Multiwavelength fiber ring laser source based on a delayed interferometer

A multiwavelength fiber laser source is demonstrated with a semiconductor optical amplifier as the gain medium. A delayed interferometer is incorporated in the ring cavity serving as a comb-like multichannel filter. A stable 75-wavelength simultaneous operation spaced at 40 GHz with the extinction ratio of 40 dB is achieved. By tuning the cavity loss, the center wavelength of the generated lasing waveband could be varied by as much as 20 nm.