We propose a general guideline on the design of a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)-based microwave photonic filter (MPF) using a directly modulated pump. Filter gain profiles and passband ripples with waveform repetition periods of the driving current ranging from 2 to 100 ns are measured after the transmission of different fiber lengths. The results show that the filter performance has nothing to do with the fiber length, and the digital-to-analog converter bandwidth requirement for the driving current is no more than 500 MHz. Therefore, the low cost, flexible reconfiguration, and miniaturization characteristics make an SBS filter using a directly modulated pump a promising choice as an MPF.

We propose a high-gain and frequency-selective amplifier for a weak optical signal based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in a single mode fiber. To be able to satisfy the needs of high gain and high signal-to-noise ratio laser pulse amplification, different fiber lengths and core diameters are used to fulfill this experiment. In the experiment, a 430 nW (peak power) pulsed signal is amplified by 70 dB with a signal-to-noise ratio of 14 dB. The small size, high gain, low cost, and low noise of the fiber Brillouin amplifier make it a promising weak signal amplification method for practical applications such as lidar.

In this paper, we propose an additional noise-free, independent center frequency and bandwidth tunable optical filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) losses. By suppressing the out-of-band signal with two broadened symmetric SBS losses, tunable pass bandwidths from 500 MHz to 9.5 GHz and the independent center frequency tunability are demonstrated. Considering the limited SBS interaction in the center frequency range, a flat-top response with minimum 0.3 dB ripple is achieved. Assisted by the extra suppression from polarization pulling, a maximum selectivity of 20 dB and an ultrahigh 250 dB/GHz roll-off are reached. A gain-based SBS filter adds noise to the filtered signal. However, for our proposed filter setup, no additional noise is detected due to the transparency in the passband. Considering the wide independent bandwidth and center frequency tunability, flat-top response, and low-noise characteristic, our proposed filter can be perfectly used as a supplement of most commercialized conventional tunable optical single bandpass filters, whose minimum bandwidth is limited by 10 GHz.

We investigate the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) properties of light beams carrying orbit angular momentum (OAM). The phase conjugation of light beams carrying OAM is experimentally achieved in an SBS mirror with a random phase plate. The spectrum and the pulse width compression of SBS light are measured. It is shown that the phenomena of pulse compression is observed and OAM conservation is confirmed in the SBS process. The OAM transfer from photons to phonons may find potential applications in photon-phonon conversion-based signal-processing schemes by using OAM multiplexing.

The Brillouin gain properties in a double-clad As2Se3 photonic crystal fiber (PCF) are simulated based on the finite-element method (FEM). The results indicate that the Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS) of our proposed chalcogenide PCF exhibits a multipeaked behavior and has a high Brillouin gain coefficient. We also find that a larger size of inner cladding air holes will lead to a more pronounced second peak in the BGS. On the other hand, the size of the outer cladding has nearly no effect on the BGS behavior. Through these results, one can tailor the Stimulated Brillouin scattering effect in PCFs for a wide range of applications.

Switchable single and double Brillouin multiwavelength and pulsed laser is successfully demonstrated. Brillouin spacing can be switched from single (0.08 nm) to double spacing (0.16 nm) or vice versa by swapping the ports of the coupler in the proposed configuration. The proposed configuration can also be used to produce pulsed laser by inserting a home-made carbon nanotubes saturable absorber into the laser cavity. The proposed system is very versatile and flexible as it can be used as a multiwavelength laser or pulsed laser to cater for different types of applications.

We propose a method to enhance the performance of Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis (BOCDA) with a broad chirp span of optical sources based on the frequency chirp magnification technique. In BOCDA systems, the number of effective sensing points is proportional to the chirp span of the light source, which is normally limited by the characteristics of the laser diode. We demonstrate a chirp span of 126 GHz with the proposed method, to double the effective sensing points of BOCDA. By combining with differential measurement schemes, a spatial resolution of <10 cm over a 1 km range is achieved.

We report the measurements of Brillouin gain coefficients in FC-770, FC-40, FC-43, and FC-70 using a Brillouin oscillator and amplifier system. In contrast to the traditional way, the novel method provides direct measurements of these coefficients with the medium electro-strictive coefficient or with the phonon lifetime absent. Additionally, the Brillouin gain coefficient of FC-70 in this experiment is different from the theoretical work.