Spectrally shaped high-power amplified spontaneous emission sources incorporating long-period gratings

Summary form only given. In this paper, we show novel sources comprising long-period gratings inserted between segments of rare-earth doped fibers yielding high power, broad spectrum, short coherence length, and stable spectral shape over a wide range of operating conditions. Long-period gratings are wavelength-dependent loss elements, which when inserted midway in an ASE source at the gain peak can eliminate the peak and achieve a flat spectrum.