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Random distributed feedback fibre laser

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 231–235 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The concept of random lasers making use of multiple scattering in amplifying disordered media to generate coherent light has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. Here, we demonstrate a fibre laser with a mirrorless open cavity that operates via Rayleigh scattering, amplified through the Raman effect. The fibre waveguide geometry provides transverse confinement and effectively one-dimensional random distributed feedback, leading to the generation of a stationary near-Gaussian beam with a narrow spectrum, and with efficiency and performance comparable to regular lasers. Rayleigh scattering due to inhomogeneities within the glass structure of the fibre is extremely weak, making the operation and properties of the proposed random distributed feedback lasers profoundly different from those of both traditional random lasers and conventional fibre lasers.

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Figure 1: Principle of random distributed feedback fibre laser operation.
Figure 2: Random DFB fibre laser power from the right output fibre end as a function of the total input pump power.
Figure 3
Figure 4: Random DFB fibre laser spectra.
Figure 5: Random DFB fibre laser generation threshold.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), The Royal Society, the Russian Ministry of Science and Education and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant no. TEC2008-05791).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonics Research Group, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK

    Sergei K. Turitsyn, Atalla E. El-Taher, Paul Harper, Juan Diego Ania-Castañón & Vassilis Karalekas

  2. Institute of Automation and Electrometry, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    Sergey A. Babin, Dmitriy V. Churkin, Sergey I. Kablukov & Evgenii V. Podivilov

  3. Instituto de Óptica, CSIC, C/, Serrano 121, Madrid, 28006, Spain

    Juan Diego Ania-Castañón

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  1. Sergei K. Turitsyn
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Contributions

S.K.T. initiated the study. A.E.E., S.I.K., D.V.C. and V.K. assembled the set-up and performed the measurements. E.V.P., S.K.T. and J.D.A. conducted the analytical analysis. J.D.A. conducted the numerical simulations. S.K.T., S.A.B. and P.H. guided the theoretical and experimental investigations. S.K.T., S.A.B., A.E.E., D.V.C., J.D.A., P.H. and E.V.P. analysed data. S.K.T. and S.A.B. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sergei K. Turitsyn.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Turitsyn, S., Babin, S., El-Taher, A. et al. Random distributed feedback fibre laser. Nature Photon 4, 231–235 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.4

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