Tunable narrowband cascaded random Raman fiber laser

Random Raman fiber lasers (RRFLs) with half-opened cavity have been used as a new platform for designing high performance, wavelength-agile laser sources in the infrared region due to their intrinsic modeless property and structural simplicity. To provide the point feedbacks for cascaded random Raman lasing at different wavelengths, wavelength-insensitive broadband reflectors are commonly used in cascaded RRFLs, resulting in the rather broad high-order random Raman lasing with several nanometers of typical spectral width. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a tunable narrowband cascaded RRFL with an air-spaced etalon assisted point reflector. To realize narrowband, single- or dual-wavelength emission for each order of random lasing, the etalon is specially designed to have broad operation wavelength range, narrowband transmission lines and large free spectral range (FSR) associated with the Raman frequency shift. As a result, 1st- to 3rd-order random Raman lasing with single-wavelength emission in 1.1–1.27 μm region are generated in a 15 km single mode fiber (SMF) with -3 dB bandwidths below 0.4 nm, which are approximately four times less than those of cascaded RRFL without etalon. The maximum output power of the 3rd-order random Raman lasing is 615 mW, with 10% of optical conversion efficiency. Moreover, a tunable cascaded RRFL is performed by tuning the wavelength of pump laser or tilting the etalon. Dual-wavelength emission for each order of random lasing can also be realized at specific pump wavelengths. We also verified, by employing shorter fiber (10 km), more than 1.5 W output power of high-order RRFL can be achieved with -3 dB bandwidths less than 0.6 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of tunable sub-1 nm narrowband cascaded RRFL with single- or dual-wavelength emission for each order of random lasing.