High-energy passively Q-switched 2 µm Tm(3+)-doped double-clad fiber laser using graphene-oxide-deposited fiber taper.

We have demonstrated a high-energy Q-switched double-clad thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) using a graphene-oxide-deposited tapered fiber (GODTF) device as a saturable absorber operating at a wavelength of 2 µm for the first time. Because of the side-interaction of the graphene-oxide with the evanescent field on the taper waist, the GODTF devices have potential for offering high laser damage threshold. Using a 788 nm laser diode as the pump source, the TDFL generated stable single transverse mode Q-switched pulses with a single pulse energy of 6.71 µJ (corresponding to an average power of 302 mW) at a wavelength of 2032 nm. This is significantly higher than the highest pulse energy/average power from any rare-earth-doped fiber lasers employing a graphene or graphene-oxide based Q-switch so far. The demonstrated TDFL in this paper represents an encouraging step towards the practical applications of graphene or graphene-oxide based Q-switched 2 µm TDFLs.

Numerical modeling of mid-infrared fiber optical parametric oscillator based on the degenerated FWM of tellurite photonic crystal fiber.

Mid-infrared fiber optical parametric oscillators (MIR FOPOs) based on the degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) of tellurite photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are proposed and modeled for the first time. Using the DFWM coupled-wave equations, numerical simulations are performed to analyze the effects of tellurite PCFs, single-resonant cavity, and pump source on the MIR FOPO performances. The numerical results show that: (1) although a longer tellurite PCF can decrease the pump threshold of MIR FOPOs to a few watts only, the high conversion-efficiency of MIR idler usually requires a short-length optimum PCF with low loss; (2) compared with the single-pass DFWM configurations of the MIR fiber sources published previously, the stable oscillation of signal light in single-resonant cavity can significantly promote the MIR idler output efficiency. With a suggested tellurite PCF as parametric gain medium, the theoretical prediction indicates that such a MIR FOPO could obtain a wide MIR-tunable range and a high conversion efficiency of more than 10%.

Switchable and tunable multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser using graphene-polymer nanocomposite and asymmetric two-stage fiber Sagnac loop filter.

A high-performance multiple-channel erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, using graphene-polymer nanocomposite as a multiwavelength equalizer and an asymmetric two-stage polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) Sagnac loop as a flexible comb filter. At first, the filtering characteristics of the PMF Sagnac loop filter (SLF) are investigated. Both theoretical and experimental results show that it can provide a flexibly switchable and tunable comblike filtering. Then, the two-stage PMF SLF is inserted into a graphene-assisted EDFL cavity for generating multiwavelength oscillation. The extreme-high third-order optical nonlinearity of graphene is exploited to suppress the mode competition of the EDFL, and a stable multiple-channel lasing is observed. By carefully adjusting the polarization controllers in the two-stage PMF SLF, not only can the lasing-line number per channel be switchable between single and multiple wavelengths, but also the wavelength spacing in the triple-wavelength condition can be tunable. In the case of triple wavelengths per channel, up to 12 wavelengths with four channels stable oscillations can be achieved. The multiple-channel EDFL can keep a high extinction ratio of >40 dB and a narrow linewidth of <0.01 nm.

Graphene-based passively Q-switched dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser.

We demonstrate a compact Q-switched dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser based on graphene as a saturable absorber (SA). By optically driven deposition of graphene on a fiber core, the SA is constructed and inserted into a diode-pumped EDF laser cavity. Also benefiting from the strong third-order optical nonlinearity of graphene to suppress the mode competition of EDF, a stable dual-wavelength Q-switching operation has been achieved using a two-reflection peak fiber Bragg grating as the external cavity mirror. The Q-switched EDF laser has a low pump threshold of 6.5 mW at 974 nm and a wide range of pulse-repetition rate from 3.3 to 65.9 kHz. The pulse duration and the pulse energy have been characterized. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of a graphene-based Q-switched laser.

Fiber-optic parametric amplifier and oscillator based on intracavity parametric pump technique.

