MicroLight · Novel ultrafast fiber microlaser for applications in Microwave Photonics and Communication Networks

The presented proposal concerns the theoretical investigation, experimental realization, characterization and optimization of a novel compact ultrafast fiber microlaser (EDPPF-m) for Microwave Photonics (MWP) applications. The EDPPF-m is a nonlinear Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonator based on a novel technological platform consisting in an erbium doped periodically poled fiber (EDPPF) which combines in a single device the second and third order nonlinearities of a periodically poled fiber with the optical gain of an erbium doped fiber to generate very stable and high-power active cavity soliton pulses (and their related frequency combs). The EDPPF-m will be used as a MWP source, capable to generate electronic signals with repetition rates typical of microwaves (1 - 300 GHz) through a technique called remote heterodyning detection (RHD). The EDPPF-m will allow to overcome the drawbacks of existing MWP sources, such as fluctuations of spectral linewidth and intensity (mode-locked lasers) or low nonlinear conversion efficiency and low power handling capacity (microresonators) and will embody the ideal characteristics of a MWP source (low optical loss, tunable high repetition rate, low phase noise, high power handling capacity, high nonlinear conversion efficiency, ease of coupling with optical fibers). The proposal is divided into three work packages (WPs). The first two WPs are dedicated to the fabrication and miniaturization to the centimeter scale of the fiber microlaser proposed in two different configurations, one based on a commercial erbium doped fiber (EDF) (where only the third order nonlinearity is exploited) and the other one based on the EDPPF (where both the second and third order nonlinearities are used to generate solitons). The third WP describes the experimental procedure (RHD) adopted to implement the MWP source for applications in Communication Networks starting from the two versions of the fiber microlaser presented in the first two WPs.