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This work demonstrates the use of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), a tunable bandpass filter (TBF), and a tunable delay line interferometer (TDLI) to form a ring laser that produces multi-format, multi-wavelength laser beams. The TDLI serves as the core of the proposed laser generation system. TDLI harnesses the weak Fabry–Pérot (FP) interferences generated by its built-in 50/50 beamsplitter (BS) with unalterable filtering characteristics and the interferences with free spectral range (FSR) adjustable from each of its two outputs with nearly complementary phases to superpose and generate a variable interference standing wave. The interferometric standing wave and weak FP interferences are used to form a spatial-hole burning to promote the excitation of multi-format and multi-wavelength lasers. The proposed system enables dual-wavelength spacing ranging from 0.3 nm to 3.35 nm, with a switchable wavelength position at approximately 1527 nm to 1535 nm, providing flexible tunability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes and experimentally demonstrates a high-performance polarization space parity-time (PT) symmetric fiber ring laser to achieve a low-noise, narrow-linewidth, and highly stable single-longitudinal-mode output. The gain/loss and coupling coefficients are regulated by adjusting a polarization controller (PC) and the pumping current of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) within the ring cavity. The results show that the single longitudinal mode oscillation of the laser can be implemented by PT symmetry breaking. The frequency noise spectral density and the linewidth characteristics of the laser are evaluated by the short-delay self-heterodyne method. The results reveal that excellent low-frequency noise (181 Hz2/Hz at a 10 kHz offset frequency) and narrow fundamental linewidth (68 Hz) can be achieved. Additionally, the laser exhibits outstanding stability with only 0.64 pm wavelength drift over 30 min. By tuning an optical tunable filter (OTF), the wavelength tunable range of the laser can cover the entire C-band. Furthermore, the impacts of different fiber length on the frequency noise spectral density and the filter bandwidth on stability are analyzed, offering guidance for component selection in such laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates the use of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), a tunable bandpass filter (TBF), and a tunable delay line interferometer (TDLI) to form a ring laser that produces multi-format, multi-wavelength laser beams. The TDLI serves as the core of the proposed laser generation system. TDLI harnesses the weak Fabry–Pérot (FP) interferences generated by its built-in 50/50 beamsplitter (BS) with unalterable filtering characteristics and the interferences with free spectral range (FSR) adjustable from each of its two outputs with nearly complementary phases to superpose and generate a variable interference standing wave. The interferometric standing wave and weak FP interferences are used to form a spatial-hole burning to promote the excitation of multi-format and multi-wavelength lasers. The proposed system enables dual-wavelength spacing ranging from 0.3 nm to 3.35 nm, with a switchable wavelength position at approximately 1527 nm to 1535 nm, providing flexible tunability.

This work proposes and experimentally demonstrates a high-performance polarization space parity-time (PT) symmetric fiber ring laser to achieve a low-noise, narrow-linewidth, and highly stable single-longitudinal-mode output. The gain/loss and coupling coefficients are regulated by adjusting a polarization controller (PC) and the pumping current of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) within the ring cavity. The results show that the single longitudinal mode oscillation of the laser can be implemented by PT symmetry breaking. The frequency noise spectral density and the linewidth characteristics of the laser are evaluated by the short-delay self-heterodyne method. The results reveal that excellent low-frequency noise (181 Hz2/Hz at a 10 kHz offset frequency) and narrow fundamental linewidth (68 Hz) can be achieved. Additionally, the laser exhibits outstanding stability with only 0.64 pm wavelength drift over 30 min. By tuning an optical tunable filter (OTF), the wavelength tunable range of the laser can cover the entire C-band. Furthermore, the impacts of different fiber length on the frequency noise spectral density and the filter bandwidth on stability are analyzed, offering guidance for component selection in such laser systems.

