Open AccessExperiment and theoretical explanation of optical bistability in a single erbium-doped fiber ring laser
Author(s) -
Jiafeng Shao,
Shule Li,
Qishun Shen,
Zhijing Wu,
Zhang Cao,
Jianghua Gu
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.15.003673
Subject(s) - optics , materials science , optical bistability , bistability , erbium , amplified spontaneous emission , optical amplifier , optical fiber , fiber laser , ring laser , laser , fiber , optoelectronics , doping , nonlinear optics , physics , composite material
Optical bistability phenomenon in a single fiber ring laser employing erbium-doped fiber (EDF) as gain medium is observed in our experiment. In the EDF amplifiers, the photons of pump light cannot completely transfer into that of signal light because of various attenuation factors. This part of loss (useless pump loss) and active spontaneous emission (ASE) can both lower the small-signal gain of the EDF, and can eventually result in the bistability phenomenon. The range of this bistability has a complicated relationship with the length of the EDF, the erbium-ion doping concentration, the cavity loss and the useless loss coefficient of the pump light.