Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Bistability in cavities with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers due to bidirectional pump-beam interference

Yuri Mitnick, Moshe Horowitz, Baruch Fischer

Published Aug 1, 1997• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We analyze the gain behavior of an optical amplifier that is optically pumped by two counterpropagating beams that are mutually coherent. The pump beams interfere inside the amplifier, resulting in a nonuniform distribution of the pumping. In the low-pump-intensity regions of the amplifier, the medium absorbs, and in the high-pump-intensity regions amplification can be obtained. The combination of the absorbing regions and the amplifying can lead to bistable behavior inside a resonator. The effect was analyzed for three-level gain media applicable to erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and lasers.

DOI
10.1364/josab.14.002079

Related papers

Coupling effects in saturable gain media with interfering coherent optical amplifier pump beams

Yuri Mitnick, Moshe Horowitz, B. Fischer

Summary form only given. We investigate special coupling effects in an Er-doped optical fibre amplifier, of which the gain medium is optically pumped by two mutually coherent counterpropagating pump waves that interfere inside the amplifier. The result is a unique filtering behavior where the signal gain becomes dependent on the wavelength and on the optical phases of the pump waves. This effect can be used for obtaining filters and single-mode operation of lasers. The wavelength of such a laser can be controlled by changing the wavelength or the phases of the pump waves. We have also shown previously that bidirectional pumping may cause bistability.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 1998•0 citations

Fiber-ring laser with tunable optical bistability

Jiafeng Shao, Qin Shen, Z. J. Wu +3 more

The structure of combining two segments of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) together—one EDF acting as an amplifier and the other as an absorber—has a special gain characteristic curve which has a maximum gain with an increase in the input signal power. This special gain characteristic curve can lead to an optical bistability (OB) phenomenon in a fiber-ring laser employing an EDF of this structure. By adjusting the pump light power injected into the second segment of the EDF, we can change the behavior of the absorber and can, therefore, control the range of the bistability region. A method is proposed to calculate the tunable optical bistability, and the calculation result is in accordance with our experiment.

Laser Physics•Sep 1, 2008•1 citation

Experiment and theoretical explanation of optical bistability in a single erbium-doped fiber ring laser

Jiafeng Shao, Shule Li, Qishun Shen +3 more

Optical bistability phenomenon in a single fiber ring laser employing erbium-doped fiber (EDF) as gain medium is observed in our experiment. In the EDF amplifiers, the photons of pump light cannot completely transfer into that of signal light because of various attenuation factors. This part of loss (useless pump loss) and active spontaneous emission (ASE) can both lower the small-signal gain of the EDF, and can eventually result in the bistability phenomenon. The range of this bistability has a complicated relationship with the length of the EDF, the erbium-ion doping concentration, the cavity loss and the useless loss coefficient of the pump light.

Optics Express•Jan 1, 2007•18 citations

Optical bistability in an L-band dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with overlapping cavities

Qinghe Mao, John W. Y. Lit

The authors investigate the optical bistability in an L-band dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with overlapping cavities. The bistable input-output hysteresis behavior of the two lasing wavelengths evolves in antiphase. The bistable region is tens of milliwatts wide. The bistability is essentially due to the homogeneous saturable absorption of EDF. The cross-gain saturation causes the bistabilities of the two lasing lines to evolve in antiphase with respect to each other. The gain clamping effect helps to widen the bistable region, which may be controlled by the cavity loss and by the EDF length.

IEEE Photonics Technology Letters•Sep 1, 2002•45 citations

Optimization of the power ratios of the bidirectional pumping at two wavelengths for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Yu. A. Varaksa, George V. Sinitsyn, Mikhail A. Khodasevich

The gain and noise factor spectra of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers with pumped according to a copropagating three-level scheme and according to a counterpropagating quasi-two-level scheme in the regime of unsaturated gain in the C band have been simulated numerically. It has been shown that, at the total pump power up to 30 mW and at the optimized power ratio of the copropagating and counterpropagating pumps, the inhomogeneity of the gain in the C band does not exceed 0.25 dB at the noise factor of 4.2–4.7 dB.

Optics and Spectroscopy•Apr 1, 2007•4 citations

Brillouin-like effects in rare-earth-doped bi-directional optical fiber amplifiers

Andrei A. Fotiadi, Dmitry A. Korobko, Ivan Chapalo +2 more

Brillouin amplification, the most prominent effect implemented with Brillouin dynamical gratings (BDG), enables exponential narrowband gain that is Stokes-shifted by some value in the GHz range. In this process, the interaction of the counterpropagating pump and Stokes waves through a BDG they produce causes an increase of the Stokes-shifted wave amplitude and decrease of the pump wave amplitude during their propagation through the fiber. Here, we report on a similar effect that could be implemented in rare-earth-doped fibers with the population inversion dynamical gratings. The effect is the most pronounced in a bidirectional rare-earth-doped optical fiber amplifier. Two monochromatic optical signal waves are introduced into the fiber from opposite ends and experience amplification (if the fiber is pumped) or attenuation (if the fiber is unpumped) as they propagate through the fiber. The signal waves are coherent on a sub-kHz level and slightly detuned. In terms commonly accepted in stimulated Brillouin scattering these counterpropagating signal waves correspond to what is referred to as "pump" and "Stokes" waves. However, in contrast to the Brillouin process, their interference inside the rare-earth-doped fiber creates not acoustic, but the population inversion dynamical gain grating. Then interaction between the signal waves and created population inversion dynamical gratings cause a strong power transfer from one signal wave to another.