A cost-effective fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) based on the laser intracavity pump technique has been proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The parametric process is realized by inserting a 1 km highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber (HNL-DSF) into a fiber ring-laser cavity that consists of a high-power erbium-doped fiber (EDF) amplifier and two highly reflective fiber Bragg gratings. Compared with the conventional parametric pump schemes, the proposed pumping technique is free from a tunable semiconductor laser as the pump source and also the pump phase modulation. When the oscillating power of 530 mW in the EDF laser cavity is achieved to pump the HNL-DSF, a peak parametric gain of 27.5 dB and a net gain over 45 nm are obtained. Moreover, a widely tunable fiber-optic parametric oscillator is further developed using the FOPA as a gain medium.

Stable and spacing-adjustable multiwavelength Raman fiber laser based on mixed-cascaded phosphosilicate fiber Raman linear cavity.

A novel multiwavelength Raman fiber laser based on the mixed-cascaded Stokes effects of phosphosilicate fiber is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. By using stimulated Raman scattering of both P(2)O(5) and SiO(2) along 1 km phosphosilicate fiber pumped with a 1064 nm double-clad fiber laser, the mixed-cascaded Raman linear cavity is formed by a pair of fiber Bragg gratings at 1239 nm, a polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) Sagnac loop filter, and a conventional optical loop mirror. Up to 15-wavelength stable oscillations around 1320 nm are obtained with a wavelength spacing of 0.44 nm and power nonuniformity of less than 4 dB. By changing the length of the PMF in the Sagnac loop filter from 10 to 5.5 m, the wavelength spacing is adjustable from 0.44 to 0.8 nm. The extinction ratio of the laser is more than 30 dB. Excellent stability is also observed with a peak power fluctuation of less than 0.8 dB in 1 h.

Numerical analysis and optimization of optical spectral characteristics of fiber Bragg gratings modulated by a transverse acoustic wave.

Acoustic waves that impinge transversely on a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) induce periodic microbends of the fiber, which modulate the phase index and lead to the changes of optical spectral characteristics of the FBG. We investigated the spectral characteristics of a FBG modulated by a transverse acoustic wave. The corresponding theoretical model is presented by modifying the multimode coupled equations. A fast algorithm based on the Newton-Raphson method is proposed to simulate numerically the spectral characteristics of such a FBG. Our numerical results are in excellent agreement with the known experimental results. For the first time, to our knowledge, the known experimental results have been reproduced by numerical simulations. Moreover, the optimization of the reflective spectra of such a FBG is also discussed. From the perspective of inherent physical mechanisms, the exceptional spectral characteristics of such a FBG are discussed as well.

Explicit solution for Raman fiber laser using Lambert W function.

In this paper, an approximate explicit solution for the first-order Raman fiber laser is obtained by using Lambert W function. Good agreement between the explicit solution and numerical simulation is demonstrated. Furthermore, the optimal design of Raman fiber laser is discussed using the proposed solution. The optimal values of fiber length, reflectivity of output fiber Bragg grating and power transfer efficiency are obtained under different pump power. There exists a certain tolerance of the optimal parameters, in which the output power decreases only slightly. The optimal fiber length and reflectivity of output FBG decrease with increasing pump power.

Stable and wideband L-band erbium superfluorescent fiber source using improved bi-directional pumping configuration.

We have proposed and demonstrated a wideband and wavelength stable L-band erbium-doped superfluorescent fiber source (SFS) using an improved double-pass bi-directional (DP-BD) pumping configuration with a segment of un-pumped fiber. The effects of the fiber length and pump power arrangements on the output characteristics of the L-band SFS are examined. Simulations and experiments show that the output characteristics of the L-band SFS are significantly improved by using an un-pumped fiber in the DP-BD pumping configuration. This designed configuration allows a wavelength stable L-band SFS operation with a broadening bandwidth of 52.6nm, an enhanced pumping efficiency of 47.5%, and a mean wavelength of 1580.42nm.