Erbium Fiber Laser Research Articles

A tunable multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with fourfold Brillouin frequency spacing

We have experimentally demonstrated a tunable multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with over 40 GHz spacing utilizing two cascaded double Brillouin-frequency-spacing cavities. In this laser configuration, two segments of 25 km-long single-mode fibers are used as Brillouin gain medium in each ring cavity, and a segment of 8 m-long erbium-doped fiber with 980 nm pump is employed to amplify Brillouin pump (BP). At BP wavelength of 1550 nm, BP power of 8.3 dBm (6.8 mW) and the maximum 980 nm pump power of 27.78 dBm (600 mW), seven output channels with fourfold Brillouin-frequency spacing, and the tuning range of 15 nm from 1545 to 1560 nm are achieved. The proposed multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser has wide applications, such as in microwave signal generation and optical communications.

Two-octave spanning supercontinuum generation in stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguides pumped at telecom wavelengths.

We demonstrate supercontinuum generation in stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4 in SiO2) integrated optical waveguides, pumped at telecommunication wavelengths. The pump laser is a mode-locked erbium fiber laser at a wavelength of 1.56 µm with a pulse duration of 120 fs. With a waveguide-internal pulse energy of 1.4 nJ and a waveguide with 1.0 µm × 0.9 µm cross section, designed for anomalous dispersion across the 1500 nm telecommunication range, the output spectrum extends from the visible, at around 526 nm, up to the mid-infrared, at least to 2.6 µm, the instrumental limit of our detection. This output spans more than 2.2 octaves (454 THz at the -30 dB level). The measured output spectra agree well with theoretical modeling based on the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The infrared part of the supercontinuum spectra shifts progressively towards the mid-infrared, well beyond 2.6 µm, by increasing the width of the waveguides.

A 40 GHz, 770 fs regeneratively mode-locked erbium fiber laser operating at 1.6 µm

A 40 GHz, 770 fs regeneratively mode-locked erbium fiber laser operating at 1.6 µm

Bismuth (III) Telluride (Bi2Te3) topological insulator embed in PVA as passive Q-switcher at 2 micron region

We demonstrate a passive Q-switched at 2 um region by integrating Bismuth (III) Telluride (Bi2/Te3) embedded in Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA). Bi2Te3 was embedded in PVA by solution casting approach to develop a Bi2/Te3-PVA film and integrated in the laser cavity with ring configuration to generate pulse laser. The experimental works show that the proposed passive saturable absorber operates at input pump power ranges from 637 mW to 784 mW with central wavelength of 1957.6 nm. We observed the tunable repetition rate from 12.6 kHz to 26.1 kHz with the shortest pulse width of 2.22 us. The laser produces maximum instantaneous output peak power and pulse energy of 0.42 W and 0.94 uJ, respectively. Full Text: PDF ReferencesC. Zhao, H. Zhang, X. Qi, Y. Chen, Z. Wang, S. Wen, and D. Tang, "Ultra-short pulse generation by a topological insulator based saturable absorber", Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 211106 (2012). CrossRef Z. C. Luo, M. Liu, H. Liu, X.-W. Zheng, A.-P. Luo, C.-J. Zhao, H. Zhang, S. C. Wen, and W.-C. Xu, "2GHz passively harmonic mode-locked fiber laser by a microfiber-based topological insulator saturable absorber", Opt. Lett. 38, 5212 (2013). CrossRef J. Lee, J. Koo, Y. M. Jhon, and J. H. Lee, "A femtosecond pulse erbium fiber laser incorporating a saturable absorber based on bulk-structured Bi2Te3 topological insulator", Opt. Express 22, 6165 (2014). CrossRef M. Jung, J. Lee, J. Koo, J. Park, Y. W. Song, K. Lee, S. Lee, and J. H. Lee, "A femtosecond pulse fiber laser at 1935 nm using a bulk-structured Bi2Te3 topological insulator", Opt. Express 22, 7865(2014). CrossRef Y. H. Lin, C. Y. Yang, S.-F. Lin, W. H. Tseng, Q. Bao, C. I. Wu, and G.R. Lin, "Soliton compression of the erbium-doped fiber laser weakly started mode-locking by nanoscale p-type Bi2Te3 topological insulator particles", Laser Phys. Lett. 11, 055107(2014). CrossRef J. Lee et al., "All-fiberized, passively Q-switched 1.06 ?m laser using a bulk-structured Bi2Te3 topological insulator", Journal of Optics 16, 085203(2014). CrossRef Y. Chen, et al., "Large Energy, Wavelength Widely Tunable, Topological Insulator Q-Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 20, 315(2014). CrossRef M. Wu et al., "Nanosecond Q -Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser With Wide Pulse-Repetition-Rate Range Based on Topological Insulator", IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 50, 393(2014). CrossRef J. Lee et al., "Dry Etched Waveguide Laser Diode on GeOI", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 21, 31(2015). CrossRef J. Li et al., "3-?m mid-infrared pulse generation using topological insulator as the saturable absorber ", Optics Letters 40, 3659(2015). CrossRef Z. Luo et al., "Topological-Insulator Passively Q-Switched Double-Clad Fiber Laser at 2 ?m Wavelength", IEEE J. Sel. Topics Quantum Electron 20, 0902708 (2014). CrossRef M. C. Paul, A. Dhar, S. Das, A. A. Latiff,M. T. Ahmad,and S. W. Harun, "Enhanced Erbium?Zirconia?Yttria?Aluminum Co-Doped Fiber Amplifier" IEEE Photonics Journal 7, 7100408 (2015). CrossRef H. Liu et al., "Femtosecond pulse generation from a topological insulator mode-locked fiber laser", Optics Express 22, 6868 (2014). CrossRef Z. Sun, T. Hasan, and A. C. Ferrari, "Ultrafast lasers mode-locked by nanotubes and graphene", Physica E 44, 1082(2012). CrossRef J. Lee, M. Jung, J. Koo, C. Chi, and J. Lee, "Dry Etched Waveguide Laser Diode on GeOI", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 21, 0900206 (2015). CrossRef H. Ahmad, A. Z. Zulkifli, K. Thambiratnam, and S. W. Harun, "2.0-?m Q-Switched Thulium-Doped Fiber Laser With Graphene Oxide Saturable Absorber", IEEE Photonics Journal5, 1501108(2013). CrossRef

