Tunable Comb Filter Research Articles

Wavelength-tunable soliton molecule in spatiotemporal mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser

Spatiotemporal mode-locking (STML) fiber lasers could realize the synchronized locked of multiple transverse and longitudinal modes, which could be regarded as an ideal platform to investigate high-dimensional nonlinear dynamics. The observation of STML in the soliton molecule state could offer a unique opportunity to reveal the mechanism of molecular complexity. Due to the distinctive spatiotemporal characteristics, realizing the wavelength tunable of soliton molecule in STML fiber laser is still challenging. In this letter, we report wavelength-tunable soliton molecules in an STML Yb-doped fiber laser. By rotating the wave plates at a fixed pump power, both single dissipative soliton (SDS) and various soliton molecules, including loose bounded dissipative soliton pairs (BDSPs), tight BDSPs, soliton molecules of triplet pulses or soliton molecules of quadruplets pulses, have all realized wavelength tunable with a tuning range of ∼25 nm. The realization of the wavelength tunable and the formation of the soliton molecule can all be attributed to the tunable comb filter and saturable absorber induced by the nonlinear polarization rotation technique. The formation of SDS and BDSPs was further confirmed by the numerical simulations. And the numerical results contribute to further comprehending the nonlinear dynamics of the STML fiber laser.

RFI Mitigation in Time Domain Wideband Autocorrelation Radiometry (WiBAR) Using a Comb Filter

This letter presents a new hardware setup to suppress radio frequency interference (RFI) for a recently developed microwave radiometer technique, known as wideband autocorrelation radiometry (WiBAR). WiBAR is a method that can directly measure the thickness of a low-loss layer like lake ice or dry snow on the ground by finding the lag time that corresponds to the transit time of layer in the autocorrelation function (ACF) of the received signal. However, RFI increases the noise floor of the ACF and results in a decreased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the WiBAR delay peak in the ACF. We enhanced a WiBAR instrument with a tunable comb filter having a frequency response with many evenly spaced alternating pass and stop bands. We show the RFI mitigation performance of a WiBAR set-up with a comb filter in the laboratory with a simulation circuit that creates a spectrum polluted with RFI.

Continuously Tunable Comb Filter Based on a High-Birefringence Fiber Loop Mirror With a Polarization Controller

A spectrum tunable method is presented for a high-birefringence fiber loop mirror (HiBi-FLM) comb filter with a polarization controller (PC) in the loop, where not only the wavelength of the comb filter can be continuously tuned with peak transmission remaining at unity, but the peak amplitude can be also continuously tuned without wavelength shift. By using the Jones matrix, we theoretically analyze the comb filter. The analytical expressions of the reflectivity and transmissivity are derived in terms of the orientation angles of three waveplates of the PC. The optimum conditions for wavelength and peak amplitude tunable operations are obtained. Our theoretical results show that when the two quarter-waveplate (QWP) angles are optimally set, the PC could act as a phase shifter or a polarization rotator, which empowers the comb filter to be wavelength continuously tunable or to be peak amplitude variable from 0 to 1 by only rotating the half-waveplate (HWP) of the PC. Moreover, the wavelength shift has a linear relationship with the HWP angle. When the two QWP angles are not optimized, PC has a combined effect of a phase shifter and a polarization rotator, leading to a wavelength shift accompanied by a change of the peak amplitude when tuning the HWP. Our theoretical prediction has been verified by experimental results.

Tunable and Switchable Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using a Multimode-Fiber Based Filter

We demonstrated a compact tunable and switchable single/dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser. The fiber laser can be tuned and switched from single-wavelength to dual-wavelength oscillation by using our recently proposed tunable comb filter. The comb filter consists of a section of multimode fiber (MMF) coiled into a polarization controller and two sections of single mode fibers (SMFs) to form a SMF/MMF/SMF structure, serving as a simple tunable all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Due to the insertion of the MMF-based polarization controller (PC), an additional phase shift is introduced from the difference of the birefringence intensity in different dominant modes, which can be used to tune the fiber laser. In the experiment, by properly adjusting the PC, a tuning range of 9.3 nm can be achieved for the single-wavelength operation. Moreover, dual-wavelength operation with different free-spectral-ranges can be obtained. The tunable and switchable fiber lasers are of great importance for their applications in optical testing, optical fiber sensing, and signal processing.

