Multiwavelength Brillouin Generation in Bismuth-Doped Fiber Laser With Single- and Double-Frequency Spacing

Multiwavelength fiber lasers operating in the 1.3 mu m wavelength region are of great interest as they complement existing systems in the conventional optical communication band of 1.55 mu m. In this work, a multiwavelength Brillouin fiber laser with single- and double-Brillouin frequency spacings operating in 1.3 mu m is proposed and demonstrated using a dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) as the Brillouin gain medium. A bismuth-doped fiber serves as the laser gain medium. At the maximum pump power of 1021 mW and with the Brillouin pump set at 11 dBm, up to 7 Brillouin Stokes lines with a wavelength spacing of 0.074 nm are obtained in the single-spaced configuration. In the case of the double-spaced configuration, 14 Stokes lines are generated with a wavelength spacing of 0.15 nm between the even Stokes lines. By tuning the central wavelength of the Brillouin pump, both laser configurations are wavelength-tunable with a range of 93 nm and 19 nm for the single-spaced and double-spaced Brillouin lasers respectively. This is, to the best of the author's knowledge, the first demonstration of a multiwavelength/Brillouin laser using a bismuth-doped fiber as the laser gain medium.