Open AccessSelf-healing highly-chirped fiber laser at 10 μm
Author(s) -
Xiaoming Wei,
Chen Kong,
G. K. Samanta,
Kevin K. Tsia,
Kenneth K. Y. Wong
Publication year - 2016
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.24.027577
Subject(s) - optics , materials science , wavelength , laser , fiber laser , diffraction , ultrashort pulse , zero dispersion wavelength , chirp , dispersion shifted fiber , optical fiber , optoelectronics , fiber optic sensor , physics
We demonstrate a MHz wavelength-swept fiber laser with diffraction-free and self-healing properties at the bio-favorable wavelength window of 1.0 μm. This ultrafast wavelength sweeping at a high chirp rate is all-optically realized through a newly-designed dispersive fiber that can provide a dispersion amount up to -1.7 ns/nm. It is 8 times larger than the standard single-mode fiber at this window and by adopting a double-pass configuration, the dispersion amount can be further increased to about -3.5 ns/nm, which is 23 times larger than what has previously been demonstrated. Its beam profile, a 2D Airy function, shows no obvious diffraction within a propagation distance of 2 meters and furthermore, the self-healing property is also verified by blocking the main lobe of the laser beam. This is the first wavelength-swept fiber laser equipped with diffraction-free and self-healing properties at the bio-favorable window. We believe that such effort can enable real-time data processing and a deeper penetration for the high-speed spectroscopic applications in the turbid environment.