Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based multi-channel tunable fiber laser and control method for same

Abstract

The invention discloses a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based multi-channel tunable fiber laser and a control method for the same. The awkward scheme that a plurality of independent lasers are simply combined in a common multi-channel fiber laser structure is abandoned, and an integrated optical module is ingeniously shared by a plurality of fiber optical modules, so that the aim of simultaneously and independently tuning a plurality of paths of laser output by utilizing an MEMS processor is fulfilled, and the development of the multi-channel tunable fiber laser towards integration, miniaturization, high accuracy and multifunction are facilitated. A plurality of wavelength channels of laser can be simultaneously output, and the wavelength of the laser in each channel is continuously tunable within the waveband of an optical fiber amplifier, and the connection and disconnection of each channel are independently controlled; and the output wavelength and output power of each channel can be simultaneously and independently tuned locally or remotely through software. The whole experiment has low requirements on the environment, and is easy to operate and productize.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to lasers, in particular to a multi-channel tunable fiber laser based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) MEMS and a control method thereof. Background technique [0002] With the vigorous development of laser technology in the fields of communication, sensing, biomedicine, instrument testing, and automatic control, people's demand for tunable lasers is growing rapidly. This type of laser can not only replace multiple fixed-wavelength lasers to save costs, but also plays an irreplaceable role in many new laser systems. For example, in an optical communication dense wavelength division multiplexing system, the use of multi-channel multi-wavelength tunable lasers will greatly reduce the operating cost and backup cost of the system. In addition, such tunable lasers can also realize functions such as all-optical wavelength conversion, wavelength routing, optical packet switching, and wavelength-base...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0006] (1) The use of fiber Bragg gratings requires thermal effects or external stress to achieve wavelength tuning, so the laser is susceptible to interference from environmental factors, resulting in high packaging costs and limited wavelength tuning range;

[0007] (2) In the process of realizing single-wavelength tuning of the fiber-type Fabry-Perot cavity, the free spectral range of the Fabry-Perot F-P cavity needs to be set as the tunable range of the laser, otherwise it is easy to cause multiple longitudinal modes to oscillate. This requires another frequency-selective element to select the single longitudinal mode. However, the F-P cavity length of the former must be made very short, resulting in poor optical filtering effect and affecting the performance of the laser. The latter requires an additional frequency-selective element , increasing device cost;

[0008] (3) The optical fiber acousto-optic tunable optical filter will produce a small frequency shift in the process of acousto-optic conversion, and the sensitivity of acousto-optic conversion to polarization is also difficult to overcome;

[0010] (5) Electric liquid crystal modulators are also commonly used tuning components, and their shortcomings are reflected in polarization correlation and other aspects

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