Observation of acoustically induced modulation instability in a Brillouin photonic crystal fiber laser

Birgit Stiller (1) , Thibaut Sylvestre (1)

1 FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174)

We report the experimental observation of self-induced modulation instability (MI) in a Brillouin fiber laser made with a solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with strong anomalous dispersion. We identify this MI as the result of parametric amplification of optical sidebands generated by guided acoustic modes within the core of the PCF. It is further shown that MI leads to passive harmonic mode locking and to the generation of a picosecond pulse train at a repetition rate of 1.15 GHz which matches the acoustic frequency of the fundamental acoustic mode of the PCF.

Domaines: Optique / photonique; Optique [physics.optics]

Birgit Stiller, Thibaut Sylvestre. Observation of acoustically induced modulation instability in a Brillouin photonic crystal fiber laser. Optics Letters, 2013, 38, pp.1570 - 1572. ⟨hal-00838444⟩