Utilizing C-band erbium fiber and saturable absorber for broadband and continuous wavelength tunability laser with single-mode oscillation

Abstract

In the paper, we report and exhibit a C-band erbium-doped fiber (EDF) based gain medium laser together with a 5 m unpumped EDF saturable absorber (SA) to attain broadly wavelength-selectable range and single-longitudinal-mode operation. Here, the whole tunability range of 1521.0 to 1601.0 nm (C plus L bands) can be accomplished by the designed EDF laser scheme. The output power and optical signal-to-noise ratio of the EDF laser are detected between -10.9 and 2.3 dBm and 33.1 and 45.1 dB/0.06 nm, respectively. In addition, the achievable SLM operation range runs from 1521.0 to 1581.0 nm due to the absorption limit of the EDF SA. The detected output stability and Lorentzian linewidth are also experimentally considered and significantly discussed.