Picosecond optical pulses generation in a ring fiber laser with a semiconductor optical amplifier was investigated. Optical spectrum width is minimal at a fundamental resonant repetition frequency of 45 MHz, corresponding to a fiber resonator length of 4.5 m. As the frequency increases, the spectral width increases by an order of magnitude while the pulse duration decreases to 18 ps, and the power increases to 0.5 W. The power of picosecond optical pulses at the output of the semiconductor amplifier is 7 times higher than in the CW mode due to the carrier accumulation effect that occurs with short pump pulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vernier effect created using an incorporated Lyot–Sagnac loop is used to create an ultra-high sensitivity temperature sensor based on a ring laser cavity. Unlike standard double Sagnac loop systems, the proposed sensor is fused into a single Sagnac loop by adjusting the welding angle between two polarization-maintaining fibers (PMFs) to achieve effective temperature sensitivity amplification. The PMFs are separated into two arms of 0.8 m and 1 m in length, with a 45° angle difference between the fast axes. The sensor's performance is examined both theoretically and experimentally. The experimental results reveal that the Vernier amplification effect can be achieved via PMF rotating shaft welding. The temperature sensitivity in the laser cavity can reach 2.391 nm/°C, which is increased by a factor of more than eight times compared with a single Sagnac loop structure (0.298 nm/°C) with a length of 0.8 m without the Vernier effect at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 30 °C. Furthermore, unlike traditional optical fiber sensing that uses a broadband light source (BBS) for detection, which causes issues such as low signal-to-noise ratio and broad bandwidth, the Sagnac loop can be employed as a filter by inserting itself into the fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. When the external parameters change, the laser is offset by the interference general modulation, allowing the external temperature to be monitored. The superior performance of signal-to-noise ratios of up to 50 dB and bandwidths of less than 0.2 nm is achieved. The proposed sensor has a simple structure and high sensitivity and is expected to play a role in biological cell activity monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optical fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity-based sensitive temperature and salinity sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor consists of a Sagnac loop with a waist of 15 µm and a total length of 30 cm made of tapered polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF). Sagnac loop dual parameter sensing was theoretically modeled and presented. The salinity sensitivity of 0.173 nm/‰ was made possible by the efficient interaction between the tapered PMF cladding mode and the external refractive index. In addition, temperature sensitivity of 0.306 nm/°C was achieved through ultrahigh birefringence of PMF. Apart from that, the previous sensing system used a broadband light source (BBS) as the input light, resulting in a wide bandwidth and a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The Sagnac loop integrated into the FRL system can achieve a high SNR of approximately 50 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 0.15 nm while serving as the filter and sensor head. Additionally, the developed sensor has the advantages of simple design, low cost, and easy fabrication. It can also extend sensing distance indefinitely within a given range, which is anticipated to have positive effects on the testing of marine environments in laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on the up-taper fiber structure in a fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. Different from the traditional FRL sensing system, in which additional filters are required, the designed structure simultaneously acts as a filter, sensor and gain medium. Furthermore, thanks to the high thermal–optical coefficient of Yb doped fiber, the temperature sensitivity of 0.261 nm/°C can be achieved in the range of 10–50 °C. In addition, benefiting from the unique characteristics of the laser system itself, the designed structure has a narrower linewidth (−0.2 nm) and a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (−40 dB) than the sensor system based on a broadband light source (BBS). Meanwhile, the refractive index (RI) response and stability of the system are measured. The RI sensitivity is up to 151 nm/RIU, and the wavelength fluctuation range within two hours is less than 0.2 nm. Therefore, the designed structure is expected to play a significant role in human life safety monitoring, aircraft engine temperature monitoring, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) for strain sensing with compound filter of a Sagnac loop and a long period fiber grating (LPFG) is proposed and experimentally proved. • The proposed strain-sensing system combines fiber-laser technology, sensing technology, interference technology, and filtering technology. • The proposed EDFL enables flexible laser outputs of single-wavelength and dual-wavelength through adjusting the compound filter. The wavelength tuning range of the single-wavelength output laser exceeds 10 nm. • The strain is measured through monitoring the output wavelength shift in the EDFL. Owing to the sensitivity of the output wavelength to strain and the sharp spectrum in EDFL, the strain measurement sensitivity reaches 8.33 pm/με with a high resolution of 2.4 με. A dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) strain sensing system composed of compound filter of a long period fiber grating (LPFG) and a Sagnac loop is proposed. Polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) in Sagnac loop acts both an interference filter and a strain sensing probe with high sensitivity, low cost, and low loss. LPFG is used to modulate the transmission wavelength and bandwidth of EDFL through adjusting its bending curvature. Flexible laser output with single wavelength and dual-wavelength tunable wavelength band of 10 nm is achieved in EDFL. The measurement sensitivity of strain reaches 8.33 pm/με, while the 3 dB linewidth is less than 2 nm and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) exceed 36 dB. This sensor has a high resolution (R) of 0.11 nm and a high quality factor (Q) of 38.13. The experimental results suggest that the system is suitable for precise strain measurement and has significant potential in fields like biomedicine, environmental monitoring, health monitoring, and aerospace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical fiber sensors are of splendid strength for electrical field intensity sensor due to characteristics including the immunity to electromagnetic interference, lightweight, high sensitivity, and large bandwidth. In this paper, we proposed an electric field intensity sensor based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based liquid crystal (LC) filled photonic crystal fiber (PCF) embedded in optical fiber ring laser (FRL). The air hole of PCF combines the LC and fiber core together. When LC is introduced into air holes, it can maintain the waveguide based on external parameters. The photonic bandgap effect significantly improved the sensitivity between light and external electrical field intensity. Thanks to the FRL demodulation, a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) spectrum about 35 dB is obtained. Besides, in comparison with traditional LC-PCF structures, the sensitivity of ours is as high as 1.1 nm/Vrms which is about twice than traditional sensors. At the same time, the stability of proposed sensor was verified which fluctuation was 0.15 nm around 2.5 hours. Therefore, our structure is expected to practical applications in remote electric field monitor and such electric modulate electro-optical devices.

