Three-wavelength Raman fiber laser with reliable dynamic control.

We present a novel concept for a multiwavelength Raman fiber laser based on a chain of Raman cavities. This Raman laser has efficient power control for all generated wavelengths in a large dynamic range.

Efficient operation of double-clad Yb3+-doped fiber lasers with a novel circular cladding geometry.

A highly efficient double-clad Yb3+-doped fiber laser with a novel cladding geometry is described. A round double-clad fiber with a small D-shaped hole for breaking a circular symmetry in a cladding combines the advantages of ease of manufacture and handling round fibers with efficient absorption of pump light. Fiber lasers with a double-D cladding shape and a D-hole cladding are compared. We report what are to our knowledge the highest slope efficiencies of 73% and 69%, respectively, pumping at 915 nm. Output powers in excess of 13 W are demonstrated.

All-fiber passively Q-switched low-threshold erbium laser.

A novel all-fiber passively Q-switched erbium laser with a Co(2+):ZnSe crystal as a saturable absorber is demonstrated experimentally. A pump power threshold of 20.5 mW, which the authors believe is the lowest to date, has been measured. Giant pulses with energy of 3.6 nJ and peak power of 0.7 mW have been obtained.

Study of nonlinear optical properties of multilayer Langmuir-Blodgett films containing bacteriorhodopsin.

Multilayer oriented Langmuir-Blodgett films of bacteriorhodopsin were prepared and their nonlinear optical properties, including second harmonic generation and photoresponse at a two phase-modulated beams mixing, were investigated. The nonlinear component of refractive index of the films was measured.

Fiber-optic voltage sensor based on a Bi12TiO20 crystal.

A fiber-optic voltage sensor based on the longitudinal Pockels effect in a Bi(12)TiO(20) crystal is described. The use of a special backreflecting prism as a phase-retarding element is shown to improve the sensitivity and temperature stability of the sensor. A comparison between the temperature properties of the glass backreflecting prism and that of a quarter-wave plate is derived. The sensor demonstrates temperature stability of +/-1.5% from -20 degrees C to 60 degrees C and sensitivity of 0.145% per 1 V(rms) at 850 nm without the use of an additional temperature control channel.

Birefringence measurement in double-clad fiber lasers with large cross section.

We report on birefringence measurements in double-clad fibers with large cross section, doped with neodymium and ytterbium. The experimental results for rectangular double-clad fibers are compared with those for single-clad circular neodymium-doped fibers, taking into account existing models of stress- and geometry-induced birefringence. We demonstrated that the ellipticity of an outer silica cladding has no effect on birefringence in large-area double-clad fibers. The stress-induced birefringence is shown to depend on the ratio between the diameter of an internal silica support and the linear dimensions of the rectangular outer cladding. The stress-distribution pattern is derived to prove the experimental results.

Experimental demonstration of a Raman effectbased optical transistor.

We demonstrate optical pulse switching and amplification based on simultaneous Raman and Kerr effects in a fiber-loop mirror. Stimulated Raman scattering is shown to play a dominant role in the transfer function of the loop with highly germania-doped fibers, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Optical switching of a 100-ps signal pulse with an amplification factor of 10 was demonstrated in a 20-mol.% GeO(2)-doped fiber.

Continuous-wave measurement of the fiber nonlinear refractive index.

We propose a technique for measuring the nonlinear refractive index of fiber based on transmission-coefficient measurements in a fiber Sagnac interferometer. In contrast with traditional methods, the proposed method uses a single optical source operating in cw mode and direct intensity measurement, enabling one to avoid the errors caused by fiber dispersion and uncertainty of spectral peak difference measurements that occur with pulse-based methods. The nonlinear refractive index in 20-mol. % GeO(2) fiber was measured to be (3.1 +/- 0.2) x 10(-16) cm(2) W(-1) at 1064 nm.

All-fiber absolute temperature sensor using an unbalanced high-birefringence Sagnac loop.

We demonstrate a highly sensitive temperature sensor based on a stress-induced high-birefringence-fiber Sagnac loop that uses a Nd-doped-fiber amplified spontaneous emission source. Relative temperature sensing is done in the spectral domain by shifts of a resonant wavelength lambda(r) and absolute temperature sensing by changes in separation between resonances Dlambda . The measured relative change of these parameters with temperature in the range 15-110 degrees C, is (1/lambda(r))(deltalambda(r)/deltaT) = -(1/Dlambda)(deltaDlambda/delta T) approximately (1/Dn)(delta Dn/deltaT)(-0.94 +/- 0.02) x 10(-3)/K, with measured fiber birefringence Dn = 8 x 10(-4) . This gives a wavelength-shift sensitivity of -1.00 nm/K at 1.065 microm and a resonance separation sensitivity of 0.006 nm/K for Dlambda = 6.8 nm . This telemetric point sensor has a loop length of 80 m, an operational bandwidth of more than 50 nm, and a temperature accuracy of better than 1 degrees C.

Nonlinear-optical modulator for high-power fiber lasers.

We propose a novel nonlinear-optical fiber modulator for high-power (>1-W) single-mode fiber lasers. The device is based on transferring the amplitude modulation from a low-power signal at the Stokes frequency onto a high-power beam through stimulated Raman scattering. The efficiency and limitations of the Raman modulator when highly Ge-doped fiber is used is considered. An insertion loss of less than 0.4 dB and an extinction ratio of 20 dB are predicted for modulation of a 10-W single-mode Nd-doped fiber laser.