An Easily Switchable Dual-Wavelength Passively Mode-Locked Erbium Fiber Laser
HUANG Hui-Chang1, YANG Tong1, YUAN Xiao-Zhi1, YANG Zhong-Min1,2**
1State Key Laboratory Luminescent Materials and Devices, and Institute of Optical Communication Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 2Special Glass Fiber and Device Engineering Technology Research and Development Center of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510640
Abstract：A simple scheme of switchable dual-wavelength passively mode-locked fiber laser is demonstrated. The laser can be flexibly switched among different mode-locked states simply by tuning the cavity loss while keeping all the other cavity parameters fixed. As the cavity loss increases, the mode-locked fiber laser operates at the long-wavelength, dual-wavelength, and short-wavelength states, successively. In addition, these states can be conveniently switched without losing the mode-locked operation and the switching process is reversible as the cavity loss decreases. The mechanism is qualitatively explained by the balance between the fiber gain and the cavity loss.
2014, Vol. 31 
