Wavelength agile holmium-doped fibre laser

摘要

For the first time, an electronically-controlled, wavelength-agile tuneable holmium-doped fibre laser is presented. A narrow-band acousto-optic tuneable filter was characterized and used as the wavelength selective element to avoid any inertial effects associated with opto-mechanical tuning mechanisms. We demonstrate operation over a 90 nm wavelength range spanning 2040 - 2130 nm. The laser produced ＞150 mW over this entire range with a signal-to-noise ratio of ＞45 dB and line-width of ～0.16 nm. Switching times of～35 μs and sweep rates of up to 9 nm/ms were also demonstrated.