Effects of active fiber length on the tunability of erbium-doped fiber ring lasers

We numerically investigate the effects of the active fiber length on the tunability of erbium-doped fiber ring lasers for the cases of with and without pair-induced quenching (PIQ). The numerical results are confirmed by experiments. We have found that the tuning range shifts from C-band to L-band with an increase in the active fiber length. A maximum tuning range of over 100 nm, covering both the C- and L-band, can be achieved with an optimized active fiber length. It is also found that the PIQ is favorable for L-band lasing though it reduces the output power and degrades the power flatness. Using these findings, a novel method employing active fiber length switching is proposed to extend the tuning range of the laser, which is only limited by the free spectral range (FSR) of the tunable filter. A large tuning range of 102 nm is obtained using a tunable fiber Fabry-Perot filter with an FSR of 75 nm. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.