Femtosecond optical-to-microwave frequency divider with a relative instability of

We have developed a low-noise optical-to-microwave frequency divider based on a femtosecond erbium fibre laser. The source of an optical signal was a frequency standard. Comparison of two frequency dividers showed that the relative instability of output microwave signals, introduced by the dividers, is for the averaging time . The instability obtained corresponds to the requirements imposed on interrogative oscillators for time and frequency standards based on Cs or Rb atomic fountains.

An L-band multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with switchable frequency spacing

In this paper, a novel L-band multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser consisting of two ring cavities is proposed and demonstrated. The frequency spacing can be switched, corresponding to the single and double Brillouin frequency shifts, by toggling the optical switch. Under a 980 nm pump power of 600 mw, and a Brillouin pump power of 4 mW and wavelength of 1599.4 nm, up to 16 Stokes signals with a frequency spacing of 0.089 nm and 5 Stokes signals with double spacing of 0.178 nm are generated. A wavelength tunability of 15 nm (1593 nm − 1608 nm) is realized for both frequency spacings. The fluctuation of Stokes signals for both single and double Brillouin spacing regimes in the proposed setup is less than 1.5 dB throughout a 30 min time span.

440 fs, 9.2 GHz regeneratively mode-locked erbium fiber laser with a combination of higher-order solitons and a SESAM saturable absorber.

We report a regeneratively FM mode-locked erbium fiber laser operating at 9.2 GHz, in which a SESAM saturable absorber and a higher-order soliton effect are combined to generate a 440 fs pulse train. Higher-order solitons have a narrow center peak while accompanied by pedestals on the wing, but such components can be well suppressed by the saturable absorber, which enables very efficient pulse narrowing. As a result, 440 and 480 fs transform-limited sech pulses were successfully obtained at output powers of 15 and 45 mW, respectively.

Stabilized and tunable single-longitudinal-mode erbium fiber laser employing ytterbium-doped fiber based interference filter

In this demonstration, to achieve stabilized and wavelength-selectable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser, a short length of ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF) is utilized to serve as a spatial multi-mode interference (MMI) inside a fiber cavity for suppressing multi-longitudinal-mode (MLM) significantly. In the measurement, the output powers and optical signal to noise ratios (OSNRs) of proposed EDF ring laser are measured between −9.85 and −5.71dBm; and 38.03 and 47.95dB, respectively, in the tuning range of 1530.0–1560.0nm. In addition, the output SLM and stability performance are also analyzed and discussed experimentally.