We demonstrated a new method for temperature measurement inside a fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. Different from traditional FRL temperature sensing system which need additional filter working as a sensor, a micro-fiber coupler (MFC) was designed as a beam splitter, filter, and temperature sensor. In addition, isopropanol, a liquid with very high photothermal coefficient, is selectively filled in the MFC in order to improve the sensitivity of the system on temperature. In the dynamic range of 20–40 °C, we obtained a good temperature sensitivity of −1.29 nm/°C, with linear fitting up to 0.998. Benefiting from the advantages of laser sensing, the acquired laser has a 3 – dB bandwidth of less than 0.2 nm and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of up to 40 dB. The proposed sensor has a low cost and high sensitivity, which is expected to be used in biomedical health detection, real-time monitoring of ocean temperature, and other application scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vernier effect created using an incorporated Lyot–Sagnac loop is used to create an ultra-high sensitivity temperature sensor based on a ring laser cavity. Unlike standard double Sagnac loop systems, the proposed sensor is fused into a single Sagnac loop by adjusting the welding angle between two polarization-maintaining fibers (PMFs) to achieve effective temperature sensitivity amplification. The PMFs are separated into two arms of 0.8 m and 1 m in length, with a 45° angle difference between the fast axes. The sensor’s performance is examined both theoretically and experimentally. The experimental results reveal that the Vernier amplification effect can be achieved via PMF rotating shaft welding. The temperature sensitivity in the laser cavity can reach 2.391 nm/°C, which is increased by a factor of more than eight times compared with a single Sagnac loop structure (0.298 nm/°C) with a length of 0.8 m without the Vernier effect at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 30 °C. Furthermore, unlike traditional optical fiber sensing that uses a broadband light source (BBS) for detection, which causes issues such as low signal-to-noise ratio and broad bandwidth, the Sagnac loop can be employed as a filter by inserting itself into the fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. When the external parameters change, the laser is offset by the interference general modulation, allowing the external temperature to be monitored. The superior performance of signal-to-noise ratios of up to 50 dB and bandwidths of less than 0.2 nm is achieved. The proposed sensor has a simple structure and high sensitivity and is expected to play a role in biological cell activity monitoring.

An optical fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity-based sensitive temperature and salinity sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor consists of a Sagnac loop with a waist of 15 µm and a total length of 30 cm made of tapered polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF). Sagnac loop dual parameter sensing was theoretically modeled and presented. The salinity sensitivity of 0.173 nm/‰ was made possible by the efficient interaction between the tapered PMF cladding mode and the external refractive index. In addition, temperature sensitivity of 0.306 nm/°C was achieved through ultrahigh birefringence of PMF. Apart from that, the previous sensing system used a broadband light source (BBS) as the input light, resulting in a wide bandwidth and a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The Sagnac loop integrated into the FRL system can achieve a high SNR of approximately 50 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 0.15 nm while serving as the filter and sensor head. Additionally, the developed sensor has the advantages of simple design, low cost, and easy fabrication. It can also extend sensing distance indefinitely within a given range, which is anticipated to have positive effects on the testing of marine environments in laboratories.

A broadband fiber-optic acoustic sensing system is proposed and demonstrated, which is configured by a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and an erbium-doped fiber (EDF) ring laser. As the acoustic waves can shift the FBG reflective spectrum, the wavelength of the laser output shifts accordingly and this shift is subsequently converted into a corresponding phase shift and demodulated by an unbalanced fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The sensitivity of the presented sensing system is also investigated, which is a function of the optical path difference of the MZI and the linewidth of the FBG. Due to the adaptability and high sensitivity of the system, it can detect signals with frequencies from tens of hertz to hundreds of kilohertz, which shows the potential for acoustic emission detection in real applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An intra-cavity photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) gas sensing system based on a 3D printed Y-shaped PAS cell with two longitudinal resonant cavities is designed for two-component detection. • A dedicated wavelength modulator is used to control the fiber bragg grating (FBG) to generate the stress change, and then scan the absorption peaks of the corresponding gases. The second harmonic (2f) PAS signal is used to calculate the gas concentration. • The acetylene (C 2 H 2) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) were detected based on the frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique using two resonant cavities. A microphone is used to simultaneously detect the photoacoustic signals of two resonance cavities. • The trace detection of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 was realized at normal temperature and pressure. The