Optical spectral bistability in a semiconductor fiber ring laser through gain saturation in an SOA

Lei Xu, Bing C. Wang, Varghese Baby, Ivan Glesk, Paul R. Prucnal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this letter, we demonstrate the operation of optical bistability in a widely tunable semiconductor fiber ring laser, using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The laser can be operated in two bistable states: the spectrum of the first state has one main lasing peak with very narrow linewidth, and the second state has simultaneous oscillation of two main peaks at different wavelengths. The two bistable states can be switched to each other using either electrical or optical methods. We further explain the bistable operation using the theory of two-mode competition through gain saturation in SOA.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)149-151
Number of pages3
JournalIEEE Photonics Technology Letters
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Optical bistability
  • Optical logic devices
  • Ring lasers
  • Semiconductor optical amplifiers
  • Wavelength-division multiplexing

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