Single-step sub-200 fs mid-infrared generation from an optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by an erbium fiber laser.

We demonstrate the single-step generation of mid-infrared femtosecond laser pulses in a AgGaSe₂ optical parametric oscillator that is synchronously pumped by a 100MHz repetition rate sub-90fs erbium fiber laser. The tuning range of the idler beam in principle covers ∼3.5 to 17μm, only dependent on the choice of cavity and mirror design. As an example, we experimentally demonstrate idler pulse generation from 4.8 to 6.0μm optimized for selective vibrational resonant molecular spectroscopy. We find an oscillation threshold as low as 150mW of pump power. At 300mW pump power and a central wavelength of ∼5.0 μm, we achieve an average infrared power of up to 17.5mW, with a photon conversion efficiency of ∼18%. A pulse duration of ∼180 fs is determined from a nonlinear cross-correlation with residual pump light. The single-step nonlinear conversion leads to a high power stability with <1% average power drift at <0.5% rms noise over 1h.

L-band multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with tunable frequency

A novel architecture of L-band multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with tunable frequency is proposed and investigated experimentally in this paper. The impacts of the 980 nm pump power and the Brillouin input pump (BP) power on the number of Stokes waves are respectively analyzed. Once the light power exceeds Brillouin pump threshold power of 12.64 dBm, the stimulated Brillouin scattering process will be occurred in the cavity. Up to 11 stable Stokes lines with approximately 0.089 nm frequency interval and the highest peak power of −14.3 dBm are demonstrated at the operating condition of 600 mw 980 nm pump power and 4 mw BP power when the BP wavelength is set at 1602.620 nm. The proposed laser can provide a tuning range of 14 nm (1596–1610 nm) and the output analysis in an hour has been carried out to prove the good stability of the structure. Besides, the changed coupling coefficient effected on the output characteristic of laser has been researched.

Spectrally tunable femtosecond erbium fiber laser based on large-normal-dispersion cavity

We report on a wavelength-tunable large-normal-dispersion erbium-doped mode-locking fiber oscillator. By using a grating as spectral filter, the intra-cavity mode-locking spectrum can be tuned continuously. The laser produces 250[Formula: see text]fs pulses with average power of 130[Formula: see text]mW and a tunable center wavelength range from 1528[Formula: see text]nm to 1570[Formula: see text]nm.

Large anomalous-dispersion mode-locked fiber laser based on a chirped fiber Bragg grating pair

A carbon-nanotube mode-locked erbium fiber laser with large net anomalous dispersion is presented. A chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) pair is incorporated to increase the net-cavity anomalous dispersion and soliton splitting threshold. Self-started mode-locked laser produces stable pulses with repetition rate of 9.26 MHz. Laser spectrum is centered at ~1560 nm with 3 dB bandwidth of 0.43 nm. The typical output pulse energy and duration is 0.21 nJ and 8.05 ps, respectively.

Frequency spacing switchable multiwavelength Brillouin erbium fiber laser utilizing cascaded Brillouin gain fibers.

A new hybrid Brillouin erbium fiber laser scheme that employs cascaded multiple Brillouin gain fibers in a ring cavity to realize multiwavelength laser output with switchable frequency spacing is proposed and experimentally investigated. The multiple frequency downshifting processes introduced by multiple stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effects in one round-trip of the cavity make it possible to realize multiwavelength output with frequency spacing that is an integer multiple of the SBS frequency shifting. With two cascaded SBS fibers, the frequency spacing can be switched between single and double SBS frequency shifting by properly adjusting the Brillouin pump power. Multiwavelength outputs with triple or quadruple SBS frequency spacing are also demonstrated by employing three or four SBS gain fibers, respectively.

