Switchable dual-wavelength and multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on intensity dependent inhomogeneous loss mechanism

We have proposed and demonstrated an erbium-doped fiber laser based on intensity dependent inhomogeneous loss mechanism. It mainly consists of an erbium-doped fiber (EDF), a polarization-preserving fiber (PMF), polarization controllers (PCs) and polarization dependent isolator (PDI). The laser can be designed to operate in dual-wavelength or wavelength-switching modes, due to the adjustment of the PCs. Stable operation is achieved at room temperature, with the wavelength interval of the dual-wavelength is 0.6nm. At the same time, a highly-nonlinear fiber (HNLF) has been added in this mechanism to realize 15-lasing lines output, whose average peak power is -17dBm, the sidemode suppression ratio (SMSR) is 29dB, the intensity fluctuation is 1dB and tuning range is 4nm.