbium doped fiber laser with a line-width of 0.05 nm is modulated through a LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder modulator to be a pulsed source with variable repetition rate. The pulsed source is amplified with a two-stage ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (YDFA) to a mediate power and a high power YDFA to peak power higher than 40 W. And a homemade 50-m photonic crystal fiber (PCF) which provides the optical parametric gain is pumped by the pulsed source. The optical modulator is driven by a frequency-swept electrical clock signal with frequency ranges from 107.24 MHz to 107.31 MHz. Thus the FOPO generates a wavelength-swept light source with a range of 80 nm centered at 1065.10 nm. Through careful customizing the sweeping rate of the driving clock signal, the sweeping rate of the parametric oscillator can be up to 10 kHz, which is limited by currently used electrical sweeping source. The generated pulses train are with pulse width of about 110 ps. For the electrical scan is used instead of the traditional mechanical scanning method in conventional wavelength-swept sources, it performs better stability under prolonged operation. The wavelength-swept FOPO is potential to be applied in OCT systems for its good stability and advantaged wavelength band.