| Presented in this thesis is a novel systematic approach to determine the general characteristics and stability of an EDFL, and a thorough experimental investigation of a mode-locked dual-wavelength EDFL.; The novel method to characterize an EDFL consists of performing an extensive set of measurements, and from these measurements a set of parameters is calculated. These parameters quantifiably describe the laser in terms of its temporal and spectral characteristics, signal power and wavelength variations, and number of occurrences for which the laser ceases its multi-wavelength operation.; An experimental investigation of a free-running mode-locked dual-wavelength EDFL with different signal wavelength spacing and pulse chirps is performed with the characterization method proposed in this thesis.; The original conclusions that are drawn from the experimental investigation of an EDFL are that the stability of the EDFL exponentially decreases as a function of the signal wavelength spacing, and the stability of an EDFL is improved with linearly chirped FBGs. |
