Title :
Tunable and Switchable Multiwavelength Passively Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Based on SESAM and Inline Birefringence Comb Filter
Author :
Luo, Zhi-Chao ; Luo, Ai-Ping ; Xu, Wen-Cheng
Author_Institution :
Key Lab. of Photonic Inf. Technol., South China Normal Univ., Guangzhou, China
Abstract :
A tunable and switchable multiwavelength passively mode-locked fiber laser by using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and an inline birefringence fiber filter is proposed and demonstrated. By properly rotating the polarization controllers (PCs), up to 7-wavelength mode-locked pulses in 3-dB bandwidth with 3.65-nm channel spacing are obtained. The wavelength switchable operation is determined by the characteristics of the comb filter used in the experiment. Taking advantage of an intensity-dependent loss mechanism caused by the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) effect, the mode competition is efficiently suppressed. In addition, the lasing locations of multiwavelength mode-locked pulses can be flexibly tuned via the wavelength-dependent loss mechanism.
Keywords :
birefringence; channel spacing; comb filters; fibre lasers; laser mirrors; laser mode locking; laser tuning; optical saturable absorption; SESAM; channel spacing; inline birefringence comb filter; inline birefringence fiber filter; mode-locked pulses; nonlinear polarization rotation; passively mode-locked fiber laser; polarization controllers; semiconductor saturable absorber mirror; switchable multiwavelength; tunable multiwavelength; Bandwidth; Cavity resonators; Laser mode locking; Laser tuning; Optical fiber polarization; Optical switches; Multiwavelength fiber lasers; comb filter; passively mode-locked; saturable absorber;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Journal, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOT.2010.2102012
