Broadband sagnac raman amplifiers and cascade lasers

• US 6,370,164 B1
• Filed: 04/17/2000
• Issued: 04/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xtera Communications Incorporated (Xtera Topco Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Xtera Communications Incorporated (Xtera Topco Ltd.)
• Inventors: Islam, Mohammed N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arroyo, Teresa M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MONBLEAU, DAVIENNE N
• Application Number:
  US09/550,730
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: 372/6
• US Class Current: 372/6
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094003 the pumped medium being a fibre
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094061 Shared pump, i.e. pump light of a single pump source is used to pump plural gain media in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094096 Multi-wavelength pumping
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/302 in an optical fibre
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4012 Beam combining, e.g. by the use of fibres, gratings, polarisers, prisms
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4025 Array arrangements, e.g. constituted by discrete laser diodes or laser bar H01S5/42 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/4087 emitting more than one wavelength

Abstract

This invention describes new developments in Sagnac Raman amplifiers and cascade lasers to improve their performance. The Raman amplifier bandwidth is broadened by using a broadband pump or by combining a cladding-pumped fiber laser with the Sagnac Raman cavity. The broader bandwidth is also obtained by eliminating the need for polarization controllers in the Sagnac cavity by using an all polarization maintaining configuration, or at least using loop mirrors that maintain polarization. The polarization maintaining cavities have the added benefit of being environmentally stable and appropriate for turn-key operation. The noise arising from sources such as double Rayleigh scattering is reduced by using the Sagnac cavity in combination with a polarization diversity pumping scheme, where the pump is split along two axes of the fiber. This also leads to gain for the signal that is independent of the signal polarization. Finally, a two-wavelength amplifier for 1310 nm and 1550 nm can be implemented by using a parallel combination of Raman amplifiers with shared pump lasers or by combining Raman amplifiers with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Combinations of the above improvements can be used advantageously to meet specifications for broad bandwidth, polarization independence, noise performance and multi-wavelength operation.

Claims

1. A broadband pump assembly, comprising:

a pump laser having an output port and producing a pump beam;

a bandwidth adding mirror connected to said output port to generate a broadened pump spectrum;

a broadband Raman amplifier coupled to the pump laser.

2. The broadband pump according to claim 1, wherein said bandwidth adding mirror comprises a Sagnac loop mirror.

3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the bandwidth adding mirror provides a non-linear effect to the pump beam.

4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein the non-linear effect is self-phase modulation.

5. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said bandwidth adding mirror includes a coupler with an unequal ratio.

6. The assembly according to claim 5, wherein said coupler has a ratio of f:

(1−

f), and 0#f#1.

7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said bandwidth adding mirror includes a polarization controller.

8. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said bandwidth adding mirror includes a phase modulator.

9. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said bandwidth adding includes an amplitude modulator.

10. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said pump laser is a cladding pumped fiber laser.

11. The assembly according to claim 10, wherein said cladding pumped fiber laser is driven by a modulated pump drive.

12. The assembly according to claim 11, wherein a mechanical modulation is applied to said cladding pumped fiber.

13. A polarization diversity pumping system, comprising:

a first polarization maintaining fiber;

a pump source that generates a linearly polarized pump beam in the first polarization maintaining fiber; and

a second polarization maintaining fiber coupled to the first polarization maintaining fiber, wherein a principal axis of the first polarization maintaining fiber is positioned relative to a principal axis of the second polarization maintaining fiber to produce a beam having two polarization modes.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the principal axis of the first polarization maintaining fiber is positioned about 45°

relative to the principal axis of the second polarization maintaining fiber.

15. The polarization diversity pumping system according to claim 13, wherein the pump source is a laser.

16. The polarization diversity pumping system according to claim 13, wherein the pump source is one or more diode lasers.

17. The polarization diversity pumping system according to claim 13, further including a non-polarization maintaining Raman gain section coupled to the second fiber.