A tunable multi-wavelength erbium doped fiber laser based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer and photonic crystal fiber

In this paper a tunable multi-wavelength erbium doped fiber laser, based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, is presented. The interferometer is achieved by splicing a piece of photonic crystal fiber between two segments of a single-mode fiber. Here, by changing the curvature radius in the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, the single-, double- or triple-line emissions can be tuned from 1526 to 1550 nm. Finally it is shown, via experimental results, that the laser has high stability at room temperature. (paper)