Characteristics of Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate microsphere fibre lasers

In this paper both Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate microspheres have been successfully created through precise melting of the ends of fibre tapers, drawn, respectively, from Er and Er-Yb-Cr doped phosphate glasses. When coupled with a fibre taper, a microsphere fibre laser cavity can thus be configured creating a system pumped by a 980 nm laser diode and using an optical spectrum analyzer to monitor the spectral characteristics of the laser output. The performance and characteristics of the Er and Er-Yb-Cr microsphere lasers thus created are discussed in detail and cross-compared in this paper. Both lasers have shown low-threshold in terms of the pump power and the laser output wavelengths and a close investigation of the system has shown that the output power and laser stability are closely related to the size of the microsphere, the pump power and the microsphere material composition.     

A 980 nm Yb-doped single-mode fibre laser with 946 nm Nd:YAG laser as pump source

Based on rate equations,this paper gives expressions of the output power,the pump power threshold,the slope efficiency,the fibre optimal length and the laser gain of a quasi-three-level Yb-doped fibre laser.The gain relationship between quasi-three-level system and four-level system is also given,which provides a theoretical basis for suppressing the four-level transmissions.In the experiment,we adopt the backward pumping configuration and use a linear cavity.The Yb-doped fibre laser has an output power of 372 mW of single-mode laser emission at 980 nm with a slope efficiency of 21.2% when the fibre length is 29.5 cm close to an optimal fibre length in theory.The experimental results accord well with the theoretical analyses.     

Fabrication and transmission experiments of distributed feedback laser modules for 2.5 Gb s-1 optical transmission systems

A distributed feedback (DFB) laser module has been developed for 2.5 Gbs^-1 optical transmission systems. The DFB laser has a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) active layer and a planar buried heterostructure (PBH) for a low threshold current and stable singlemode operation with low chirping. A PBH DFB laser module with a single-mode fibre pigtail and an optical isolator was designed and fabricated by employing a single lens and a laser welding method. The fabricated MQW PBH DFB laser module is shown to be a suitable light source for 2.5 Gb s^-1 optical transmission systems with a minimum received power of-33 dBm after 47 km conventional optical fibre transmission.     

Ultra-short pulse compression using photonic crystal fibre

A short section of photonic crystal fibre has been used for ultra-short pulse compression. The unique optical properties of this novel medium in terms of high non-linearity and relatively small group velocity dispersion are shown to provide an ideal platform for the standard fibre pulse compression technique used directly on the nano-Joule output pulses from a commercial laser system. We report an order of magnitude reduction of the pulse width to 25 fs FWHM but predict a substantially improved performance with a dedicated fibre design. Good agreement is obtained with a simple model for the spectral broadening in the fibre. PACS 42.65.Re; 42.70.Qs; 42.81.Cn     

Broadly Tunable SOA-Based Active Mode-Locked Fibre Ring aser by Forward Injection Optical Pulse

We present a broadly tunable active mode-locked fibre ring laser based on a semiconductor optical amplifier （SOA）, with forward injection optical pulses. The laser can generate pulse sequence with pulsewidth about 12ps and high output power up to 8.56 dBm at 2.5 GHz stably. Incorporated with a wavelength-tunable optical bandpass filter, the pulse laser can operate with a broad wavelength tunable span up to 37nm with almost constant pulsewidth. A detailed experimental analysis is also carried out to investigate the relationship between the power of the internal cavity and the pulsewidth of the output pulse sequence. The experimental configuration of the pulse laser is very simple and easy to setup with no polarization-sensitive components.     

Efficient delivery of 60 J pulse energy of long pulse Nd:YAG laser through 200 μm core diameter optical fibre

Most of today’s industrial Nd:YAG lasers use fibre-optic beam delivery. In such lasers, fibre core diameter is an important consideration in deploying a beam delivery system. Using a smaller core diameter fibre allows higher irradiances at focus position, less degradation of beam quality, and a larger stand-off distance. In this work, we have put efforts to efficiently deliver the laser output of ‘ceramic reflector’-based long pulse Nd:YAG laser through a 200 μm core diameter optical fibre and successfully delivered up to 60 J of pulse energy with 90% transmission efficiency, using a GRADIUM (axial gradient) plano-convex lens to sharply focus down the beam on the end face of the optical fibre and fibre end faces have been cleaved to achieve higher surface damage thresholds.     

