FBG sensor system based on wavelength-swept active mode-locking laser with RSOA gain medium

We performed an experiment of wavelength-swept laser based on active mode-locking on reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA). Since this laser does not have a wavelength-selecting filter, it can achieve a high sweeping speed and reduce the component cost and size. Compared to the conventional SOA gain medium, RSOA shows a merit of higher efficiency of cross gain modulation due to the twice propagation of active gain region. We applied this laser to Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor system which can have faster data acquisition speed than conventional wavelength-swept laser method. The linear response of FBG peak for the applied strain is monitored using the proposed laser source.