This paper presents the characteristics of a multiwavelength L-band Brillouin-erbium comb fiber laser with a preamplified Brillouin pump (BP) power technique at low pumping powers. The issue of erbium-doped fiber gain depletion and Brillouin gain saturation are resolved by the proposed structure. For long single-mode fiber length, the Stokes line emission occurs at low pumping powers because of the high strength of spontaneous Brillouin scattering, which provides a strong seed for coherent regenerative amplification of the Stokes line in the laser cavity. The laser structure achieves a low threshold power of 17 mW and is able to produce high number of output channels at low pumping powers. We experimentally show that the fiber laser structure can produce up to 37 channels at 55 and 0.045 mW of 1480 nm pump and BP powers, respectively.
We demonstrate an enhanced multiwavelength L-band Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL), in which the Brillouin pump is pre-amplified before entering the single-mode fiber. The Brillouin pump pre-amplification provided by the Erbium-doped fiber has created higher intensity of Brillouin Stokes line generated in the single-mode fiber that leads to the homogenous gain saturation. Thus the built-up of self-lasing cavity modes is suppressed in a wider wavelength range. In contrary to the conventional linear-cavity BEFL, the number of output channels is enhanced within the same tuning range.
We demonstrate a multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser with double-Brillouin-frequency spacing. The wider channel spacing is realized by circulating the odd-order Stokes signals in the Brillouin gain medium through a four-port circulator. The circulated odd-order Stokes signals are amplified by the Brillouin gain and thus produce even-order Stokes signals at the output. These signals are then amplified by erbium gain block to form a ring-cavity laser. Ten channels with 0.174 nm spacing that are generated at 0.5 mW Brillouin pump power and 150 mW pump power at 1480 nm can be tuned from 1556 nm to 1564 nm. The minimum optical signal-to-noise ratio of the generated output channels is 30 dB with maximum power fluctuations of ±0.5 dB.
We demonstrate the generation of multiple Brillouin Stokes lines generation assisted by Rayleigh scattering in Raman fiber laser. The linear cavity is utilized to take advantage of the Rayleigh scattering effect, and it also produces two strong spectral peaks at 1555 and 1565nm. Under a strong pumping condition, the Rayleigh backscatters contribute to the oscillation efficiency, which increases the Brillouin Stokes lines intensity between these two wavelength ranges. The multiple Stokes lines get stronger by suppressing the buildup of free-running longitudinal modes in the laser structure.
We experimentally demonstrate a simple widely tunable multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fiber laser that can be tuned over the entire C-band, thereby greatly improving the tuning range limitation faced by the previous Brillouin-erbium fiber laser architectures. Tuning range of 39 nm from 1527 nm to 1566 nm, which is only limited by the amplification bandwidth of the erbium gain was successfully achieved. At Brillouin pump wavelength of 1550 nm and 1480 nm laser pump and Brillouin pump powers of 130 mW and 2 mW respectively, all the generated output channels have peak power above 0 dBm, with the first output channel having a peak power of 8.52 dBm. The experimental set up that consists of only 4 optical components, is simple, devoid of the complex structure employed previously to enhance the tunability and feedback mechanism normally associated with multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser sources. The generated output channels are stable, rigidly separated by 10 GHz (0.08 nm).
A new approach to suppressing the four-wave mixing (FWM) crosstalk by using the pairing combinations of differently linear-polarized optical signals was investigated. The simulation was conducted using a four-channel system, and the total data rate was 40 Gb/s. A comparative study on the suppression of FWM for existing and suggested techniques was conducted by varying the input power from 2 dBm to 14 dBm. The robustness of the proposed technique was examined with two types of optical fiber, namely, single-mode fiber (SMF) and dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF). The FWM power drastically reduced to less than -68 and -25 dBm at an input power of 14 dBm, when the polarization technique was conducted for SMF and DSF, respectively. With the conventional method, the FWM powers were, respectively, -56 and -20 dBm. The system performance greatly improved with the proposed polarization approach, where the bit error rates (BERs) at the first channel were 2.57 × 10(-40) and 3.47 × 10(-29) at received powers of -4.90 and -13.84 dBm for SMF and DSF, respectively.