Optical arbitrary waveform generation based on multi-wavelength semiconductor fiber ring laser

A new scheme of generating optical arbitrary waveforms based on multi-wavelength semiconductor fiber ring laser (SFRL) is proposed. In this novel scheme, a wide and flat optical frequency comb (OFC) is provided directly by multi-wavelength SFRL, whose central frequency and comb spacing are tunable. OFC generation, de-multiplexing, amplitude and phase modulation, and multiplexing are implementing in an intensity and phase tunable comb filter, as induces the merits of high spectral coherence, satisfactory waveform control and low system loss. By using the mode couple theory and the transfer matrix method, the theoretical model of the scheme is established. The impacts of amplitude control, phase control, number of spectral line, and injection current of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) on the waveform similarity are studied using the theoretical model. The results show that, amplitude control and phase control error should be smaller than 1% and 0.64% respectively to achieve high similarity. The similarity of the waveform is improved with the increase of the number of spectral line. When the injection current of SOA is in a certain range, the optical arbitrary waveform reaches a high similarity.

Continuously tunable polarization-independent zeroth-order fiber comb filter based on polarization-diversity loop structure

By selecting some optimal wave retarder combination (WRC) groups, we propose and experimentally implement a continuously tunable polarization-independent zeroth-order fiber comb filter based on a polarization-diversity loop structure. The selected WRC groups contain a set of two quarter-wave retarders (QWRs), a set of a QWR and a half-wave retarder (HWR), and a set of an HWR and a QWR. The filter was formed using a polarization beam splitter (PBS), one of the three selected WRC groups, and high birefringence fiber (HBF). One end of HBF was butt-coupled to the PBS so that its slow axis should be oriented at 45° for the horizontal axis of the PBS, and the other end was connected to the WRC group. Three kinds of comb filters were fabricated with the three selected WRC groups. Through theoretical analysis on light polarization conditions for continuous spectral tuning and filter transmittances, eight special azimuth angle sets of two wave retarders, which gave the transmittance function eight different phase shifts of 0 to –7π/4 with a –π/4 step, were found for each WRC group. Theoretical prediction was verified by experimental demonstration. It was also confirmed that the filter could be continuously tuned by the appropriate control of wave retarders.

Simplified tunable fiber comb filter based on polarization-diversity loop configuration

A simple tunable fiber comb filter composed of two quarter-wave plates and a section of polarization-maintaining fiber is proposed. The states of polarization are investigated through theoretical analysis, and we present the means for continuous wavelength tunability using analytic expression. The optimal angle combination of each birefringent device could be deduced so that an arbitrary wavelength could be a channel center of the comb filter without transmission loss, which is verified experimentally.

Lithium-Niobate Mach-Zehnder Interferometer With Enhanced Index Contrast by SiO<sub>2</sub> Film

An electro-optic tunable lithium-niobate (LN) waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is designed and fabricated with the annealed proton-exchange process. The MZI consists of a straight waveguide arm and a bent waveguide arm with a SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> film deposited on the two sides. The residual stress generated by the SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> film can enhance the index contrast of the bent waveguide arm and thus reduce the bending loss of the MZI. A comparison of several experimental devices fabricated on the same chip size of 50 mm x 7 mm confirms significant reduction of the insertion loss by incorporating the SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> film. For our best sample, which functions as a tunable comb filter with a channel spacing of 0.75 nm in the C-band, the insertion losses of the two output ports are 13.5 and 6 dB, respectively, and the corresponding maximum extinction ratios are ~23 and ~1.5 dB. The device has an electrical wavelength-tuning sensitivity of -.0.2 nm/V and a temperature sensitivity of ~0.1 nm/°C. Our design approach can significantly improve the quality of LN devices that require waveguide bends.

Multifunctional tunable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on tunable comb filter and intensity-dependent loss modulation

A multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on tunable comb spectral filter and intensity-dependent loss modulation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The laser allows fine and multifunctional tunable operations of channel-spacing, peak-location, spectral-range, and wavelength-number. More specifically, channel-spacing switch from 0.4nm to 0.2nm and peak-location adjustment within half of free spectrum range are obtained via controlling the tunable comb filter. The wavelength-number and the spectral-range of the lasing lines can be accurately controlled by intensity-dependent loss modulation in the laser cavity, enabled by a power-symmetric nonlinear optical loop mirror. In addition, fine control over the wavelength-number at fixed spectral-range is realized by simply adjusting the pump power. More important, the tunable operation process for every type of specific parameter is individual, without influences for other output parameters. Such features of this fiber laser make it useful and convenient for the practical application.

