Efficient single-mode Brillouin fiber laser for low-noise optical carrier reduction of microwave signals

Stéphanie Norcia (1) , Sylvie Tonda-Goldstein (1) , Daniel Dolfi (1) , Jean-Pierre Huignard (1) , Robert Frey (2)

1 TRT - Thales Research and Technologies [Orsay]
2 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Manolia

We experimentally demonstrate efficient optical carrier reduction of microwave signals with a single-mode 1.5-mm wavelength Brillouin all-fiber ring laser. Because of the tunable optical coupling, the lasing threshold of the short-length (20-m) fiber cavity is lower than 5 mW, and high conversion efficiencies (up to 60%) are obtained at any pump power up to _200 mW. Using the single-mode Stokes beam as a seed for the stimulated Brillouin scattering process allows up to 40-dB optical carrier depletion with almost no added noise for an optically carried microwave signal at 6 GHz. In addition, using this resonator, we provide evidence of generation of high-spectral-purity beatnotes.

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Stéphanie Norcia, Sylvie Tonda-Goldstein, Daniel Dolfi, Jean-Pierre Huignard, Robert Frey. Efficient single-mode Brillouin fiber laser for low-noise optical carrier reduction of microwave signals. Optics Letters, 2003, 28 (20), pp.1888-1890. ⟨hal-00867499⟩