ISSN 1054660X, Laser Physics, 2009, Vol. 19, No. 11, pp. 2115–2119.
© Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2009.
Original Russian Text © Astro, Ltd., 2009.
2115
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1. INTRODUCTION
Multiwavelength fiber lasers have attracted con
siderable interest in recent years due to their potential
applications in optical wavelength division multi
plexed (WDM) systems, spectroscopy, twophoton
microscopy, fiber optic gyroscope, fiber sensor system,
optic devices testing and microwave photonic systems
because of their various advantages such as low cost,
high stability and easy compatibility with the fiber sys
tem. The key component of the multiwavelength
fiber laser is the wavelengthselective filter. Various
schemes have been used as the wavelength filters such
as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in fewmode or multi
mode fibers [1], FBG in polarization maintaining
fiber [2], cascaded FBGs [3], sampled FBG [4],
Fabry–Perot filter [5, 6], Mach–Zehnder interferom
eter [7], Sagnac interferometer [8, 9] and twisted mul
timode fiber [10]. In order to obtain stable multi
wavelength lasing at room temperature, the main chal
lenges for the erbiumdoped fiber lasers (EDFLs) are
how to suppress the unstable mode competition
induced by the homogenous broadening characteristic
and crossgain saturation of erbiumdoped fiber
(EDF). Various approaches have been proposed, such
as adding a frequencyshifted feedback technique
within a laser cavity [11], introducing polarization
hole burning (PHB) effect by utilizing polarization
dependence components [1, 2], incorporating a sec
tion of highly nonlinear fiber such as highly nonlinear
photonic crystal fiber and dispersionshifted fiber in
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The article is published in the original.
the laser cavity [3, 12] and introducing saturated spec
tral hole burning (SHB) effect [4].
In this paper, a roomtemperature switchable
multiwavelength fiber ring laser is demonstrated with
a novel compact infiber Mach–Zehnder interferom
eter as the wavelengthselective filter in the laser cav
ity. The filter is formed by splicing a piece of fewmode
photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and two segments of sin
gle mode fiber (SMF), and collapsing the airholes of
the PCF in the vicinity of the splices. This filter has the
advantages of simplify and flexibility. The laser can be
switched in stable single, dual and triplewavelength
lasing oscillations by adjusting the polarization con
troller (PC).
2. MACH–ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER
BASED ON PCF
PCF has been widely studied owing to its unique
properties such as single mode operation over a wide
wavelength range, a very large mode area, flexible dis
persion and so on [13]. Owing to its flexible properties,
it offers a possibility to develop novel sensors or inter
ferometers and new applications. Recently, PCF
interferometers based on a pair of longperiod fiber
gratings (LPGs) or the tapering region have been pro
posed [14, 15]. Experimental results demonstrated
that PCF interferometers were suitable for sensing
applications such as external index and strain moni
toring [16, 17]. Due to their wavelengthdependent
characteristics, PCF interferometers also can be the
wavelengthselective filter. Here we construct a novel
compact inferometer with a piece of few mode PCF
FIBER
OPTICS
Switchable MultiWavelength Fiber Ring Laser
Based on a Compact InFiber Mach–Zehnder Interferometer
with Photonic Crystal Fiber
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W. G. Chen*, S. Q. Lou, S. C. Feng, L. W. Wang, H. L. Li, T. Y. Guo, and S. S. Jian
Institute of Lightwave Technology, Key Lab of All Optical Network & Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC,
Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044 China
*email: cwgdhr@gmail.com
Received June 1, 2009; in final form, June 3, 2009; published online September 23, 2009
Abstract
—Switchable multiwavelength fiber ring laser with an infiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer
incorporated into the ring cavity serving as wavelengthselective filter at room temperature is demonstrated.
The filter is formed by splicing a section of fewmode photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and two segments of single
mode fiber (SMF) with the airholes on the both sides of PCF intentionally collapsed in the vicinity of the
splices. By adjusting the states of the polarization controller (PC) appropriately, the laser can be switched
among the stable single, dual and triplewavelength lasing operations by exploiting polarization hole burn
ing (PHB) effect.
PACS numbers: 42.55.Wd, 42.81.Bm, 42.81.Gs
DOI:
10.1134/S1054660X09210026