A tunable erbium-doped fiber ring laser using an intra-cavity Fabry-Perot filter as
the tuning element is investigated. Tuning is achieved by varying the applied voltage
which controls the FP cavity length. The laser's wavelength is monitored using an optical
spectrum analyzer to determine the laser's spectral characteristics under static conditions
at different wavelengths over its tuning range of approximately 50nm. When the laser is
tuned rapidly, the frequency versus time characteristic is determined using a fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer with a photodetector to convert the optical signal to an electrical
signal. The core of the research is to determine the degree of spectral broadening of the
laser as a function of the spectral tuning rate. The fringe contrast of fiber Fabry-Perot
interferometer transmittance curves decreases with increase in the tuning frequency. The
gain at a certain wavelength becomes a function of time putting an upper limit on the
tuning frequency of the system. The carrier lifetime of erbium ions dictates the maximum
achievable tuning speed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1779 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Malik, Bilal Hameed |
| Contributors | Su, Chin B., Taylor, Henry F. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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