Tunable and reconfigurable multiwavelength fiber optical parametric oscillator with 25 GHz spacing

We demonstrate a multiwavelength fiber optical parametric oscillator based on a nonlinear fiber as the gain medium. Using a transmission grating filter cascaded with a programmable filter as wavelength-selective elements, we achieve multiwavelength operation with 129 lasing wavelengths spaced apart by 25 GHz. The power nonuniformity is less than 4.5 dB with a power fluctuation of less than 0.1 dB over a 20 min period. Moreover, we realize tunable and reconfigurable functions over the entire lasing spectrum (similar to 25.6 nm), which greatly enhances the performance and flexibility of this laser. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America