High-energy broadband single-pass fibre Raman laser pumped by a cavity-taper output Nd∶YAG laser

High-energy (0.68 mJ or 55 kW) broadband (0.38 to 2.22 m) nonlinear optical conversion has been obtained in a conventional multimode optical fibre using a Nd: YAG pump laser with a direct optical fibre taper output and a taper-to-fibre coupling scheme. A taper-to-fibre launching efficiency exceeding 75% has been determined analytically and is compared with the experimental results.     

基于SOA和级联取样光纤光栅的多波长激光器

研究了基于半导体光放大器(SOA)和双段级联取样光纤光栅构成的新型结构多波长激光器.设 计了取样光纤光栅，计算了其反射谱，模拟了多波长激光器的输出光谱.基于自行制作的SOA 和取样光纤光栅，进行了多波长激光器的实验研究，得到了间隔为0.8nm、输出功率不平坦 度小于1.0dB的11个波长输出.理论和实验两个方面都可以验证：与基于普通取样光栅的多波 长方案相比，基于双段级联取样光栅的方案能改善输出谱平坦度，并可提高可激射波长数. 关键词： 半导体光放大器 取样光纤光栅 多波长激光器     

Light scattering properties of a rough-ended optical fibre

Uniform wide-angle irradiation of a laser beam is achieved by roughening chemically the output end of an optical fibre. The angular distribution of the scattered light is analysed experimentally as a function of the incident angle of the laser beam into the input end of the fibre and the length of the rough core surface at its output end.     

Fundamental studies on laser radiation therapy: dispersion of a laser beam passing through optical fibres

For laser internal therapy in medical applications, optical fibres are required to propagate the laser beam. The far-field pattern of the laser beam at the exit face of the optical fibre is studied using a multimode step-index fibre and a graded index Selfoc fibre. The degree of dispersion, or the output angular distribution, of the beam passing through the Selfoc fibre is much smaller than that passing through the multimode step-index fibre. Consequently, the energy density in the far-field pattern of the beam passing through the Selfoc fibre is very much larger than that for the beam passing through the multimode step-index fibre. It is concluded that the Selfoc fibre is more effective in laser internal therapy.     

Semiclassical theory of optically bistable laser by output-feedback pumping scheme

Steady-state solutions of the output-feedback pumped bistable laser(OFPBL)have been obtained using the semiclassical laser equations.A linear-stability of the solutionshas been analysed.The results tell us that width of the hysteresis loop and the laser output in-tensity vary widely with the pump intensity and the intensity of input optical signal and thefeedback coefficient of the laser output as well as the other parameters.It shows that this typeof bistable laser is a kind of active optical bistable device which can be adjusted and controlledconveniently.     

Efficient generation of 200 mJ nanosecond pulses at 100 Hz repetition rate from a cryogenic cooled Yb:YAG MOPA system

A diode-pumped Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) laser system based on cryogenic cooled Yb:YAG has been designed, developed and its output performance characterised. The laser system consists of a fibre oscillator, an active mirror regenerative amplifier and a four pass main amplifier. 2.4 mJ, 10 ns, 100 Hz seed pulses from the fibre oscillator/regenerative amplifier arrangement were amplified up to pulse energies of over 200 mJ by using the four pass main amplifier arrangement. As a further study we have obtained an increased slope efficiency of 40% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 30% using a pinhole vacuum spatial filter/image relay for laser mode control. With 1.8 mJ input seed pulses, output pulse energies of around 150 mJ were achieved.     

Spectrum control and shaping of optical pulses in optical fibre interferometers

This paper discusses the use of single-mode fibre ring interferometers for injection laser line narrowing and for enhancement of optical emission power. The efficient launching into fibre ring interferometers of multi-frequency external cavity injection laser emission, in both the c.w. and mode-locking regime, has been achieved. Matching the optical lengths of the external cavity and fibre interferometer allowed the measurement of mode width of such a laser. A method is proposed for shaping optical pulses in fibre ring interferometers from constant intensity frequency modulated emission. The mode-locking regime of all-fibre external cavity injection lasers has been achieved.     

