Single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser with a passive multiple-ring cavity and its application for video transmission

A single-longitudinal-mode erbium-doped fiber laser with a passive multiple-ring cavity (MRC) is proposed for the first time to the authors' knowledge. The laser is fundamentally structured by insertion of three different short ring cavities, which serve as mode filters, into the main cavity. When it is combined with a mode-restricting intracavity fiber Bragg grating, the MRC resonator ensures single-longitundinal-mode laser oscillation. The laser can successfully suppress side-mode frequencies of as much as 1 GHz and provide an output power of 23 mW with a side-mode suppression ratio of 51 dB at 1533 nm. The short-term linewidth of the laser output measured is similar to 2 kHz. The ability of this fiber laser to act as an AM transmitter source is also demonstrated. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.