All-optical frequency and intensity noise suppression of single-frequency fiber laser

An all-optical frequency and intensity noise suppression technique of a single-frequency fiber laser is demonstrated. By exploiting the recursive noise reduction effect of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in a self-injection locked fiber laser, the frequency and intensity noise of the laser are remarkably suppressed in a significantly wide frequency range. In addition to the linewidth suppression from 3.5 kHz to 700 Hz, the frequency noise has been reduced by ∼25  dB. After suppression, the relative intensity noise (RIN) is within 5 dB of the shot noise limit at frequencies from 1.5 to 3 MHz, and the frequency range of the suppression reaches about 30 MHz. The relaxation oscillation peak is observed to shift to lower frequencies and is reduced by about 35 dB from -90  dB/Hz to -125  dB/Hz. It is believed that the achieved low noise makes the fiber laser a promising candidate in applications such as ultra-long haul coherent optical communication and LIDAR.