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A straightforward and versatile method for switching from single to different multiwavelength laser emission in ring cavity fiber lasers is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The method is based on using the changeable interference pattern from an optical fiber modal Michelson interferometer as a wavelength selective filter into the ring cavity laser. The interferometer is constructed using a bi-conical tapered fiber and a single-mode fiber segment, with these being spliced together to form an optical fiber tip probe. When the length of the single-mode fiber piece is modified, the phase difference between the interfering modes of the interferometer causes a change in the interferometer free spectral range. As a consequence, the laser intra-cavity losses lead to gain competition, which allows us to adjust the number of simultaneously generated laser lines. A multiwavelength reconfiguration of the laser from one up to a maximum of eight emission lines was obtained, with a maximum SNR of around 47 dBm.

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The characteristics of self-pulsing in a large mode area, end-pumped, double-clad Yb-doped fiber laser are presented. The laser operates in a self-pulsing regime, either by using one or two perpendicularly cleaved ends as the feedback mirrors, while it transforms in a broadband amplified spontaneous emission source when both ends are angle cleaved. In the pulsed regime, up to 2 µs full width at half maximum pulse widths and repetition rates of the order of hundreds of kHz are generated.

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