We experimentally investigate the performance of L-band multiwavelength Brillouin-Raman fiber laser (MBRFL) under forward and backward pumped environments utilizing a linear cavity. A short length of 1.18 km dispersion compensating fiber is used as a nonlinear gain medium for both Brillouin and Raman gain. Experimental results indicate that the gain in the copumped laser configuration is higher than the gain in the counterpumped configuration. A stable and constant number of Brillouin Stokes lines up to 23 Stokes, with channel spacing of 0.08 nm and more than 20 dB of optical signal to noise ratio, can be generated as well as tuning over 20 nm in the L-band region from 1570 to 1590 nm. The laser generating the Brillouin Stokes lines exhibits flat amplitude bandwidth and high average output power of 0.8 and 1.6 dBm for the copropagation and counterpropagation pumps, respectively. Moreover, the tuning range bandwidth of the MBRFL can be predicted from the oscillated Brillouin pump gain profile.
An all-optical generation of a millimeter wave carrier from a multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser is presented. Four-channel output with spacing of about 21.5 GHz is generated from the fiber laser by controlling the gain in the cavity. A dual-wavelength signal with spacing correspondent to six orders of Brillouin frequency shift is obtained by suppressing the two channels at the middle. Heterodyning these signals at the high-speed photodetector produces a millimeter wave carrier at 64.17 GHz. Temperature dependence characteristic of Brillouin frequency shift realize the flexibility of generated millimeter wave frequency to be tuned at 6.6 MHz/ °C.
This paper details a theoretical modeling of Brillouin ring fiber laser which incorporates the interaction between multiple Brillouin Stokes signals. The ring cavity was pumped at several Brillouin pump (BP) powers and the output was measured through an optical coupler with various coupling ratios. The first-order Brillouin Stokes signal was saturated with the presence of the second-order Stokes signal in the cavity as a result of energy transfer between them. The outcome of the study found that the optimum point for the first-order Stokes wave performance is at laser power reduction of 10%. Resultantly, at the optimum output coupling ratio of 90%, the BFL was able to produce 19.2 mW output power at BP power and Brillouin threshold power of 60 and 21.3 mW respectively. The findings also exhibited the feasibility of the theoretical models application to ring-type Brillouin fiber laser of various design parameters.
A multiwavelength widely tunable Brillouin optical comb with an enhanced reverse-S-shaped feedback coupling assisted by out-of-cavity optical amplifier is demonstrated. The enhancement is done by locating the amplifier and the Brillouin pump into the reverse-S-shaped fiber section. The oscillating modes in the cavity are directly influenced solely by the Brillouin gain. A wide tuning range of 45 nm is obtained that is only limited by the erbium amplification bandwidth. An average of eleven laser lines that can be tuned to over 45 nm wavelengths is obtained at 40% optimum output coupling ratio.
We implement a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to characterize stimulated Brillouin scattering phenomena in optical fibers. The explicit and strong dependence of the threshold exponential gain on the numerical aperture, the pump laser wavelength and the optical loss coefficient are presented. The proposed PSO model is also evaluated with the localized, nonfluctuating source model and the distributed (non-localized) fluctuating source model. Using our model, for fiber lengths from 1 km to 29 km, the calculated threshold exponential gain of stimulated Brillouin scattering is gradually decreased from 17.4 to 14.6 respectively. The theoretical results of Brillouin threshold power predicted by the proposed PSO model show a good agreement with the experimental results for different fiber lengths from 1 km to 12 km.
An all-optical generation of a microwave carrier at 21 GHz that incorporates a double-Brillouin frequency shifter is presented. The frequency shift of approximately 21 GHz is achieved by generating the second-order Brillouin Stokes signal from the Brillouin pump. This is accomplished through the circulation and isolation of its first-order Stokes signal in the optical fiber. The Brillouin pump signal is heterodyned with its second-order Brillouin Stokes signal at a high-speed photodetector, and the output beating frequency is equal to the offset between these two signals. The generated microwave carrier is measured at 21.3968 GHz, and the carrier phase noise as low as -58.67 dBc/Hz is achieved.
We develop a theoretical model that can be used to predict stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold in optical fibers that arises through the effect of Brillouin pump recycling technique. Obtained simulation results from our model are in close agreement with our experimental results. The developed model utilizes single mode optical fiber of different lengths as the Brillouin gain media. For 5-km long single mode fiber, the calculated threshold power for SBS is about 16 mW for conventional technique. This value is reduced to about 8 mW when the residual Brillouin pump is recycled at the end of the fiber. The decrement of SBS threshold is due to longer interaction lengths between Brillouin pump and Stokes wave.
