Tunable Fabry-Perot filter using hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber and micro-fiber for a narrow-linewidth laser

A novel tunable fiber Fabry-Perot (FP) filter is proposed and demonstrated by using a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBF) and a micro-fiber. The interference cavity is a hollow core of HC-PBF. One of the reflection mirrors is the splicing point between a section of HC-PBF and a single mode fiber. The other reflection mirror is a gold-coated end of micro-fiber that uses chemical etching process to obtain the similar diameter as the core of HC-PBF. Hence the movable mirror can be adjusted with long distance inside the hollow core of HC-PBF. Tunable FP filter is used as a mode selecting component in the reflection mode to implement stable single longitudinal mode (SLM) operation in a ring laser. With FP cavity length of 0.25 +/- 0.14 mm, the wavelength of SLM laser can be tuned over 1554-1562 nm with a tuning step of 0.2-0.3 nm, a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 32-36 dB and a linewidth of 3.0-5.1 kHz. With FP cavity length of 2.37 +/- 0.37 mm, the SLM laser can be tuned over 1557.3-1560.2 nm with a tuning step of 0.06-0.1 nm, a SMSR of 44-51 dB and a linewidth of 1.8-3.0 kHz. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America