Search

A new vibration-based mechanism of optical frequency/wavelength sweeping in fiber lasers induced by optical path length modulation of a laser cavity section is proposed. The mechanism is implemented for an erbium-doped fiber ring laser with a saturable absorber. Without the vibrations, the laser generates a single longitudinal mode (SLM) radiation. We show experimentally for the first time that mechanical vibrations of the laser cavity section can lead to mode dynamics in both frequency and time domains. The possibility of obtaining various mode dynamics, such as vibration-induced sweeping in a wavelength range of up to 2.2 nm or SLM generation with periodic mode hopping between two fixed longitudinal modes depending on the pump wavelength, is experimentally shown. In this vibration-based approach, the interval between changes in the laser cavity modes has good stability, because it directly relates to the vibration period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new vibration-based mechanism of optical frequency/wavelength sweeping in fiber lasers induced by optical path length modulation of a laser cavity section is proposed. The mechanism is implemented for an erbium-doped fiber ring laser with a saturable absorber. Without the vibrations, the laser generates a single longitudinal mode (SLM) radiation. We show experimentally for the first time that mechanical vibrations of the laser cavity section can lead to mode dynamics in both frequency and time domains. The possibility of obtaining various mode dynamics, such as vibration-induced sweeping in a wavelength range of up to 2.2 nm or SLM generation with periodic mode hopping between two fixed longitudinal modes depending on the pump wavelength, is experimentally shown. In this vibration-based approach, the interval between changes in the laser cavity modes has good stability, because it directly relates to the vibration period.

We present an interferometric form measurement system that is capable of measuring the form of optical surfaces from flats to moderately curved freeforms. A Fizeau interferometer is scanned over the specimen measuring its topography and the distance to the surface in subaperture measurements. The angle between the interferometer and the specimen is adjusted for each position and additionally relevant stage angle errors are measured with two tiltmeters. An optical surface with a spherical form (50 mm diameter, 10 m radius of curvature) is measured, and an uncertainty budget yields an uncertainty of 69 nm (k = 2) for its topography. The determined radius of curvature agrees well with the nominal specifications and a measurement with a coordinate measurement machine. Furthermore, a form measurement of a car's side window is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the beating of coherently copropagating modes in a few-mode optical fiber using two complementary techniques, which involve respectively stretching the sample under examination and sweeping the wavelength for different polarizations of the incoming light. We show that analyzing the spectral composition of the intensity fluctuations allows for a direct measurement of the difference between the mode propagation constants and between their group delays, and we observe the lifting of the mode degeneracy, most possibly induced by residual anisotropies and birefringence. The outlined methodology can be used for the modal characterization of few-mode fibers employed in sensing and in spatially-multiplexed communications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]