We demonstrate a simple configuration for generating a double Brillouin frequency shift through the circulation of an odd-order Brillouin Stokes signal. It is operated based on cascaded Brillouin scattering in single-mode optical fibers that behave as the Brillouin gain media. A four-port circulator is incorporated into the setup to circulate the odd-order Brillouin Stokes signal in the fiber. It thus initiates a higher order Brillouin Stokes signal, which is double Brillouin frequency downshifted from the input signal. For the 5 km long fiber, the Brillouin pump power at 23 mW gives a clean output spectrum with 30 dB sideband suppression ratio. The output signal is 0.174 nm or approximately 21.7 GHz downshifted from the input signal.
We have investigated the characteristics of Brillouin-Erbium fiber laser (BEFL) with variation of Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) locations in a ring cavity configuration. Three possible locations of the EDFA in the laser cavity have been studied. The experimental results show that the location of EDFA plays vital role in determining the output power and the tuning range. Besides the Erbium gain, Brillouin gain also contributes to the performance of the BEFL. By placing the EDFA next to the Brillouin gain medium (dispersion compensating fiber), the Brillouin pump signal is amplified thereby generating higher intensities of Brillouin Stokes line. This efficient process suppresses the free running self-lasing cavity modes from oscillating in cavity as a result of higher Stokes laser power and thus provide a wider tuning range. At the injected Brillouin pump power of 1.6 mW and the maximum 1480 nm pump power of 135 mW, the maximum Stokes laser power of 25.1 mW was measured and a tuning range of 50 nm without any self-lasing cavity modes was obtained.
We demonstrate an opto-optical gain-clamped L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier by manipulating the C-band lasing wavelength as the control signal. The L-band gain-clamped value is achieved by tuning the control laser in the C-band wavelength range that propagates in the opposite direction to the L-band signal. Within the wavelength range of 1538 nm and 1560 nm, the L-band gain decreases linearly with the increment of the C-band lasing wavelength. The L-band gain dynamic range decreases with the increment of the cavity loss. By combining two different levels of cavity loss, the gain dynamic range of 10 dB from 11 dB to 21 dB is achieved with an average noise figure of less than 5.9 dB. The whole gain spectrum of the L-band can be used for multiple-channel amplification because the laser is created outside its signal band.
The operation of a single-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser (BEFL) system with a Brillouin pump preamplified technique for different output coupling ratios in a ring cavity is experimentally demonstrated. The characteristics of Brillouin Stokes power and tunability were investigated in this research. The efficiency of the BEFL operation was obtained at an optimum output coupling ratio of 95%. By fixing the Brillouin pump wavelength at 1550 nm while its power was set at 1.6 mW and the 1480 pump power was set to its maximum value of 135 mW, the Brillioun Stokes power was found to be 28.7 mW. The Stokes signal can be tuned within a range of 60 nm from 1520 to 1580 nm without appearances of the self-lasing cavity modes in the laser system.
A widely tunable low stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser is presented. The fiber laser structure utilizes a pre-amplified Brillouin pump (BP) technique with 100 m of PCF and a tunable band-pass filter within a Fabry-Perot cavity. A total of 14 Brillouin Stokes lines can be tuned over 29 nm from 1540 nm to 1569 nm. The wide tunability was only limited by the bandwidth of the tunable band-pass filter. A constant channel spacing of 0.079 nm and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of more than 20 dB for each Brillouin Stokes lines were also observed.
We report experimental results demonstrating the variation of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of laser lines in Brillouin-Raman fiber laser against Raman pump power (RPP) variation. The reduction of OSNR is attributed to the spectral broadening of laser lines depending on the RPP. The spectral broadening is owing to the effect of the interaction between laser lines and turbulent waves (nonlinear interaction between longitudinal cavity modes). In our experiment, the worst OSNR is obtained at 650 mW RPP as a result of maximum spectral broadening when the Brillouin pump wavelength is fixed at 1555 nm. On the other hand, the OSNR improvement is obtained for RPP beyond 650 mW due to the effect of red-shift, the Raman peak gain is shifted away from the laser lines generated around 1555 nm thus reduces the spectral broadening effect.
We demonstrate an enhanced architecture of Brillouin-Erbium fiber laser utilizing the reverse-S-shaped fiber section as the coupling mechanism. The enhancement is made by locating a common section of Erbium-doped fiber next to the single-mode fiber to amplify the Brillouin pumps and the oscillating Stokes lines. The requirement of having two Erbium gain sections to enhance the multiple Brillouin Stokes lines generation is neglected by the proposed fiber laser structure. The mode competitions arise from the self-lasing cavity modes of the fiber laser are efficiently suppressed by the stronger pre-amplified Brillouin pump power before entering the single mode fiber section. The maximum output power of 20 mW is obtained from the proposed fiber laser with 10 laser lines that equally separated by 0.089 nm spacing.