Abstract
Fibre lasers based on backward stimulated Brillouin scattering provide narrow linewidths and serve in signal processing and sensing applications. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in fibres takes place in the forward direction as well, with amplification bandwidths that are narrower by two orders of magnitude. However, forward Brillouin lasers have yet to be realized in any fibre platform. In this work, we report a first forward Brillouin fibre laser, using a bare off-the-shelf, panda-type polarisation maintaining fibre. Pump light in one principal axis provides Brillouin amplification for a co-propagating lasing signal of the orthogonal polarisation. Feedback is provided by Bragg gratings at both ends of the fibre cavity. Single-mode, few-modes and multi-mode regimes of operation are observed. The lasing threshold exhibits a unique environmental sensitivity: it is elevated when the fibre is partially immersed in water due to the broadening of forward Brillouin scattering spectra. The results establish a new type of fibre laser, with potential for ultra-high coherence and precision sensing of media outside the cladding.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 3554 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 21 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022, The Author(s).
Funding
This research was supported in part by the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology, Grant no. 61047. Gil Bashan is supported by the Adams Fellowship Program of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Hilel Hagai Diamandi is grateful to the Azrieli Foundation for the award of an Azrieli Fellowship.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities | |
| Azrieli Foundation | |
| Ministry of science and technology, Israel | 61047 |