PAS signal intensity was further improved by optimizing the modulation amplitude and incident laser power. • The minimum detection limit (MDL) and the linear fit R-squared value (R2) of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 were 529 ppbv, 0.99971, 282 ppmv and 0.99991, respectively. • It indicates that the two-component gas sensing system in this paper has good linearity and high sensitivity. It provides a valuable trace gas detection device for multi-component gas detection. In this paper, an intra-cavity photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) gas sensing system based on a 3D printed Y-shaped PAS cell with two longitudinal resonant cavities is designed for two-component detection. The sensor embeds the Y-shaped photoacoustic cell in the resonator of fiber ring laser for the intra-cavity gas detection, improving the laser power in the gas detection. The two resonant cavities of the Y-type PAS cell are formed into C-band and the L-band lasers, guaranteeing the laser stable output of C-band and the L-band. Comparing with the conventional dual-wavelength laser, the dual-wavelength laser scheme proposed in the paper eliminates the model competition and possesses much higher laser stability. A dedicated wavelength modulator is used to control the fiber bragger grating (FBG) to generate the stress change, and then scan the absorption peaks of the corresponding gases. The second harmonic (2f) PAS signal is used to calculate the gas concentration. The acetylene (C 2 H 2) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) were detected based on the frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique using two resonant cavities. A microphone is used to simultaneously detect the photoacoustic signals of two resonance cavities. A demodulation frequency with a frequency intervals of 100 Hz ensures there is no cross-interference in demodulation of signals from each resonant cavity. The trace detection of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 was realized at normal temperature and pressure. The PAS signal intensity was further improved by optimizing the modulation amplitude and incident laser power. The minimum detection limits (MDLs) and the linear fit R-squared values (R2) of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 were 529 ppbv, 0.99971, 282 ppmv and 0.99991, respectively. It indicates that the two-component gas sensing system in this paper has good linearity and high sensitivity. It provides a valuable trace gas detection device for multi-component gas detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of gas pressure with low detection limit is of great significance and remain challenging. In this work, a gas pressure sensing system with a low detection limit is proposed based on Fabry-Perot interferometer and intracavity sensing of fiber ring laser. A miniature pressure-sensitive fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer is fabricated with polyimide film by a 3D printed resin shell. Then, it is coupled in a fiber ring laser. The reflection loss of the Fabry-Perot interferometer is modulated at different gas pressures. With the intracavity gas pressure sensing induced, the gas pressure can be measured by the output power of the fiber ring laser. The detection limit of the gas pressure sensing system has been greatly optimized from 0.155 KPa to 0.01 KPa. The temperature cross-sensitivity and measurement stability of the gas pressure sensing system are also analyzed. The proposed sensing method can be applied to similar sensors to optimize measurement detection limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new temperature fiber ring laser (FRL) sensor based on a cascaded Sagnac loops fiber structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The optical FRL sensor consists of cascaded Sagnac loops by inserting two polarization-maintaining optical fibers (PMF) with slightly different lengths. PMF with length of 56 cm and 75 cm are used in Sagnac loops as a filter and sensing unit in laser cavity. The working principle of the sensor is based on the phase shift (θ) caused by birefringence between two principal polarization modes and enhance the sensitivity by constructing a Vernier-scale. In an appropriate temperature range (25 °C - 31 °C), the detection sensitivity of FRL sensor based on a cascaded Sagnac structure is significantly higher than other FRL sensors. Thanks to the laser sensing system, the sensitivity can be modulated by changing the free spectral range (FSR). The experimental results show that the temperature sensitivity of the cascade Sagnac structure sensor is - 4.031 nm / °C, which is five times higher than that of FRL sensor base on the single Sagnac structure.

We report an ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on the up-taper fiber structure in a fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. Different from the traditional FRL sensing system, in which additional filters are required, the designed structure simultaneously acts as a filter, sensor and gain medium. Furthermore, thanks to the high thermal–optical coefficient of Yb doped fiber, the temperature sensitivity of 0.261 nm/°C can be achieved in the range of 10–50 °C. In addition, benefiting from the unique characteristics of the laser system itself, the designed structure has a narrower linewidth (−0.2 nm) and a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (−40 dB) than the sensor system based on a broadband light source (BBS). Meanwhile, the refractive index (RI) response and stability of the system are measured. The RI sensitivity is up to 151 nm/RIU, and the wavelength fluctuation range within two hours is less than 0.2 nm. Therefore, the designed structure is expected to play a significant role in human life safety monitoring, aircraft engine temperature monitoring, etc.

