TY - GEN
T1 - Dual-frequency VECSEL at telecom wavelength for sensing applications
AU - Chaccour, Léa
AU - Aubin, Guy
AU - Merghem, Kamel
AU - Oudar, Jean Louis
AU - Khadour, Aghiad
AU - Chatellier, Patrice
AU - Bouchoule, Sophie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - We aim at realizing an optically-pumped, dual-frequency VECSEL at telecom wavelength (1.5 μm) with a frequency difference in the radio-frequency (RF) range (around 11 GHz), to be used in a sensor unit based on Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. Laser emission of two orthogonally-polarized cavity modes with a controlled frequency difference is obtained by inserting a birefringent crystal in the VECSEL cavity. We have examined the influence of the different intra-cavity elements on the laser emission. It is shown that optimizing the free spectral range and the bandwidth of the intra-cavity Fabry-Perot etalon is of practical importance to achieve a stable single longitudinal laser emission for each of the two orthogonal polarizations. The optimization of the output power has also been investigated and it is concluded that up to 100 mW output power can be expected by adjusting the reflectivity of the output coupling mirror of the VECSEL cavity. The achievement of a highly-stable frequency difference is crucial for sensing applications. For this reason the influence of different parameters on the stability of the dual-frequency emission have been studied. It is concluded that mechanical vibrations are the main cause of the RF signal instability in our free-running VECSEL cavity. The design of a compact or mono-block cavity may allow to meet the stability requirements for our sensors.
AB - We aim at realizing an optically-pumped, dual-frequency VECSEL at telecom wavelength (1.5 μm) with a frequency difference in the radio-frequency (RF) range (around 11 GHz), to be used in a sensor unit based on Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. Laser emission of two orthogonally-polarized cavity modes with a controlled frequency difference is obtained by inserting a birefringent crystal in the VECSEL cavity. We have examined the influence of the different intra-cavity elements on the laser emission. It is shown that optimizing the free spectral range and the bandwidth of the intra-cavity Fabry-Perot etalon is of practical importance to achieve a stable single longitudinal laser emission for each of the two orthogonal polarizations. The optimization of the output power has also been investigated and it is concluded that up to 100 mW output power can be expected by adjusting the reflectivity of the output coupling mirror of the VECSEL cavity. The achievement of a highly-stable frequency difference is crucial for sensing applications. For this reason the influence of different parameters on the stability of the dual-frequency emission have been studied. It is concluded that mechanical vibrations are the main cause of the RF signal instability in our free-running VECSEL cavity. The design of a compact or mono-block cavity may allow to meet the stability requirements for our sensors.
KW - Dual-frequency laser emission
KW - Laser diodes for the generation of radio-frequency signals
KW - Optical sources for optical fiber sensors
KW - Semiconductor disk lasers
KW - Semiconductor lasers
KW - Vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers
U2 - 10.5220/0005965200530058
DO - 10.5220/0005965200530058
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84991368995
T3 - ICETE 2016 - Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications
SP - 53
EP - 58
BT - ICETE 2016 - Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications
A2 - Callegari, Christian
A2 - van Sinderen, Marten
A2 - Sarigiannidis, Panagiotis
A2 - Samarati, Pierangela
A2 - Cabello, Enrique
A2 - Lorenz, Pascal
A2 - Obaidat, Mohammad S.
PB - SciTePress
T2 - 7th International Conference on Optical Communication Systems, OPTICS 2016 - Part of the 13th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications, ICETE 2016
Y2 - 26 July 2016 through 28 July 2016
ER -