Q-switching of an erbium-doped fiber laser using Bragg gratings

In this work we analyze the behavior of an erbium-doped fiber laser which, through a simple scheme, allows the generation of Q-switched laser output in the 1550 nm spectral region. Excitation of the active medium is performed in the 980 nm pump band with a cw semiconductor laser source. Two fiber Bragg gratings acting as mirrors of the Fabry-Perot laser cavity were used. One of this grating was mounted over a piezoelectric (PZT) element. By applying voltage pulses to the piezoelectric, the laser cavity was sintonized and Q-switched laser pulses of 55 mW peak powers were obtained. Typical laser emission had temporal widths of 3 microsecond(s) and an optical bandwidth of 0.15 mW peak powers were obtained. Typical laser emission had temporal widths of 3 microsecond(s) and an optical bandwidth of 0.15 nm, when the system operated at approximately 20 kHz repetition rates. Different results were observed depending on the pumping level of the active medium and on the amplitude and frequency of the signal applied on the PZT.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.