Ring laser

Abstract: By incorporating a section of large positive-dispersion fiber in an all-fiber erbium ring laser, we obtain high-energy pulses with spectral widths of 56 nm. The chirp on these pulses is highly linear and can be compensated for with dispersion in the output coupling fiber lead. The result is a fully self-starting source of 77-fs pulse with 90 pJ of energy and greater than 1 kW of peak power at a 45-MHz repetition rate.

Abstract: We report a novel passive mode‐locking technique in which two synchronized counterpropagating pulses interact in a thin, saturable absorber to produce a short pulse. Continuous stable trains of pulses shorter than 0.1 psec are obtained using a ring laser configuration.

Abstract: We report the first observation of stochastic resonance in an optical device, the bidirectional ring laser. The experiment exploits a new technique to modulate periodically the asymmetry between the two counter-rotating lasing modes. The measurements verify that the addition of injected noise can lead to an improved signal-to-noise ratio (relative to that observed with no externally injected noise).

Abstract: We have built a nonplanar ring oscillator with the resonator contained entirely within a Nd:YAG crystal. When the oscillator was placed in a magnetic field, unidirectional oscillation was obtained with a pump-limited, single-axial-mode output of 163 mW.

Abstract: The increasing speed of fibre-optic-based telecommunications has focused attention on high-speed optical processing of digital information1. Complex optical processing requires a high-density, high-speed, low-power optical memory that can be integrated with planar semiconductor technology for buffering of decisions and telecommunication data2. Recently, ring lasers with extremely small size and low operating power have been made3,4,5,6,7, and we demonstrate here a memory element constructed by interconnecting these microscopic lasers. Our device occupies an area of 18 × 40 µm2 on an InP/InGaAsP photonic integrated circuit, and switches within 20 ps with 5.5 fJ optical switching energy. Simulations show that the element has the potential for much smaller dimensions and switching times. Large numbers of such memory elements can be densely integrated and interconnected on a photonic integrated circuit: fast digital optical information processing systems employing large-scale integration should now be viable.