A temperature sensor based on erbium-doped fiber cascaded peanut taper (EDFCPT) structure in fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity is proposed and studied. The cascaded peanut structure was fabricated by erbium-doped fiber. The cladding mode and core mode interference and the strong thermo-optical effect of erbium-doped fiber were used to realize the high sensitivity measurement of temperature. The mode interference and thermal sensitivity effects of EDFCPT in a broadband super-continuous light source and a fiber ring laser cavity were studied and compared experimentally. Besides, Erbium-doped fiber cascaded peanut (EDFCP) structure was designed to compare performance with EDFCPT. The experimental results show that EDFCPT has a higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) (~50dB) and a narrower 3-dB bandwidth (~0.12nm) than the broadband light source. Among them, the temperature sensitivity of EDFCPT is 571pm/°C which is two times higher than the EDFCP (~249nm/°C) structure at range from 5°C-55°C. The proposed temperature sensor has the advantages of high sensitivity, good repeatability, simple fabrication, compact structure, etc. It has a good application prospect in the field of aerospace and life health monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optical fiber temperature sensor based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer and thermo-optic effect of the liquid crystal (LC) in fiber ring laser (FRL) system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The LC is infiltrated into the core of hollow core fiber, and the resonant wavelength is more sensitive to temperature variation due to the interaction between the incident light and the cavity infiltrating liquid crystal with high thermal light coefficient. Meanwhile, the FRL system was further used to make the sensor have good performance in the case of high signal-to-noise ratio (∼35 dB), narrow half-height width (FWHM = 0.15 nm), and high sensitivity in the temperature range from 20 °C to 50 °C, with the maximum sensitivity of 1.318 nm/°C. As far as we know, in the FRL system, the liquid crystal material has a better temperature sensing performance than the previous fiber. Nevertheless, the system has the advantages of good repeatability, low cost, simple production, small volume, high sensitivity. In marine microbial culture and detection, it is necessary to carry out high sensitivity measurement within a small temperature variation range. This reliable and excellent temperature performance has a potential application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated a new method for temperature measurement inside a fiber ring laser (FRL) cavity. Different from traditional FRL temperature sensing system which need additional filter working as a sensor, a micro-fiber coupler (MFC) was designed as a beam splitter, filter, and temperature sensor. In addition, isopropanol, a liquid with very high photothermal coefficient, is selectively filled in the MFC in order to improve the sensitivity of the system on temperature. In the dynamic range of 20–40 °C, we obtained a good temperature sensitivity of −1.29 nm/°C, with linear fitting up to 0.998. Benefiting from the advantages of laser sensing, the acquired laser has a 3 – dB bandwidth of less than 0.2 nm and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of up to 40 dB. The proposed sensor has a low cost and high sensitivity, which is expected to be used in biomedical health detection, real-time monitoring of ocean temperature, and other application scenarios.

A novel temperature sensor based on rare earth fiber peanut (REFP) shape structure in fiber ring laser (FRL) is proposed and demonstrated. A single-mode rare earth doped fiber is used to fabricate a peanut structure to produce Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI). Benefited from the strong thermo-optic effect of rare earth ions in fiber, high sensitivity measurement of temperature is exploited to realize. More importantly, there is no need for additional filters compared to traditional fiber laser sensors. The sensitivity of refractive index (RI) was measured to further verify the sensing performance of MZI. The experimental results show that compared with the external sensing unit, the Er-doped fiber peanut (EDFP) structure has higher thermo optic effect coefficient and superior temperature sensitivity. The temperature and RI sensitivity of the EDFP is 0.158 nm/°C and −19.55 nm/RIU, respectively. The optical fiber MZI sensor based on the EDFP has the advantages of high sensitivity, good repeatability, simple fabrication, and compact structure. It has good application prospects in biomedicine, aerospace, and marine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new temperature fiber ring laser (FRL) sensor based on a cascaded Sagnac loops fiber structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The optical FRL sensor consists of cascaded Sagnac loops by inserting two polarization-maintaining optical fibers (PMF) with slightly different lengths. PMF with length of 56 cm and 75 cm are used in Sagnac loops as a filter and sensing unit in laser cavity. The working principle of the sensor is based on the phase shift (θ) caused by birefringence between two principal polarization modes and enhance the sensitivity by constructing a Vernier-scale. In an appropriate temperature range (25 °C - 31 °C), the detection sensitivity of FRL sensor based on a cascaded Sagnac structure is significantly higher than other FRL sensors. Thanks to the laser sensing system, the sensitivity can be modulated by changing the free spectral range (FSR). The experimental results show that the temperature sensitivity of the cascade Sagnac structure sensor is - 4.031 nm / °C, which is five times higher than that of FRL sensor base on the single Sagnac structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a passively high-power Q-switched ring laser based on the active polarization-maintaining double-clad tapered Yb3+-doped fiber (APM-T-DCF) as gain media. It generates 0.24 mJ pulse trains which consist of Q-switched pulses each with the energy of about 48 µJ and up to 385 W of peak power. Q-switched regime was achieved by tuning the optical feedback polarization state and band pass filtering. For the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we demonstrate Q-switched fiber ring laser based on APM-T-DCF.

