Noise Reduction in Multiwavelength SOA-Based Ring Laser by Coupled Dual Cavities for WDM Applications

Abstract

A novel scheme for the suppression of intra- wavelength-channel mode competition in a multiwavelength SOA-based ring laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The scheme is based on coupled ring cavities, which act as mode filters to suppress the side mode frequencies. The proposed scheme performance is evaluated in terms the output power, long term stability, and side-mode suppression ratio of the proposed SOA-based ring laser. A side mode suppression ratio lager than 10 dB is readily achieved by incorporating a subcavity inside a main ring cavity, due to Vernier effect induced by the coupled dual cavities. Also is investigated the possibility of the use of the noise-reduced multiwavelength laser as a transmitter light source within wavelength division-multiplexed passive optical network.