1. Frequency-modulated, tunable, semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based fiber ring laser for linewidth and line shape control
- Author
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Simon Lambert Girard, Gregory W. Schinn, Michel Piché, and Hongxin Chen
- Subjects
Optics and Photonics ,Materials science ,Light ,Normal Distribution ,Physics::Optics ,law.invention ,Laser linewidth ,Optics ,law ,Fiber laser ,Wavelength-division multiplexing ,Waveform ,Physics::Atomic Physics ,Optical amplifier ,Models, Statistical ,Amplifiers, Electronic ,business.industry ,Lasers ,Equipment Design ,Laser ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Semiconductors ,Optoelectronics ,Lasers, Semiconductor ,business ,Phase modulation ,Frequency modulation - Abstract
We report how the linewidth and line shape of a tunable semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based fiber ring laser can be actively adjusted by applying an intracavity frequency modulation to the laser. Frequency-modulated laser operation is achieved by driving the phase modulator frequency close to the cavity axial-mode spacing, leading to a constant-amplitude laser output having a periodically varying instantaneous frequency. The resulting linewidth varies proportionally with the inverse of the frequency detuning, and it is adjustable from submegahertz to over more than 5 GHz. By appropriate selection of the modulating waveform we have synthesized a near-Gaussian output line shape; other line shapes can be produced by modifying the modulating waveform. Experimental observations are in good agreement with a simple model.
- Published
- 2008
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