We propose and demonstrate a simple design of semiconductor fiber ring laser covering a broad tunable range, comprising L and extended L bands. The proposed laser can be continuously tuned over 54 nm from 1578 to 1632 nm with a total output power of around 5.2 dBm and having a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of around 55 dB by incorporating a Fabry Pérot tunable filter. The generated output is highly stable with power and wavelength fluctuations within 0.2 dB and 0.05 nm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-wavelength fiber ring lasers are demonstrated using rare earth-doped, double-peanut fiber interferometers (RD-DPFIs) as the tunable narrow-band filters. With the relatively stronger opto-thermal effect, thermal tunability of the Ytterbium-doped DPFI (YD-DPFI) is effectively enhanced, as compared to the Erbium-doped DPFI (ED-DPFI). The ED-DPFI achieves single-wavelength lasing with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of &approx;50 dB, a 3 dB bandwidth of <0.02 nm, and a wavelength tuning range from 1531.92–1544.28 nm. The YD-DPFI achieves a single-wavelength lasing with a SMSR of &approx;40 dB, a 3 dB bandwidth of <0.04 nm, and a wavelength tuning range from 1036.50–1027.25 nm. In addition, laser output stabilities are also investigated. The proposed lasers have high stability and cost-effectiveness which may be useful for optical communication and sensing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based 1064 nm fiber ring laser with 63.56 dB optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is demonstrated. The stable performance is measured for six hours with lasing peak variation of ≤±0.115 dB and wavelength variation of ≤±0.006 nm. Combining the fiber ring laser with fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), the SOA based fiber ring laser is applied to sense stretch, squeeze, and temperature variation. The results show high linearity, which is suitable for interpolation method prediction and evaluation. A large dynamic range of up to 10 km is also demonstrated for remote sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly sensitive fiber magnetic field sensor with directional identification utilizing multi-longitudinal-mode fiber ring laser (FRL) based on polarization-mode beat frequency (PMBF) is experimentally demonstrated. A bismuth-doped iron garnet (BIG), as a kind of fiber Faraday rotator, is embedded in the FRL and serves as a fiber magnetic field probe, whose birefringence shows strong dependence on the external magnetic field due to magneto-optical Faraday effect, leading to the frequency drift of PMBF. Thus, the external magnetic field can be characterized by monitoring the change in a certain PMBF. Additionally, the drift direction of the tracked PMBF is closely related to the applied magnetic field direction, which is attributed to the non-reciprocity of Faraday magneto-optical rotation. Therefore, it shows the good ability to distinguish the applied forward (positive) and reverse (negative) magnetic field. The experimental results reveal that the tracked PMBF signal near 100 MHz has opposite frequency drift signs in the forward (positive) range of 0–20 mT and reverse (negative) range of 0 - −20 mT, which can be used to identify the axial orientation of the applied magnetic field. Additionally, it shows the maximum magnetic field sensitivities of −100.76 and −105.73 kHz/mT in the positive and negative magnetic field ranges, respectively. The designed device makes full use of the advantages of the fiber laser that rapidly demodulates the magnetic field with the help of high-speed digital processing technology, as well as fast response, high integration and low cost of fiber Faraday rotator, offering potentials in high-sensitivity magnetic field measurement in a confined space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optical fiber temperature sensor based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer and thermo-optic effect of the liquid crystal (LC) in fiber ring laser (FRL) system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The LC is infiltrated into the core of hollow core fiber, and the resonant wavelength is more sensitive to temperature variation due to the interaction between the incident light and the cavity infiltrating liquid crystal with high thermal light coefficient. Meanwhile, the FRL system was further used to make the sensor have good performance in the case of high signal-to-noise ratio (∼35 dB), narrow half-height width (FWHM = 0.15 nm), and high sensitivity in the temperature range from 20 °C to 50 °C, with the maximum sensitivity of 1.318 nm/°C. As far as we know, in the FRL system, the liquid crystal material has a better temperature sensing performance than the previous fiber. Nevertheless, the system has the advantages of good repeatability, low cost, simple production, small volume, high sensitivity. In marine microbial culture and detection, it is necessary to carry out high sensitivity measurement within a small temperature variation range. This reliable and excellent temperature performance has a potential application prospect.

We demonstrate a highly sensitive and practical fiber-based temperature sensor system. The sensor is constructed based on a fiber ring laser (FRL) as well as a side-polished fiber filled with isopropanol. The laser cavity of the sensing part fiber is polished by the wheel fiber polishing system with residual thickness (RT) is selected to detect the temperature in the FRL. Thanks to the high thermo-optic coefficient of isopropanol, the sensitivity of the proposed temperature sensor could be effectively improved by filling isopropanol in the cost-less side polished single mode fiber. Refractive index (RI) of isopropanol changes with the surrounding temperature variation allowing high-sensitivity temperature sensing. Experimental results demonstrate that the side polished fiber can efficiently excite high-order cladding modes which enhance the modular interference increase the interaction between the evanescent wave and the isopropanol. Besides, the results show that the sensitivity can be as high as 2 nm/°C in the temperature range of 25–35 °C.

