Medium power single-mode single-wavelength fiber laser

Medium-power, single-mode, single-wavelength fiber laser working at room temperature using a polarization-maintaining erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber as the gain medium, and an un-pumped elliptical core erbium-doped fiber as a saturable absorber to reduce linewidth and mode hopping of the lasing wavelength is reported. The effects of length, erbium ion concentration, and polarization-maintaining property of the saturable absorber were explored. The output power of the laser was more than 100 mW and the lasing line was stable for more than 3 h with an intensity fluctuation of less than 0.2 dB. The laser linewidth (FWHM = Full width at half maximum) was 7.5 MHz and the signal to noise ratio was more than 50 dB. The output of the laser was measured using an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) of resolution 1.25 GHz and a scanning Fabry-Perot spectrum analyzer (SFPSA) of resolution 6.7 MHz. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.