A bidirectional ring fiber laser with a 90° Faraday rotator as the nonreciprocal phase element. II. Experiment

The results of experimental investigation of an Er-doped fiber bidirectional ring laser with a 90° Faraday rotator in the cavity are presented. Two theoretically predicted regimes of the bidirectional generation of modes propagating in opposite directions with either complex-conjugate or orthoconjugate polarization states have been realized in practice. In each of these regimes, stable bidirectional generation of only one longitudinal mode propagating in each direction is possible. The former regime ensures significant stabilization of a nonreciprocal frequency shift between the modes propagating in opposite directions, this shift being determined by the Faraday phase rotator.