Tunable Fiber Laser Using a MEMS-Based In Plane ... - ResearchGate

1318 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 46, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2010
coupler increasing the tuning range. Moreover, using a longer
doped fiber length could increase the optical gain in the L-
band region. Optimization of the laser cavity and of the filter
must be done to expand the tuning range and the output power
of the laser. However, to the best of our knowledge, a tunable
MEMS-based fiber laser was not demonstrated yet. It is an
interesting development for fast and compact tunable fibre
lasers.
VII. Conclusion
In this paper, we presented a wide range tunable filter.
By using a single step etching process, a very compact and
integrated tunable F-P filter was fabricated. Optical fibers,
actuator, and the optical device were fabricated in one single
etching step. Tuning as large as 104 nm in the optical C and L-
bands was demonstrated. A mechanical resonance frequency
of 14.4 kHz was measured allowing tuning over the whole
dynamic range of the filter in few µs. In the second part of
this paper, we presented a novel approach to tune a fiber laser
with the MEMS actuated F-P filter. By introducing the MEMS
F-P filter into a ring fiber laser cavity, a compact tunable fiber
laser was demonstrated. The tuning range is 35 nm with a
spectral width of less than 0.06 nm.
At this point, the tunable laser is still a basic proof of
concept. However, since MEMS allows fast actuation and low
cost batch fabrication, our technology opens the path to a
wide range of applications in telecommunications, metrology,
laser machining, and bio-chemical sensing using high quality
integrated tunable fiber lasers.
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Jonathan Masson graduated with a degree in engineering
physics from the École Polytechnique de
Montréal (EPM), Montréal, QC, Canada, in 2006.
During his studies, he made a year long exchange
at the Institut National Polytechique de Grenoble,
Grenoble, France. He attained his M.S. degree from
the EPM working on tunable silicon grating under
the supervision of Professor Yves-Alain Peter. He
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in the field
of optical micro-electro-mechanical systems from
Institute of Microengineering, Sensors, Actuators
and Microsystems Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Raphael St-Gelais (S’08) received the B.Eng. degree
in engineering physics from École Polytechnique
de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, in 2007.
He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree from the
same institute with the support of an Alexander
Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship.
He was an Engineering Intern with Dalsa Semiconductor,
Bromont, QC, Canada, during a short
period before joining the Micro and Nano Systems
Laboratory, École Polytechnique de Montréal, in
2008. His work is published in peer-reviewed journals
and international conference proceedings. His current research interests
include optical microelectromechanical systems, silicon photonics, and microfluidics
for applications, such as on-chip optical biosensors and tunable
components for optical fiber networks.