Widely tunable erbium-doped fiber laser based on multimode interference effect

Abstract

A widely tunable erbium-doped all-fiber laser has been demonstrated. The tunable mechanism is based on a novel tunable filter using multimode interference effects (MMI). The tunable MMI filter was applied to fabricate a tunable erbium-doped fiber laser via a standard ring cavity. A tuning range of 60 nm was obtained, ranging from 1549 nm to 1609 nm, with a signal to noise ratio of 40 dB. The tunable MMI filter mechanism is very simple and inexpensive, but also quite efficient as a wavelength tunable filter.

A Highly Sensitive Intensity-Modulated Optical Fiber Magnetic Field Sensor Based on the Magnetic Fluid and Multimode Interference

“…The multimode interference (MMI) in the single-mode-multimode-single-mode (SMS) structure is sensitive to external parameters, such as the refractive index, temperature, and axial strain. Various optical fiber devices using the SMS fiber structure have been proposed and demonstrated, such as temperature sensors [1], refractometers [2][3][4], bandpass filters [5,6], wavelength tunable fiber laser [7], and chemical gas detector [8]. For the excellent SMS structure, all the above optical fiber devices have advantages such as the low cost, ease of fabrication, and compatibility with standard optical fiber devices.…”

MMI filters configuration for dual-wavelength generation in a ring cavity erbium-doped fibre laser

“…Moreover, its transmission wavelength peak can be tuned by external parameters such as temperature, strain and liquid refractive index [3,4]. This features make the SMS fibre structure attractive for fibre-optical sensing [5][6][7] and tuneable fibre laser applications [8][9][10]. The performance of the SMS structure as a band-pass filter [8,9] make it a reliable device for wavelength selection and tuning of ring cavity fibre lasers.…”

“…This features make the SMS fibre structure attractive for fibre-optical sensing [5][6][7] and tuneable fibre laser applications [8][9][10]. The performance of the SMS structure as a band-pass filter [8,9] make it a reliable device for wavelength selection and tuning of ring cavity fibre lasers. Furthermore, when the MMI filter is properly designed, the transmission peak wavelength can be easily selected in terms of the multimodal fibre (MMF) refractive index, core diameter and length [2,3].…”

“…Therefore, several techniques to achieve dual-wavelength laser emission where the use of optical filters as a reliable method for cavity losses adjustment have been reported [11][12][13][14][15], among which can be mentioned fibre Bragg gratings (FBG), Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZ) and Sagnac interferometer. Recently, tuneable Erbium-and Ytterbium-doped fibre lasers using MMI filters have been reported [8][9][10]. However, the potential of using MMI filters for dual-wavelength laser generation, has been underexploited.…”

Rare-earth-doped fiber designs for superluminescent sources

“…1 Kilowatt-class single-frequency fiber sources have been a dot in the dramatic development curve of these devices. As for broadband devices and their wide tuning capacity, multimode interference effects, 2 optical fiber fattening, 3 and even laser tuning from 1530 to 1602 nm was reached with an Er 3þ ∕Yb 3þ source. 4 Just recently, all-fiber superluminescent sources have become an option for various sensing and Telecomm applications due to their thermal stability, wide spectrum at their output, and their relatively high power handling capacity even at the prototype stage.…”