A broadly tunable erbium-doped fiber ring laser: experimentation and modeling

Broad-band tunability of erbium-doped silica fiber ring lasers in the 1.48- 1.62-mum wavelength band is demonstrated through modeling and experiment, T unability over the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) C- and L-bands is ac hieved with a simple laser design using a single gain medium working in dee p saturation, A comprehensive numerical model based on an iterative solutio n of propagation rate equations and spectrally resolved Giles parameters wa s used to analyze the impact of various laser variables. The dependence of laser output power on total cavity loss, erbium-doped fiber length, pump po wer, and lasing wavelength has been investigated. The calculated laser char acteristics have been found in good quantitative agreement with the experim entally obtained data, Experimental results concerning wavelength tunabilit y, output power, and lasing wavelength repeatability/stability and spectral purity are also presented in this paper.