Self-compensated dispersion tuning of a mode-locked fiber laser using a linearly chirped fiber grating

A new approach of self-compensated dispersion tuning is developed to generate wavelength-tunable pulses from a fiber laser. A linearly chirped fiber grating is used in conjunction with a pair of optical circulators and modulators in the cavity. The wavelength has been electrically tuned while maintaining a constant operating frequency of 1 GHz. The laser exhibits a linear tuning relation with respect to the delay time between the electrical control signals. Three chirped gratings providing dispersions of 1446, 50, and 10 ps/nm are used respectively in the experiment and the results are compared. The highest tuning range is about 1 nm and is limited by the chirped bandwidth of the gratings.