We propose and demonstrate an active Q-switched fiber laser using a high-Q microsphere resonator as the Q-switching element. The laser cavity consists of an Er-doped fiber as the gain medium, a glass microsphere reflector (coupled through a fiber taper) at one end of the cavity, and a fiber Bragg grating reflector at the other end. The reflectivity of the microsphere is modulated by changing the gap between the microsphere and the fiber taper. Active Q switching is realized by oscillating the microsphere in and out of contact with the taper. Using this novel technique, we have obtained giant pulses (maximum peak power $\sim 102\mathrm{W}$ , duration $\sim 160\mathrm{ns}$ ) at a low pump-power threshold $(\sim 3\mathrm{mW})$ .

© 2006 Optical Society of America

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