Tunable dual wavelength fiber laser incorporating AWG and optical channel selector by controlling the cavity loss

Abstract: In this paper, we propose and demonstrated a dual wavelength fiber laser (DWFL) based on the use of an erbium doped fiber (EDF) gain medium as well as an 1×24 Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) together with two optical channel selectors (OCS) to provide channel spacing tunability. The output power of the two wavelengths is equalized by controlling the cavity loss in the DWFL using two Programmable Optical Attenuators (POAs). The widest spacing obtained from the DWFL is 18.13nm while the narrowest spacing is 0.8nm. The DWFL has good stability with only minor power fluctuations of less than 1.5dB and a Side Mode Suppression Ratio (SMSR) of approximately 69.1dB with peak fluctuations of less than 2.3dB. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]