Tunable Multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium Fiber Laser Research Articles

A tunable multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium linear cavity fiber laser with higher optical signal to noise ratio

We experimentally demonstrated a widely tunable multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser by utilizing a double-pass pre-amplification Brillouin pump (BP) within a single-linear laser cavity. Owing to this pre-amplification technique, the laser can operate at low pump power and exhibit a low threshold operation of 35 mW pump power to create the first Stokes signal. By adjusting the polarization controller (PC), self-lasing cavity modes’ oscillation can be tuned over 10 nm from 1562 nm to 1572 nm. We experimentally showed that the proposed novel fiber laser structure can achieve up to ~33 output channels with a constant wavelength spacing of 0.088 nm at 7.4 dBm of BP power and 250 mW of the 980 nm pump power by varying the wavelength of the BP and adjusting the PC. In addition, an average of 32 stable output channels could all be tuned over 12 nm with an average optical signal to noise ratio of 25 dB.

Widely tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser with triple Brillouin-shift wavelength spacing

Abstract In this paper, we demonstrate a widely tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (MBEFL) having a wavelength spacing of 0.25 nm (triple Brillouin-shift wavelength spacing). The proposed laser structure overcomes the need for Brillouin pump wavelength to be closed to the self-lasing cavity modes region. The laser exhibits a wide tuning range of 40 nm (from 1530 nm to 1570 nm) at Brillouin pump and 980 nm pump powers of 25 mW and 350 mW, respectively. Four stable output channels are produced within this wavelength range with all the channels having a peak output power greater than 1.58 mW. The laser has the potential to be used as a multiwavelength laser source for dense wavelength division multiplexing communication.

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.

Broadly tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser using a twin-core fiber coupler

A tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (MW-BEFL) using a twin-core fiber (TCF) coupler is proposed and demonstrated. The TCF coupler is formed by splicing a section of TCF between two single-mode fibers. By simply applying bending curvature on the TCF coupler, the peak net gain is shifted close to the Brillouin pump (BP), which has advantage for suppressing self-lasing cavity modes with low-BP-power injection. In this work, the dependency of the Stokes signals tuning range on the free spectral range (FSR) of TCF coupler is studied. It is also found that the tuning range of MW-BEFL can exceed the FSR of TCF coupler by adopting proper BP power and 980-nm pump power. Up to 40 nm tuning range of MW-BEFL in the absence of self-lasing cavity modes is achieved.

150-Channel Four Wave Mixing Based Multiwavelength Brillouin-Erbium Doped Fiber Laser

A wide band tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL) is developed. In this structure, the laser is formed between a double pass amplification box and a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF), which acts as a virtual mirror, results in removing the reflective physical mirror from one side of the laser structure. A large number of Stokes and anti-Stokes lines are generated through cascading stimulated Brillouin scattering and inducing four wave mixing process inside the HNLF. Due to optimizing Brillouin and erbium doped fiber (EDF) pump powers, the Rayleigh back scattering is efficiently suppressed, and the generated BEFL wavelengths are free from self lasing cavity modes over a wide tuning range. At EDF pump power and Brillouin pump power of 100 mW and 3 dBm, respectively, up to 150 Stokes lines with wavelength spacing of 0.076 nm, and a tuning range of 40 nm were achieved.

Generation of efficient 20 GHz optical combs in a Brillouin-erbium fiber laser

A tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser is experimentally demonstrated with a double-Brillouin-frequency spacing. This double-frequency shifter is constructed by incorporating a four-port circulator to isolate and circulate the odd-Stokes signals through the 10 km long non-zero dispersion shifted fiber, which acts as a Brillouin gain medium. The output even-order Stokes signals are amplified in the erbium gain block formed in a ring cavity. Up to 15 lasing lines with a wavelength spacing of 0.173 nm have been achieved at a 980 nm pump power of 50 mW and a Brillouin pump of 3 dB m. The multiwavelength laser source exhibits a 10 nm tuning range from 1552 to 1562 nm with the optical signal-to-noise ratio of the desired output channels at around 34.5 dB.

Widely tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser by eliminating self-lasing cavity modes

A linear multiwavelength Brillouin/erbium fiber laser (MWBEFL) with 40 nm tuning range is presented.The characteristic of opposite transmission of Brillouin Stokes (BS) signals in stimulated Brillouin scattering is used as reflector in one end of the fiber laser. The influence of the self-lasing modes existing in conventional MWBEFLs is eliminated, because there is no physical mirror at one end of the linear cavity. The threshold power is reduced, and the generation of BS signals is enhanced owing to the double-pass preamplification for the Brillouin pump by the erbium-doped fiber amplifier before entering the single-mode fiber. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:612–614, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26604

Tunable multiwavelength Brillouin–Erbium fiber laser by controlling self-lasing cavity modes’ oscillation

A novel and simple tunable multiwavelength Brillouin–Erbium fiber laser (BEFL) by controlling self-lasing cavity modes’ oscillation is demonstrated. With a variable optical attenuator (VOA) effectively optimizing the shape of the gain spectrum of the BEFL, the self-lasing cavity modes’ oscillation can be tuned in a large wavelength range, which can be used to enlarge the tunable multiwavelength range of the BEFL. A passive Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) gain section inserted in the BEFL cavity can help to further enlarge the tunable multiwavelength range of the BEFL and effectively suppress the cavity modes’ competition. With an EDF pump power of 50 mW and a Brillouin pump power of 1.2 mW, a tunable cavity modes’ oscillation range of 19.4 nm and a tunable multiwavelength range of 23 nm are obtained.

Optimization of Brillouin pump wavelength location on tunable multiwavelength BEFL

Optimization of Brillouin pump (BP) wavelength location on tunable multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL) with BP pre-amplified technique is experimentally investigated. The tunable multiwavelength BEFL is achieved by utilization a tunable band-pass filter in a laser cavity. The optimum BP power and BP wavelength location within the filter bandwidth is determined in order to obtain the maximum stable output channels. Optimum distance of launching the BP wavelength is found at 0.80 nm shorter from the center wavelength of the filter bandwidth. 15 stable output channels are achieved from the tunable fiber laser system within the optimum range of BP power which is found to be between 5.2 to 5.7 dBm.