Fully Switchable Multi-Wavelength Fiber Lasers Based on Random Distributed Feedback for Sensors Interrogation

Author

Bravo, Mikel ; de Miguel Soto, Veronica ; Ortigosa Cayetano, Amaia ; Lopez-Amo Sainz, Manuel

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Public Univ. of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Volume

33

Issue

12

fYear

2015

fDate

June15, 15 2015

Firstpage

2598

Lastpage

2604

Abstract

In this paper, the experimental study and characterization of a novel real-time switchable multi-wavelength fiber laser has been carried out. Two different gain materials, such as a 50-km SMF and a 2.5-km DCF fibers were characterized and compared, respectively. The MWFL can generate any wavelength combination with an emission lines distance of 50, 100, and 200 GHz fitting the ITU grid specifications. By using both Er-doped fiber and Raman amplification, a ~30-nm-wide lasing window at the C band can be utilized to create up to 30 different lasing wavelengths into the ITU Grid, that can be switched automatically and in realtime when desired. Utilization of such a laser for versatile interrogation of different sensing networks is also shown.

Keywords

Raman lasers; distributed feedback lasers; erbium; fibre optic sensors; optical fibre amplifiers; optical fibre testing; optical materials; optical switches; optical windows; random processes; DCF fibers; ITU grid specifications; SMF fibers; distance 2.5 km; distance 50 km; erbium-doped Raman amplification; erbium-doped fiber amplification; frequency 100 GHz; frequency 200 GHz; frequency 50 GHz; gain materials; lasing window; random distributed feedback; real-time switchable multiwavelength fiber laser; sensor interrogation; Erbium-doped fiber lasers; Mirrors; Optical fiber amplifiers; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical fiber sensors; Stimulated emission; Random distributed feed-back; Switchable multi-wavelength fiber laser; random distributed feed-back; switchable multi-wavelength fiber laser;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2015.2397191

Filename

7027777