Institut National D'optique

Michel B&eacute;gin

Jocelyn Lauzon

Yvan Mimeault

Yves Rouleau

A low-cost superfluorescent fiber souce. A gain medium in a length of optical fiber is pumped in counter-propagation by a pump source, producing superfluorescent radiation. The pump source is coupled to the fiber by a first coupler, disposed forward of the gain medium, that selectively transmits the pump signal in the backward direction, and the superfluorescence in the forward direction. A second coupler is disposed backward of the gain medium, selectively transmitting the backward propagating superfluorescent radiation along a first path and the pump signal along a second path, the pump signal is absorbed in the second path by a high-attenuation fiber, to avoid feedback to the pump laser, and the superfuorescent is reflected in the first path back toward the source output. Advantageously, this source can be realized with readily available optical components that are easy to assemble and do not require any alignment.

Superfluorescent fiber source

A gain-locked dual stage or multi stage optical amplifier. The input signal is injected into an optical waveguide, such as an optical fiber, provided with at least a first and a second amplifying stage. Each amplifying stage is pumped by a corresponding pump source producing a pump signal having an initial pump power value. Means are provided to monitor the initial pump power of the first pump source, the initial pump power of the second pump source and the pump power of the portion of this signal unabsorbed by the first amplifying stage. The initial pump power of the first and second pump signals are controlled together, being set to a same controlled value which is calculated based on the pump power of the unabsorbed signal from the first amplifying stage.

Growing community of inventors

Québec, Canada

Michel Bégin

Growing community of inventors

Québec, Canada

Michel B&eacute;gin

Michel Bégin