An electronically tunable fiber laser with a liquid-crystal etalon filter as the wavelength-tuning element

Wavelength-tunable lasers in the near infrared have a wide range of applications for fiber-based lightwave systems. A description is given of a tunable erbium-doped fiber laser using a liquid-crystal etalon filter (LCF) as the wavelength-selective element. The laser is continuously tunable over a range of 45 nm (1523-1568 nm) with a voltage of 2.1-3.3 V applied to the LCF, and operates single-mode with a very narrow linewidth (<100 kHz). The experiment demonstrates the potential of the laser as compact laser source that can be tuned over a very large wavelength range with an IC-compatible voltage.<
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