Utilizing self-injection Rayleigh backscattering feedback for channel-selected erbium laser with single-longitudinal-mode output

Abstract

To achieve the target of single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) operation in erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser, a self-injected Rayleigh backscattering (RBS) feedback schematic is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Based on the proposed RBS effect, the multi-longitudinal-mode (MLM) noises of the RBS EDF laser can be suppressed fully. Here, the output powers of -7.5 to -5.1 dBm are detected over the tuning bandwidth of 1523.0 to 1563.0 nm. Moreover, the optical signal to noise ratios (OSNRs) of 30.9 and 33.1 dB is also attained. In this study, the SLM oscillation and output instability of the EDF laser are also analyzed and discussed.