Open AccessActive Q-switching in an erbium-doped fiber laser using an ultrafast silicon-based variable optical attenuator
Author(s) -
Young Eun Chang,
Junsu Lee,
Young Min Jhon,
Ju Han Lee
Publication year - 2011
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.19.026911
Subject(s) - materials science , optics , optical attenuator , ultrashort pulse , fiber laser , laser , erbium , optoelectronics , attenuator (electronics) , optical fiber , wavelength division multiplexing , attenuation , doping , multi mode optical fiber , wavelength , physics
Presented herein is the use of an ultrafast Si-based variable optical attenuator (VOA) as a Q-switch for rare earth-doped fiber lasers. The ultrafast VOA is based on a forward-biased p-i-n diode integrated with a ridge waveguide, which was originally designed and optimized for WDM channel power equalization in optical communication systems. By incorporating a Si-based VOA with a transient time of ~410 ns into an erbium-doped fiber-based Fabry-Perot cavity it has been shown that stable Q-switched pulses possessing a temporal width of less than ~86 ns can be readily obtained at a repetition rate of up to ~1 MHz. The laser's peak power of ~38 W is shown to be obtainable at 20 kHz with a slope efficiency of ~21%.