Multi-wavelength fiber lasers operated in stretched-pulse mode-locked regimes with a very compact configuration

A novel and compact configuration for the generation of tunable multi-wavelength fiber ring lasers by exploiting the intracavity birefringence filter is demonstrated. The fiber laser is passively mode locked by using a nonlinear polarization rotation technique. A single polarization controller (PC) and a polarization-dependent isolator combined with birefringence act as a tunable comb filter and the mode locker to generate the single-wavelength ultrafast oscillation and multi-wavelength lasing by finely adjusting the PC. Multi-wavelength lasing of up to 50 lines with a wavelength spacing of 0.8 nm within a 3 dB bandwidth has been obtained. The total group velocity dispersion of the ring cavity is designed to the near-zero regime, which indicates a stretched-pulse mode-locked state.

Channel-spacing tunable silicon comb filter using two linearly chirped Bragg gratings.

We propose a novel silicon-based comb filter with tunable channel spacing using a Michelson interferometer consisting of a pair of apodized linearly chirped Bragg gratings (ALC-BGs). The channel spacing of the proposed comb filter can be continuously tuned with a large tuning range by changing the effective refractive index of one of the ALC-BGs through the thermo-optic effect. Our numerical calculation shows that the channel spacing can be continuously tuned form 8.21 nm to 0.19 nm with an out-of-band rejection ratio of greater than 30 dB.

Programmable multi-wavelength filter with Mach–Zehnder interferometer embedded in ethanol filled photonic crystal fiber

We experimentally demonstrated a free spectrum range (FSR) tunable comb filter based on a programmable thermo-controlled Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The device is constructed by sandwiching a length of ethanol-filled photonic crystal fiber between single-mode fibers. A digital thermal printer head is used to facilitate the interference as well as to adjust the phase difference by selectively activating the independent heating elements, thus the FSR can be digitally tuned conveniently. The filter shows a feature of periodic equalized passbands with flat-top steep-edge as well as a high extinction ratio over a very wide range of wavelengths from 1.52 to 1.58 μm.

Tunable comb filters and refractive index sensors based on fiber loop mirror with inline high birefringence microfiber

Highly birefringent (Hi-Bi) microfiber-based fiber loop mirrors (FLMs) were studied for tunable comb filters and refractive index (RI) sensors. The use of two cascaded Hi-Bi microfibers instead of a single microfiber allows more flexibility in controlling the transmission/reflection characteristics of the FLM. The length of Hi-Bi microfibers is of the order of centimeters, one or even more than two orders of magnitude shorter than the conventional Hi-Bi fiber-based FLM devices. The transmission/reflection spectra are sensitive to the RI surrounding the microfibers, and RI sensitivity of 20,745 nm/RIU was experimentally demonstrated.

Photonic generation of pulsed microwave signals with tunable frequency and phase based on spectral-shaping and frequency-to-time mapping

A scheme for photonic generation of pulsed microwave signals with tunable frequency and phase based on optical spectral-shaping and frequency-to-time mapping is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The spectral shaping is realized by a tunable optical comb filter consisting of a differential group delay (DGD) element, a polarization modulator (PolM), and a polarizer. By passing a short optical pulse through the tunable comb filter and a dispersive element (DE), a pulsed microwave signal is generated after optical-to-electrical conversion. The phase of the generated microwave signal can be continuously tuned by tuning the voltage applied to the PolM. The frequency of the microwave signal can be tuned by changing the DGD and/or the dispersion of the DE. An experiment is performed. The generation of a pulsed microwave signal with tunable frequency and phase is demonstrated.

A tunable comb filter using single-mode/multimode/polarization-maintaining-fiber-based Sagnac fiber loop

A novel tunable comb filter composed of a single-mode/multimode/polarization-maintaining-fiber-based Sagnac fiber loop is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The filter tunability is achieved by rotating the polarization controller. The spectral shift is dependent on rotation direction and the position of the polarization controller. In addition, the adjustable range achieved by rotating the half-wave-plate polarization controller is twice higher than that of the quarter-wave-plate one.