Model analysis of supermode generation in active 5-core optical fibre

In the paper, the phase-locked emitters in multi-core optical fibres for high power fibre lasers are presented. The influence of the normalized frequency and diameters of the cores on the shape of the pattern in the Fraunhofer diffraction region has been analysed. The simulation of coupling coefficient between cores influences on phase-locking and in the consequence on the far-field pattern of the fibre laser, based on the analyzed multi-core optical fibre, were performed. In the analyzed fibre laser, while exchanging power of the generated radiation between two adjacent cores on the fibre length (L = 5 m) within the range of 4–10%, the radiation becomes phased. Having satisfied this condition, in the far-field low-divergence, high-power laser beam (supermode) is attained. 5-core double clad optical fibre doped with neodymium ions was fabricated. Luminescence spectra of the manufactured fibre were measured.     

Similarity in growth of output power of cw far infrared lasers

By means of intracavity Stark-pulse technique, growth of output power of an optically pumped cw CH₃OH 119-m laser has been observed for various pressures of the active medium and for various input optical powers. Comparison of the results obtained in this work with those of a previous report on a HCOOH laser suggests that there is similarity relation in growth of output power. The similarity relation in a two-level laser is discussed.     

Broadening free spectral range of an evanescent-wave pumped Whispering-Gallery-Mode fibre laser by Vernier effect

Evanescent-wave pumping scheme has been successfully used to excite Whispering-Gallery-Mode fibre laser. The free spectral range of the lasing spectrum from a single optical fibre is found to be very narrow, to increase the free spectral range, a coupled cylinder-cavity structure has been fabricated by binding two bare optical fibres together, based on Vernier effect, the free spectral range of the coupled cylinder-cavity structure has been effectively broadened over 15 times compared with that of a single optical fibre. The measured free spectral ranges for both coupled cylinder-cavity structure and the single optical fibre are consistent with theoretical prediction.     

Properties of (InGa)As/GaAs QW (λ ≈ 1.2 µm) facet-coated edge emitting diode laser

In this paper, we report on the design and optical properties of laser diodes with an emission wave-length of ～1170 nm based on an (InGa)As/GaAs double quantum well active layer. The back and front facet of the laser diodes were coated with SiO_x dielectric films that influence the output optical power by enhancing or lowering the facet reflectivity. The measurements show improvement of the facet-coated laser diode properties in the threshold-current-density reduction along with light output power enhancement. Furthermore, a narrow far field pattern and high side mode suppression have been observed.     

High-power mid-IR (4–5 μm) femtosecond laser system with a broadband amplifier based on Fe<Superscript>2+</Superscript>:ZnSe

Concept of a solid-state femtosecond laser system with a multigigawatt power level in the 4–5 μm range has been proposed. The system contains an ultrashort pulse seeder, a two-stage chirped pulse amplifier based on a broadband Fe²⁺:ZnSe active element with optical pumping by a YSGG:Cr:Er laser, and an output stage that provides additional nonlinear optical compression of an amplified pulse to approximately 30 fs in a dielectric CaF₂ medium with anomalous group velocity dispersion in this spectral range.     

Development of multi-wavelength microsphere fibre laser system for potential sensor applications

A multi-wavelength microsphere laser system, using a chirped fibre Bragg grating and a microsphere resonator as wavelength-selective elements and a high dopant erbium doped fibre as the gain material, has been successfully demonstrated. The multi-wavelength generation of the laser system arises from both the microsphere whispering gallery mode selection and from the additional Raman scattering inside the microsphere cavity when the erbium laser is operating at resonance with the whispering gallery modes. Through an appropriate design and fabrication of a microsphere and of a fibre taper, a selective multi-wavelength fibre laser has been realized when the pump power is above threshold required. The laser output lines created have shown much narrower linewidths than those from conventional fibre lasers and these characteristics are particularly suitable for the range of sensor applications envisaged in the work.