Investigation of a tuneable mode-locked fiber laser for application to multipoint gas spectroscopy

This paper reports on an initial investigation into the operation of a mode-locked fiber laser system for application in gas spectroscopy as a multipoint multigas sensor. Wavelength selection is performed by use of multiple chirped gratings and fine tuning by using the dispersion properties of the chirped gratings. A tuning rate of /spl sim/0.014 nm per kHz change in mode-lock frequency (at the third harmonic) has been demonstrated, which is suitable for scanning across gas absorption lines. Key issues that have an important bearing on the tuning are discussed, including gain flattening and polarization drift. This paper investigates a method of multiplexing the sensor cells with the mode-locked system. Preliminary results for a two cavity system are presented to verify the principles of the technique.