TY - JOUR
T1 - Fourier Domain Mode Locked Laser and Its Applications
AU - Huang, Dongmei
AU - Shi, Yihuan
AU - Li, Feng
AU - Wai, Alex
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the National Key R & D Program of China (2020YFB1805901), in part by the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (SGDX201908 1623060558, JCYJ20210324133406018), in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62105274), in part by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515012544) and in part by the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong SAR, China (PolyU152241/18E).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - The sweep rate of conventional short-cavity lasers with an intracavity-swept filter is limited by the buildup time of laser signals from spontaneous emissions. The Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) laser was proposed to overcome the limitations of buildup time by inserting a long fiber delay in the cavity to store the whole swept signal and has attracted much interest in both theoretical and experimental studies. In this review, the theoretical models to understand the dynamics of the FDML laser and the experimental techniques to realize high speed, wide sweep range, long coherence length, high output power and highly stable swept signals in FDML lasers will be discussed. We will then discuss the applications of FDML lasers in optical coherence tomography (OCT), fiber sensing, precision measurement, microwave generation and nonlinear microscopy.
AB - The sweep rate of conventional short-cavity lasers with an intracavity-swept filter is limited by the buildup time of laser signals from spontaneous emissions. The Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) laser was proposed to overcome the limitations of buildup time by inserting a long fiber delay in the cavity to store the whole swept signal and has attracted much interest in both theoretical and experimental studies. In this review, the theoretical models to understand the dynamics of the FDML laser and the experimental techniques to realize high speed, wide sweep range, long coherence length, high output power and highly stable swept signals in FDML lasers will be discussed. We will then discuss the applications of FDML lasers in optical coherence tomography (OCT), fiber sensing, precision measurement, microwave generation and nonlinear microscopy.
KW - swept laser
KW - Fourier domain mode-locking
KW - instability
KW - frequency/time discretization
KW - laser and optics system
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128361759&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/s22093145
DO - 10.3390/s22093145
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35590839
AN - SCOPUS:85128361759
SN - 1424-8220
VL - 22
JO - Sensors
JF - Sensors
IS - 9
M1 - 3145
ER -