Stable ZirconiaErbium Doped Multiwavelength Fiber Laser
by Precise Control of Polarization States¹

H. Ahmad^a, K. Thambiratnam^a, N. A. Awang^a, M. H. Jemangin^a, and S. W. Harun^b

^a Photonics Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

^b Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

e-mail: harith@um.edu.my

Received December 3, 2011; in final form, December 15, 2011; published online April 3, 2012

Abstract—A compact zirconiumerbium doped fiber (Zr-EDF) based multiwavelength fiber laser (MWFL)
with stable output comb is proposed and demonstrated. The MWFL utilizes a 3 m long Zr-EDF with an erbium
concentration of 3000 ppm and pumped by a 1480 nm laser diode (LD) as the active gain medium. A fiber based
multimode polarization controller (PC) is used to precisely control the polarization states of the oscillating
modes in the MWFL, distributing the total energy of the system among the lasing wavelengths in order to over-
come the mode-suppression and mode-competition that arises from homogenous line broadening. The MWFL
is capable of generating up to four lasing wavelengths with average peak powers of 0.08 dBm in the extended
L-band of 1600 nm. The lasing wavelengths have a 3-dB linewidth of 0.1 and an extinction ratio of 40 dB as
well as highly stable, with minimal fluctuations of less than 0.6 dB observed in the peak powers of the lasing
wavelengths over a period of 1 h. The proposed system allows for the realization of a compact, cost-effective
and stable erbium based MWFL capable of operating at room temperature.

DOI: 10.1134/S1054660X12050015

Pleiades Publishing home page | journal home page | top

If you have any problems with this server, contact webmaster.