A tunable polarization-independent comb filter based on high-order mode fiber

This paper presents an all-fiber tunable comb filter based on high-order mode fiber (HOMF). The filter is constructed by splicing a segment of HOMF between two sections of conventional single-mode fibers (SMFs), with an intentionally introduced offset at the first joint between the SMF and HOMF, and without an offset at the second joint between the HOMF and SMF, to optimize the visibility of the transmission spectrum. The optimal transverse offset of the fibers at the first joint and the tunable polarization-independent properties of the filter were studied theoretically and experimentally. An example of using this tunable comb filter in the application of a sensor, based on demodulating the wavelength shift of a fiber Bragg grating, has also been demonstrated. The particular advantages of this all-fiber tunable filter make it valuable in various applications.

Multiwavelength picosecond and single wavelength femtosecond pulses emission in a passively mode-locked fiber laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror and a contrast ratio tunable comb filter

We propose and demonstrate a highly flexible fiber laser capable of generating stable multiwavelength picosecond and single wavelength femtosecond pulses by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror and a contrast ratio tunable comb filter. In the multiwavelength lasing regime, up to 11-wavelength stable mode-locked pulses in 3 dB bandwidth with a channel spacing of 0.8 nm were obtained. While in the single wavelength with broadband spectrum lasing regime, the fiber laser emitted 576 fs soliton pulse. Through changing the contrast ratio of the comb filter, the conversion between the multiwavelength picosecond and single wavelength femtosecond pulsed operations could be efficiently achieved.

Successive Asymmetric Abrupt Tapers for Tunable Narrowband Fiber Comb Filters

We experimentally demonstrate wavelength tunable narrowband comb filters with the extinction ratio of 31.8 dB by cascading several abrupt fiber tapers in series in a standard single-mode fiber (SMF) and a highly Er/Yb-codoped fiber (EYDF), respectively. The fiber is slightly inclined and immersed in a micro-flame where the bilateral edges of flame can provide a higher heating temperature than the center of the flame to achieve two asymmetric abrupt tapers. Adjacent to the last two abrupt tapers, this procedure is repeated several times to make successive abrupt tapers. The individual abrupt taper in the grouped asymmetric abrupt tapers has different waist diameters from each other. The grouped abrupt tapers are then immersed in optical liquids for tunable narrowband comb filters.

Tunable Multiwavelength Passively Mode-Locked Fiber Ring Laser Using Intracavity Birefringence-Induced Comb Filter

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> A simple configuration for the generation of tunable multiwavelength picosecond-pulse fiber ring lasers by exploiting the intracavity birefringence-induced comb filter is demonstrated. The fiber laser is passively mode locked by using nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique. The polarization-dependent isolator combined with the intracavity birefringence acts as two functions: the tunable comb filter and the mode locker. Up to four-wavelength picosecond pulses were simultaneously obtained in the experiment. The mode competition of the multiwavelength lasing is suppressed by the use of NPR-induced intensity-dependent loss. In addition, the number of the lasing wavelengths, the lasing location, and the spacing between the lasing wavelengths could be flexibly tuned by properly rotating the polarization controllers. </para>

Photonic Generation of 60 GHz Millimeter-Wave by Frequency Quadrupling Based on a Mode-Locking SOA Fiber Ring Laser with a Low Modulation Depth MZM

Generation and processing of millimeter-wave (MMW) signal based on photonic technologies is a new trend. A simple and effective optical technique to generate 60 GHz millimeter-wave signal by frequency quadrupling is proposed and demonstrated. In this approach, the frequency quadrupling efficiency is greatly improved by a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring laser with 2nd-order rational harmonic mode-locking and a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which is biased at odd-order optical modulation side-bands suppressing state. A center-wavelength tunable comb filter outside the ring laser is tuned to select the optical sidebands separated by 60 GHz. The result shows that the power ratio between quadruple-frequency signal and double-frequency signal is improved at least 30 dB with the mode-locking ring laser when the modulation depth is less than 0.4 and the phase noise of the 60 GHz signal generated is better than –75 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset. The key advantage of the technique is that a high-frequency MMW signal can be generated with high efficiency by a low power microwave signal.