Spacing-Switchable Multiwavelength Fiber Laser Based on Nonlinear Polarization Rotation and Brillouin Scattering in Photonic Crystal Fiber

• Main Authors: Shahabuddin, Nurul Shahrizan, Ahmad, Harith, Yusoff, Zulfadzli, Harun, Sulaiman Wadi
• Format: Article
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2012
• Subjects: QC Physics; TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/19891/; https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2011.2178400

A new spacing-switchable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using switchable nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effects. The laser employs a 100-m-long photonic crystal fiber in conjunction with a four-port circulator in a figure-of-eight arrangement to provide the intensity-dependent transmission effect, as well as to discriminate the even-order and odd-order Brillouin Stokes to have a double-frequency Brillouin Stokes output. Without the Brillouin pump (BP), the laser operates in an NPR mode to produce at least 22 lasing wavelengths with a side mode suppression ratio of more than 10 dB and a wavelength spacing of 0.27 nm. In the Brillouin erbium fiber laser mode, at least 30 Brillouin lines with a spacing of 0.16 nm are obtained at BP power of 3 dBm and 980-nm pump power of 120 mW.