Single-longitudinal-mode fiber ring laser employing a polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating made by the pre-stress method for wavelength match

Interferometric sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with a time-division multiplexing (TDM) configuration are attractive for many applications. The laser source with the same output wavelength as the FBGs is an important component in the system. In this paper, a single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) fiber ring laser that incorporates a polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PM-FBG) acting as a wavelength selector in the laser cavity is introduced and the lasing occurs at the Bragg wavelength of the PM-FBG. A pre-stress method used to match the wavelength of the high-reflectivity PM-FBG and the low-reflectivity single-mode FBGs in the system is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. SLM operation of the fiber ring laser is demonstrated and then the noise characteristics of the fiber ring laser are tested. The relative intensity noise (RIN) and phase noise are −120dB/Hz and −115dB/Hz at 1 kHz respectively.

► An SLM fiber ring laser that incorporates a PM-FBG in the laser cavity was introduced. ► The PM-FBG acted as a wavelength-selective component in the laser cavity. ► A pre-stress method was theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. ► SLM operation and the good noise characteristics of the fiber ring laser were obtained.