Investigation of Direction Instability in Fiber Ring Lasers
Final Report Abstract
The project is about a new phenomenon of unidirectional emission in an optical fiber ring laser. The most unique feature of this unidirectional emission is, that it appears in a completely reciprocal system and that it does not to rely on any directionally constraining component. This is in strong contrast to how fiber ring lasers are operated nowadays. The current standard of fiber-coupled optical isolators to enforce unidirectional operation, well established for typical wavelengths only, limits the exploration of new wavelengths where they have not matured or are not available. The scientifically emerging mid infrared region is considered as a fingerprint region and important for various applications in medicine, life sciences, defence and security. Fiber lasers, already being a billion-dollar industry in the near infrared region, had shown better performance compared to other kinds of lasers in this emerging region due to their compact and flexible configuration. Yet they still contain bulky elements which are inconvenient. An all-fiber format, potentially enabled by the phenomenon investigated in this project, is highly desirable for a most robust and easy operation and has the potential to facilitate the transition of mid infrared fiber lasers from lab demonstrations into widespread applications. Within the scope of this project, the understanding of the phenomenon of nonlinear unidirectional operation in a reciprocal fiber ring laser was deepened and its handling refined. The phenomenon presented itself initially as an instability without predefined final direction and a probability attached to each direction to occur as the final one, but has evolved to a deterministic behavior with a predefined final direction. In addition, the power requirements for this phenomenon to occur could be reduced significantly up to 85%. These and more developments increase its attractiveness for potential future applications.
Publications
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Influencing direction instability using loss management in a reciprocal all-fiber kilometer-long ring laser. OSA Advanced Photonics Congress 2021, JTu1A.38. Optica Publishing Group.
Arshad, Muhammad Assad; Pratiwi, Arni; Hartung, Alexander & Jäger, Matthias
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Influencing Unidirectionality Threshold and Final Direction by Loss Management in a Reciprocal Fiber Ring Laser. 2021 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), 1-1. IEEE.
Arshad, Muhammad Assad; Hartung, Alexander & Jager, Matthias
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Unidirectional lasing using loss management in a reciprocal fiber ring laser. Fiber Lasers XVIII: Technology and Systems, 56. SPIE.
Arshad, Muhammad A.; Pratiwi, Arni; Hartung, Alexander & Jäger, Matthias
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Controlling Directionality and Threshold Powers in a Fully Reciprocal but Unidirectional Fiber Ring Laser.. Optica Advanced Photonics Congress 2022, SoTh2I.1. Optica Publishing Group.
Arshad, Muhammad Assad; Hartung, Alexander & Jäger, Matthias
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Controlling Directionality and Threshold Powers in Fiber Ring Laser by Tailoring Feedback in the Ring. Optica Advanced Photonics Congress 2022, JTu6A.20. Optica Publishing Group.
Arshad, Muhammad Assad; Hartung, Alexander & Jäger, Matthias
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Stabilization of the unidirectionality phenomenon observed in a fully reciprocal fiber ring laser by retarding the seeding of Raman stokes. EPJ Web of Conferences, 267, 02035.
Assad, Arshad Muhammad; Hartung, Alexander & Jäger, Matthias
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From instable directional switching to controlled unidirectional operation in a nonlinear fiber ring laser. Scientific Reports, 14(1).
Hartung, Alexander; Arshad, Muhammad Assad & Jäger, Matthias
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Induction and control of directionality in reciprocal fiber ring laser by simple fiber end face reflections, in Photonics West / SPIE LASE 2024: p. 12865-11
M.A. Arshad, A. Hartung & M. Jäger
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Investigating nonlinear unidirectional operation in a fiber ring laser, in Photonics Europe 2024: p. 13003-8
M.A. Arshad, A. Hartung & M. Jäger
