Single-mode Er-doped fiber random laser with distributed Bragg grating feedback

Abstract

We report the implementation of a one-dimensional random laser based on an Er/Ge co-doped single-mode fiber with randomly spaced Bragg gratings. The random grating array forms a complex cavity with high quality factor resonances in the range of gain wavelengths centered around 1535.5 nm. The reflection spectra of the grating array and the emission spectra of the laser are investigated for different numbers of gratings. The experimental results are compared qualitatively with numerical simulations of the light propagation in one-dimensional Bragg grating arrays based on a transfer matrix method. The system is pumped at 980 nm and the experimentally observed output radiation presents a typical laser threshold behavior as a function of the pump power. We find that the laser output contains several competing spectral modes.

Powerful narrow linewidth random fiber laser

“…Random lasing was demonstrated in the photonic crystal fiber with the hollow core filled with a suspension of TiO 2 nanoparticles [7], polymer optical fibers [8], and rare-earth doped fiber with randomly spaced gratings [9].…”

Random spaced index modulation for a narrow linewidth tunable fiber laser with low intensity noise

“…The fiber geometry provides transverse confinement of light waves and effectively one-dimensional random feedback either by intrinsic inhomogeneity, e.g., Rayleigh scattering [6-9], or induced randomness such as a photonic crystal fiber filled with a suspension structure [10], Bragg gratings in rare-earthdoped fiber [11,12], and polymer optical fiber [13]. There are two kinds of random fiber lasers based on Er-doped fiber as gain, Brillouin gain or Raman gain.…”

Lévy Statistics and Glassy Behavior of Light in Random Fiber Lasers

“…Shortly after the report of ref. [43], Lizárraga and co-authors [44] and Gagné and Kashyap [45] demonstrated the operation of a continuous-wave (cw) pumped erbium-based RFL (Er-RFL) with random FBGs providing the scattering mechanism. We anticipate that this special type of RFL will be exploited as the photonic platform for all the work described here, and will be detailed later.…”

“…A polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber from CorActive (peak absorption 28 dB/m at 1530 nm, NA 0.25, mode field diameter 5.7 μm) was employed, in which the randomly distributed phase errors grating was written, instead of a random array of gratings as in [44]. It was realized in [45] that during the movement of the translation stage, the friction between the fiber and the mount introduced irregularities in the grating spectrum that could be controlled by managing the air flow from the vacuum.…”