Tunable bistability in hybrid Brillouin–erbium single-frequency fiber laser with saturable absorber

We demonstrate optical bistability with flexible tunability based on a single-frequency hybrid Brillouin–erbium fiber laser with a saturable absorber. An unpumped erbium-doped fiber is used as the saturable absorber to play the role of a dynamic ultranarrow self-tracking filter and suppress the multiple-longitudinal-mode operation. By properly adjusting the power of two pumps (980 nm pump and Brillouin pump), the bistable region can be conveniently tuned from 23 mW to ∼1 W. The smallest bistable region (23 mW) appears under a fixed Brillouin pump power (1.104 W). The result shows that the proposed fiber laser performs a single-longitudinal-mode status with excellent stability of the output wavelength and optical power.

Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a silicon-rich nitride waveguide.

We experimentally show octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a nonstoichiometric silicon-rich nitride waveguide when pumped by femtosecond pulses from an erbium fiber laser. The pulse energy and bandwidth are comparable to results achieved in stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguides, but our material platform is simpler to manufacture. We also observe wave-breaking supercontinuum generation by using orthogonal pumping in the same waveguide. Additional analysis reveals that the waveguide height is a powerful tuning parameter for generating mid-infrared dispersive waves while keeping the pump in the telecom band.

Tunable multiwavelength narrow linewidth Brillouin erbium fiber laser based on Rayleigh backscattering

A Rayleigh backscattering (RBS) assisted Brillouin erbium fiber laser scheme with multiwavelength narrow linewidth output is proposed and investigated experimentally. The stimulated Brillouin scattering and RBS take place at two conventional single-mode fibers (SMFs), respectively. RBS is used as a mechanism to compress the linewidth of each Stokes component, and it has been realized and maximized in conventional SMF by optimizing injection power of Stokes light through adjusting variable optical attenuator (VOA). By adjusting VOA attenuation, the laser can obtain three wavelengths output with 3 dB linewidth less than 2 KHz for each wavelength, or six wavelengths output with 3 dB linewidth less than 5 KHz.

Optical Frequency Comb Generation based on Erbium Fiber Lasers

Abstract Optical frequency combs have revolutionized optical frequency metrology and are being actively investigated in a number of applications outside of pure optical frequency metrology. For reasons of cost, robustness, performance, and flexibility, the erbium fiber laser frequency comb has emerged as the most commonly used frequency comb system and many different designs of erbium fiber frequency combs have been demonstrated. We review the different approaches taken in the design of erbium fiber frequency combs, including the major building blocks of the underlying mode-locked laser, amplifier, supercontinuum generation and actuators for stabilization of the frequency comb.

Lasing threshold characteristics of multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium laser in the L-band region assisted by delay interferometer

This paper reports the simulation of L-band multi-wavelength Brillouin–erbium fiber laser that utilizes delay interferometer as a comb filter. The simulation is performed using OptiSystem. The structure exhibits threshold power in terms of Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) gain of 10[Formula: see text]mW at a very low Brillouin pump power of 0.00316[Formula: see text]mW for the generation of first Stokes. Thirty one output channels were produced with minimum EDFA gain of 1[Formula: see text]W at Brillouin pump power of 0.00316[Formula: see text]mW. In line with theory, it has been observed that higher Brillouin pump power requires low threshold gain and vice versa to generate the Brillouin Stokes.

Simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature based on hybrid EDF/Brillouin laser.

Simultaneous temperature and strain sensing is experimentally demonstrated based on erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) and Brillouin erbium fiber laser (BEFL) incorporated in a single ring laser cavity. The EDFL can be switched to BEFL by injecting the Brillouin pump into the laser cavity. Longitudinal modes beat frequency and Brillouin frequency shift are monitored to discriminate strain and temperature. The longitudinal modes beat frequency is measured by observing the self-beating signals of the EDFL, while the Brillouin frequency shift is measured by monitoring the heterodyning signal of the BEFL. The simultaneous measurement errors of strain and temperature are within ± 25.8με and ± 0.8°C. The sensor is of simple structure and compact size.

Self-similar pulse evolution in a fiber laser with a comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber.

We demonstrate an erbium fiber laser with self-similar pulse evolution inside a comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber. We show numerically and experimentally that the comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber works as well as an ideal one, and offers major practical advantages. The existence of a nonlinear attractor is verified by the invariant pulse chirp over a wide range of net cavity dispersion in experiments. The laser generates 1.3 nJ pulses with parabolic shapes and linear chirps, which can be dechirped to 37 fs. Comb-like dispersion-decreasing fiber should enable the generation of high-energy few-cycle pulses directly from a fiber oscillator.