Fourier Domain Mode-locked Fiber Laser Research Articles

Dynamic fiber Bragg grating strain sensor interrogation with real-time measurement

We demonstrate a 1550 nm band resonance Fourier-domain mode-locked (FDML) fiber laser with fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array. Using the FDML fiber laser, we successfully demonstrate real-time monitoring of dynamic FBG strain sensor interrogation for structural health monitoring. The resonance FDML fiber laser consists of six multiplexed FBGs, which are arranged in series with delay fiber lengths. It is operated by driving the fiber Fabry-Perot tunable filter (FFP-TF) with a sinusoidal waveform at a frequency corresponding to the round-trip time of the laser cavity. Each FBG forms a laser cavity independently in the FDML fiber laser because the light travels different length for each FBG. The very closely positioned two FBGs in a pair are operated simultaneously with a frequency in the FDML fiber laser. The spatial positions of the sensing pair can be distinguished from the variation of the applied frequency to the FFP-TF. One of the FBGs in the pair is used as a reference signal and the other one is fixed on the piezoelectric transducer stack to apply the dynamic strain. We successfully achieve real-time measurement of the abrupt change of the frequencies applied to the FBG without any signal processing delay. The real-time monitoring system is displayed simultaneously on the monitor for the variation of the two peaks, the modulation interval of the two peaks, and their fast Fourier transform spectrum. The frequency resolution of the dynamic variation could reach up to 0.5 Hz for 2 s integration time. It depends on the integration time to measure the dynamic variation. We believe that the real-time monitoring system will have a potential application for structural health monitoring.

A Fourier domain mode-locked fiber laser based on dual-pump fiber optical parametric amplification and its application for a sensing system

A Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) fiber laser based on dual-pump fiber optical parametric amplification (FOPA) is proposed and demonstrated. The output spectrum of the proposed FDML fiber laser covers a sweeping wavelength range from 1540.8 to 1559.8 nm with a sweeping frequency of 31.688 kHz. A comparison of two FDML fiber lasers which are based on dual-pump FOPA and one-pump FOPA is also presented. A novel sensing system based on the FDML laser and a fiber Bragg grating, by which the sensing signal can be measured in the time domain instead of the frequency domain, is also demonstrated.

Long distance fiber Bragg grating strain sensor interrogation using a high speed Raman-based Fourier domain mode-locked fiber laser with recycled residual Raman pump

We propose a novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor interrogation using a Raman-based Fourier-domain mode locking (FDML) fiber laser for a high speed and long distance measurement. A residual Raman pump after the generation of the Raman-based FDML fiber laser is recycled for secondary signal amplification in a 2-m erbium-doped fiber (EDF) to further enhance the output power. The chromatic dispersion is precisely controlled to suppress the phase noise in the FDML laser cavity, resulting in the improvement of an R-number of 1.43 mm/dB. After recycling residual pump, we achieve the 40-km round trip transmission of the sensing probe signal with a high scan rate of 30.8 kHz. With 205-mW residual pump power, the bandwidth and the maximum gain are measured to be more than 50 nm, 10.3 dB at 1550 nm, respectively. The sensitivity of the proposed Raman-based FDML fiber laser to strain is also measured, which are 0.81 pm/μstrain in the spectral domain and 0.19 ns/μstrain in the time domain, respectively.

Theoretical study on instantaneous linewidth of Fourier-domain mode-locked fiber lasers

We have numerically simulated the operation of the Fourier-domain mode-locked (FDML) fiber laser based on the wavelength reconstruction method instead of numerical solving the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We studied the influences of the filter bandwidth and the relative time delay caused by the fiber chromatic dispersion on the instantaneous linewidth of the FDML fiber laser. The results show that the instantaneous linewidth broadens as the filter bandwidth and the relative time delay increase. When the filter has the bandwidth of 0.02nm, the narrowest and broadest instantaneous linewidths are 0.024 and 0.042nm, respectively. We give an understanding for the oscillation of the instantaneous linewidth of FDML. The presented result can be used to evaluate the performance achievable in the FDML fiber lasers.