We demonstrate a new concept for an all-fiber inclinometer based on a tapered fiber Bragg grating (tFBG) in a fiber ring laser (FRL) with the capability of measuring the tilt angle and temperature simultaneously. The sensor performance is analyzed theoretically and investigated experimentally. The dependence of tilt angle on the spectral response in variable temperature conditions was measured. Two inclinometers with different lengths have been fabricated and characterized in FRL. The sensitivity is 0.583 dB/° and 0.849 dB/°, respectively, in the range of 0° to 90°. Thanks to the FRL system, narrow 3-dB bandwidth (

A vibration fiber sensor based on a fiber ring cavity laser and an interferometer based single-mode-multimode-single-mode (SMS) fiber structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The SMS fiber sensor is positioned within the laser cavity, where the ring laser lasing wavelength can be swept to an optimized wavelength using a simple fiber loop design. To obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio, the ring laser lasing wavelength is tuned to the maximum gain region biasing point of the SMS transmission spectrum. A wide range of vibration frequencies from 10 Hz to 400 kHz are experimentally demonstrated. In addition, the proposed highly sensitive vibration sensor system was deployed in a field-test scenario for pipeline acoustic emission monitoring. An SMS fiber sensor is mounted on an 18” diameter pipeline, and vibrations were induced at different locations using a piezoelectric transducer. The proposed method was shown to be capable of real-time pipeline vibration monitoring.

A fiber ring laser sensor setup utilizing fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) for simultaneous measurement of ambient temperature and relative humidity (RH) is presented. Two FBGs are incorporated as tunable filters for a dual-wavelength laser emission, where one FBG was coated with polyimide (PI) in order to achieve sensitivity to RH changes, while the other bare FBG was used for temperature sensing. An increase in RH would induce a strain on the grating, which results in a variation in the resonance wavelength of the PI-coated FBG. This causes a shift in the laser emission wavelength. Being insensitive to RH changes, the bare FBG was employed to measure temperature. The dual-wavelength fiber ring laser sensor created, and thus allows to determine simultaneous measurement of RH and temperature. The RH sensitivities observed by the PI-coated FBG to RH and temperature are 3.6 pm/%RH and 12.15 pm/°C. The temperature sensitivity of the bare FBG was observed to be 9.6 pm/°C. The main advantage of the proposed setup is an optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) higher than 55 db 3 dB bandwidth less than 0.02 nm, which points out efficient capabilities for both precise sensing and remote detection applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-mixing laser velocimeter using a fiber ring laser with ultra-narrow linewidth is proposed and investigated in this paper. Experimentally, a saturable absorber consisting of a segment un-pumped Er3+-doped fiber (EDF) is used to squeeze the spectrum linewidth of fiber ring laser. In addition, we numerically plotted the self-mixing signal of Doppler velocity measuring system with different speeds. The experimental results show that Doppler shift is linearly proportional to the speed of rotating disk, which is in good agreement with theory analysis. Moreover, the measuring range of speed is from 23.5 to 635.8 mm/s and relative error is less than 2.5%, which indicate the fiber laser with ultra-narrow linewidth has a number of potential applications for interferometric fiber sensors and gas sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mode locked pulse generation has been reported using both active and passive mode locking schemes. Active mode locking technique has been proven to be an effective way to generate high-repetition-rate pulses by incorporating a modulator inside the laser cavity. Compared to actively mode locked lasers, passively mode locked lasers can generate pulse train at ultrashort pulse width but with relatively lower repetition rate. Thus, it is a brilliant idea to build a hybrid mode locked system combining both active and passive mode lockers. In this review, several hybrid mode locked fiber ring laser systems are discussed and summarized. Hybrid mode locking is a promising method to generate high-speed ultrashort optical pulses for fiber-optic telecommunication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hydrogen sensor based on erbium-doped fiber ring laser with modal interferometer is proposed. A single mode-multimode-single mode (SMS) modal interferometer structure coated with Pd/WO 3 film is used as the sensing head, due to that it is easy to be fabricated and low cost. The sensing structure is inserted into an erbium-doped fiber ring laser in order to solve the problem of spectral confusion and improve the detection limit of the hydrogen sensor based on the SMS modal interferometer. The SMS sensing structure is acted as a fiber band-pass filter. When hydrogen concentration around the sensor is changed, it will induce the refractive index and strain variations of the Pd/WO 3 film, and then shift the resonant spectrum of the SMS modal interferometer as well as the laser wavelength of the fiber ring laser. Therefore, the hydrogen concentration can be measured by monitoring the wavelength shift of the laser, which has high intensity and narrow full width half maximum. Experimental results demonstrate that the sensor has high sensitivity of 1.23 nm/%, low detection limit of 0.017%, good stability and excellent repeatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anovel and low-cost fiber birefringence measurement scheme is proposed and studied by a polarimetric fiber ring laser interrogated by the beat frequency technique. For the fiber ring laser, modes splitting occur between two orthogonal polarization modes because of intrinsic fiber birefringence. As a result, two types of beat frequency signals (i.e., longitudinal mode beat frequency and polarization mode beat frequency signals) are generated simultaneously. The principle of measurement of fiber birefringence by the fiber ring laser has been analyzed theoretically