Laser structure based on an erbium-doped fiber ring and a whispering gallery mode microbottle resonator

Abstract

A novel fiber laser structure, to the best of our knowledge, based on an erbium-doped fiber ring (EDFR) and a silica microbottle resonator (MBR) is proposed and investigated experimentally. Two fiber laser samples based on MBRs with different geometries and diameters of 200 and 150 µm are fabricated, and their performance is studied experimentally. Periodic whispering gallery mode spectra of the MBRs are dependent on the position of the fiber taper used for coupling of light into the MBR, and this dependence is explored to achieve lasing at different wavelengths by moving the light coupling point along the axis of the microbottle incorporated into the proposed EDFR-MBR system. The influences of the pump laser power and light polarization on the system performance and laser stability are also investigated. Single-mode lasing with a maximum optical signal-to-noise ratio of 32 dB is demonstrated.