TEMPERATURE EFFECTS IN A BRILLOUIN FIBER RING LASER

Temperature effects in a Brillouin fiber ring laser have been investig ated. The results show that temperature plays a major role in many dif ferent laser characteristics such as lasing frequency, mode hopping, s pontaneous pulsing, and frequency mode pulling. Thermal coefficients f or the Brillouin frequency shift and for the frequency difference betw een the pump wave and the first-Stokes wave were measured and are cons istent with theoretical predictions based on published basic material parameters. Experimental observation and measurement of the temperatur e dependence of the spontaneous pulsing threshold show that temperatur e is a key parameter that may be important in uncovering the physical mechanism underlying spontaneous pulsing.