•Jun 5, 2023•0 citations
We analyze the gain behavior of an optical amplifier that is optically pumped by two counterpropagating beams that are mutually coherent. The pump beams interfere inside the amplifier, resulting in a nonuniform distribution of the pumping. In the low-pump-intensity regions of the amplifier, the medium absorbs, and in the high-pump-intensity regions amplification can be obtained. The combination of the absorbing regions and the amplifying can lead to bistable behavior inside a resonator. The effect was analyzed for three-level gain media applicable to erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and lasers.
Summary form only given. We investigate special coupling effects in an Er-doped optical fibre amplifier, of which the gain medium is optically pumped by two mutually coherent counterpropagating pump waves that interfere inside the amplifier. The result is a unique filtering behavior where the signal gain becomes dependent on the wavelength and on the optical phases of the pump waves. This effect can be used for obtaining filters and single-mode operation of lasers. The wavelength of such a laser can be controlled by changing the wavelength or the phases of the pump waves. We have also shown previously that bidirectional pumping may cause bistability.
The structure of combining two segments of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) together—one EDF acting as an amplifier and the other as an absorber—has a special gain characteristic curve which has a maximum gain with an increase in the input signal power. This special gain characteristic curve can lead to an optical bistability (OB) phenomenon in a fiber-ring laser employing an EDF of this structure. By adjusting the pump light power injected into the second segment of the EDF, we can change the behavior of the absorber and can, therefore, control the range of the bistability region. A method is proposed to calculate the tunable optical bistability, and the calculation result is in accordance with our experiment.
Optical bistability phenomenon in a single fiber ring laser employing erbium-doped fiber (EDF) as gain medium is observed in our experiment. In the EDF amplifiers, the photons of pump light cannot completely transfer into that of signal light because of various attenuation factors. This part of loss (useless pump loss) and active spontaneous emission (ASE) can both lower the small-signal gain of the EDF, and can eventually result in the bistability phenomenon. The range of this bistability has a complicated relationship with the length of the EDF, the erbium-ion doping concentration, the cavity loss and the useless loss coefficient of the pump light.
The authors investigate the optical bistability in an L-band dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser with overlapping cavities. The bistable input-output hysteresis behavior of the two lasing wavelengths evolves in antiphase. The bistable region is tens of milliwatts wide. The bistability is essentially due to the homogeneous saturable absorption of EDF. The cross-gain saturation causes the bistabilities of the two lasing lines to evolve in antiphase with respect to each other. The gain clamping effect helps to widen the bistable region, which may be controlled by the cavity loss and by the EDF length.
The gain and noise factor spectra of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers with pumped according to a copropagating three-level scheme and according to a counterpropagating quasi-two-level scheme in the regime of unsaturated gain in the C band have been simulated numerically. It has been shown that, at the total pump power up to 30 mW and at the optimized power ratio of the copropagating and counterpropagating pumps, the inhomogeneity of the gain in the C band does not exceed 0.25 dB at the noise factor of 4.2–4.7 dB.
Brillouin amplification, the most prominent effect implemented with Brillouin dynamical gratings (BDG), enables exponential narrowband gain that is Stokes-shifted by some value in the GHz range. In this process, the interaction of the counterpropagating pump and Stokes waves through a BDG they produce causes an increase of the Stokes-shifted wave amplitude and decrease of the pump wave amplitude during their propagation through the fiber. Here, we report on a similar effect that could be implemented in rare-earth-doped fibers with the population inversion dynamical gratings. The effect is the most pronounced in a bidirectional rare-earth-doped optical fiber amplifier. Two monochromatic optical signal waves are introduced into the fiber from opposite ends and experience amplification (if the fiber is pumped) or attenuation (if the fiber is unpumped) as they propagate through the fiber. The signal waves are coherent on a sub-kHz level and slightly detuned. In terms commonly accepted in stimulated Brillouin scattering these counterpropagating signal waves correspond to what is referred to as "pump" and "Stokes" waves. However, in contrast to the Brillouin process, their interference inside the rare-earth-doped fiber creates not acoustic, but the population inversion dynamical gain grating. Then interaction between the signal waves and created population inversion dynamical gratings cause a strong power transfer from one signal wave to another.