in detail. Two alternative expressions for fiber birefringence change are obtained, which is very convenient for users to choose different order longitudinal and polarization mode beat frequency signals. The variation of fiber birefringence caused by applied strain has been calculated in terms of beat frequency shift. To validate the proposed sensing system, the strain-induced fiber birefringence change in commercial Erbium-doped fiber is investigated and obtained bymeasuring frequency shift of two types of beat frequency signals. The experimental results show that the fiber birefringence experiences a linear decrease when the applied strain is increased. A strain response coefficient of -1.756 ×10-11ε/μ is obtained. The proposed sensing scheme has obvious advantages of simple structure, low cost, and high sensitivity and it will provide great convenience for measuring fiber birefringence for short-length single mode fiber [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a mode locked fiber ring laser with the implementation of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) to generate pulse train at high speed. This fiber ring laser combines rational harmonic mode locking based on a Lithium Niobate Mach-Zehnder modulator and nonlinear polarization rotation from a highly nonlinear PCF. By fine tuning of the modulation frequency and the polarization controllers in the cavity, a 30 GHz pulse train with pulse width 1.9 ps is generated. Without the PCF, the pulse width at 30 GHz from the rational harmonic mode locking is 5.8 ps. We also conduct numerical simulations of the pulse evolution, which shows good agreements of the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review for optical fiber sensors based on fiber ring laser (FRL) demodulation technology is presented. The review focuses on the principles, main structures, and the sensing performances of different kinds of optical fiber sensors based on FRLs. First of all, the theory background of the sensors has been discussed. Secondly, four different types of sensors are described and compared, which includes Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) typed sensors, Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) typed sensors, Sagnac typed sensors, and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) typed sensors. Typical studies and main properties of each type of sensors are presented. Thirdly, a comparison of different types of sensors are made. Finally, the existing problems and future research directions are pointed out and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In this paper, a two-component gas sensing system in the resonant cavity of the fiber ring laser based on photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) is designed by embedding the PAS cell into the laser resonant cavity. • A ring cavity erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser is built in this system, combined with a longitudinal resonant PAS cell to detect the PAS signal, and a custom-designed wavelength modulator uses the fiber bragg grating (FBG) to paste the piezoelectric transducer (PZT) for scanning and modulating the gas absorption wavelength. • The gas concentration is calculated by the second harmonic (2f) PAS signal. Based on time division multiplexing (TDM) technology, the acetylene (C 2 H 2) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) is detected respectively by the time-sharing operation of C-band and L-band EDFs for different wavelengths output. • The system can improve the laser power and eliminate the mode competition between the two output laser bands. • The two-component gas sensing system also showed superior gas sensing capability for trace gas detection and could achieve a minimum detection limit of 728 ppb and 503 ppm for C 2 H 2 and CO 2 detection, respectively. In this paper, a two-component gas sensing system in the resonant cavity of the fiber ring laser based on photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) is designed by embedding the PAS cell into the laser resonant cavity. A ring cavity erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser is built in this system, combined with a longitudinal resonant PAS cell to detect the PAS signal, and a custom-designed wavelength modulator uses the fiber bragg grating (FBG) to paste the piezoelectric transducer (PZT) for scanning and modulating the gas absorption wavelength. The gas concentration is calculated by the second harmonic (2f) PAS signal. Based on time division multiplexing (TDM) technology, the acetylene (C 2 H 2) and carbon dioxide (CO 2) is detected respectively by the time-sharing operation of C-band and L-band EDFs for different wavelengths output. The time-sharing operation of the two wavelength laser is realized through optical switches, which effectively avoids the laser power loss and the instability of each wavelength caused by the mode competition phenomenon of multiple wavelengths. The detection performance of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 is implemented under normal temperature and pressure. The PAS signal intensity is further improved by optimizing the wavelength modulation amplitude and incident laser power. The linear fit (R2) and minimum detection limit (MDL) of C 2 H 2 and CO 2 are 0.99821, 728 ppbv, 0.9994 and 503 ppmv respectively. It shows that the two-component gas sensing system designed in this paper has a good linear response and high sensitivity, and plays an important role on the multi-component gas detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a method of velocity measurement using of a novel self-mixing velocimeter with orthogonal-beam incident system (OSMV), which enables the velocity measurement without knowing the incident angle information. The fiber ring laser used could provide a stable and narrow-width laser light source, which could enhance the stability and the signal-to-noise ratio of the novel self-mixing fiber ring laser velocimeter. The result indicates a much better linearity of our novel velocimeter than the traditional one in the turntable experiment due to the use of the orthogonal-beam incident system and fiber ring laser source. The relative error rates of our novel velocimeter system are up to 1.258% in contrast with the 13.720% result of the traditional one.