Characterization and tailoring of statistical properties of erbium-doped random fiber lasers

Statistical properties of the erbium-doped random fiber laser (ERFL) play an important role in studying its physical attributes and advancing profound applications.Thus,there is an obvious need for thorough characterization and effective tailoring.Here,we investigate the full-bandwidth time-domain statistical properties of ERFL and achieve its tailoring through the aspect of fiber dispersion.Particularly,a narrowband ERFL is delicately designed to guarantee full-bandwidth measurement.The intensity probability density function (PDF) employed to analyze time-domain characteristics exhibits an inward deviation from the exponential distribution,indicating that correlations exist among different wavelength components.Furthermore,the effect of fiber dispersion on the temporal characteristics of ERFL is explored.The results demonstrate that dispersion accumulation breaks correlations among wavelength components,making its time-domain characteristics closer to the amplified spontaneous emission source.Conversely,dispersion compensation makes the PDF distribution converge further,leading to a more stable temporal output compared to the ERFL seed source.This work reveals the intrinsic time-domain dynamics of ERFL and provides new insights into tailoring demand-oriented temporal characteristics.