Tunable multiwavelength mode-locked fiber laser using intra-cavity polarization and wavelength dependent loss

We report a tunable multiwavelength mode-locked fiber ring laser in C-band. Multiwavelength characteristic and tuning of laser wavelengths is achieved by inducing polarization and wavelength dependent loss in the cavity by using a combination of two polarization controllers (PCs) and an intensity modulator, inserted between the two PCs. With this technique we obtained pulses of 14 ps (FWHM) at a repetition rate of 10 GHz by actively mode-locking the laser. We obtained simultaneous lasing of 5 wavelengths with 3-dB spectral width of 0.2 nm for each lasing wavelength. We measured short-term stability of the pulses and corresponding spectra by continuously collecting time and spectral domain data for 600 s, sampled at an interval of 20 s. The pulsewidth was measured to be stable to within ±732 fs and peak power fluctuations were within ±0.16 mW. For simultaneous lasing of two wavelengths, the linewidth was found to be stable within ±0.07 nm with a peak power fluctuation of ±1 dB.