Open AccessBrillouin induced self-heterodyne technique for narrow line width measurement
Author(s) -
Pascual Sevillano,
Jesús Subı́as,
Carlos Heras,
J. Pelayo,
F. Villuendas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.015201
Subject(s) - optics , laser linewidth , brillouin scattering , heterodyne (poetry) , heterodyne detection , jitter , laser , materials science , physics , direct conversion receiver , homodyne detection , telecommunications , computer science , acoustics
A novel technique is introduced for jitter-insensitive sub-KHz resolution linewidth characterization technique in ultra-narrow lasers for optical communication applications. The technique is based on self-heterodyne detection induced by Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS). Non linear SBS drives the heterodyne mixing through optical frequency locking of a narrow tunable laser source and the signal under test, which is modulated in the low frequency range. Due to SBS nature, jitter variations in the optical frequency do not affect the correlation spectra measured with resolution figures up to 300 Hz, without the need for optical delay line as in conventional homodyne correlation techniques.