Highly efficient and high output power of erbium doped fiber laser in a linear cavity configuration

A simple Erbium Doped Fiber Laser (EDFL) in linear cavity configuration is reported. The cavity design is based on an FBG as a back reflector, and a loop back optical circulator with an output coupler as the front reflector. Different coupling ratios of the coupler are tested and 50: 50 provides the highest coupling output power of 22.06 dBm (160.7 mW). The pump power conversion efficiency is about 95% when pumping with two pump lasers at 1460 and 1490 nm with combined pumping power of 545 mW. The laser output has a measured linewidth of 0.0179 nm.     

Optimization of erbium-doped fiber MOPA laser

An erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) constructed in a master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA) configuration is analyzed. The pump powers for the fiber cavity laser and the booster amplifier stages are managed properly to achieve maximal pump conversion efficiency. Our design achieves a pump conversion efficiency of 91.4%, corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 96.6%, for a 1565.8 nm MOPA laser pumped by a total power of 300 mW at 1480 nm. The optimized MOPA laser shows a 25% enhancement in the pump conversion efficiency, compared to a non-MOPA fiber laser. A side lobe suppression ratio of 48 dB for the optimized MOPA laser is observed.     

A narrow-line Erbium-doped fiber laser and its application for testing fiber Bragg gratings

We inspect the spectral features of a diode-pumped Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with a Fabry-Perot cavity composed of a wavelength-selective coupler in the form of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and wavelength-insensitive Faraday rotator mirror (FRM). High accuracy for the spectral measurements is provided with the use of an optical heterodyne scheme where the EDFL output is mixed with radiation from a narrow-line semiconductor laser, allowing the detection of the EDFL spectra with a sub-pm resolution. The heterodyne scheme permits precise measurements of the EDFL line-width as a function of the cavity length and pump power. It is worth noticing a narrow-line (a few pm) operation of the EDFL with a short length (<3 m) cavity and low (<5) excess of pump power over the laser threshold. The spectral response of the EDFL to a slow sinusoidal modulation of a physical length of the FBG coupler is analyzed and it is shown that as high as ∼1-nm modulation of the EDFL optical spectrum is attainable at maximal modulation amplitudes. The narrow-line EDFL with a modulated generation wavelength is hereby demonstrated to be a tool for high-resolution measurements of reflection spectra of FBGs, which is to the best of our knowledge a novel application of the EDFL.     

Mode-locked fiber laser with a manganese-doped cadmium selenide saturable absorber

We demonstrate the generation of mode-locked pulses in an erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) by using a new manganese-doped cadmium selenide quantum-dots-based saturable absorber. The laser produces a soliton pulse train operating at 1561.1 nm with a repetition rate of 1 MHz, as the pump power is varied from 113 to 250 m W.At the maximum pump power, we obtain the pulse duration of 459 ns with a signal-to-noise ratio of 50 dB.     

Injection-switchable erbium-doped fiber laser with two output ports

An injection-switchable erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with two output ports based on a ring structure is proposed. Wavelength switching together with the switching of the dominating output port of the fiber laser is achieved by controlling the power of a tunable injection laser. The characteristics of the wavelength switching for different levels of the pump laser power and different wavelengths of the injection laser are studied experimentally.     

高功率窄线宽光纤激光器的研究进展

近年来,光纤激光器得到了快速发展,且逐步应用于多个领域,功率的进一步提升仍然是光纤激光器的研究热点,光束合成是实现功率提升的重要手段,光束合成要求子光束为窄线宽光纤激光器,因此窄线宽光纤激光器的研究对光束合成功率的提升有重要意义。本文对窄线宽高功率光纤激光器的发展和研究现状进行了详细的介绍,并基于目前的研究现状分析了其发展的主要限制因素,并展望了未来的发展趋势。     

Suppression of phase and supermode noise in a harmonic mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser with a semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based high-pass filter

By operating an intracavity semiconductor-optical-amplifier- (SOA-) based high-pass filter at the nearly transparent current condition, the supermode noise (SMN), the relaxation oscillation, and the single-sideband (SSB) phase noise can be simultaneously suppressed in an actively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL). The SOA at the nearly transparent condition enhances the SMN suppression ratio of the EDFL from 32 to 76 dB at the cost of the phase noise degrading from -114 to -104.2 dBc/Hz and broadening the pulse width from 36 to 61 ps. With an optical bandpass filter, the SSB phase noise and the SMN suppression ratio can be further improved to -110 dBc/Hz and 81 dB, respectively. The EDFL pulse can be further shortened to 3.1 ps with a time-bandwidth product of 0.63 after compression.     

Diode laser spectrometer for high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible range

A high-resolution diode laser spectrometer operating at 657 nm is described. To achieve a narrow linewidth and a high power, a master-slave laser system is employed. The master laser is an extended cavity diode laser whose linewidth is reduced to less than 100 Hz by the FM sideband technique. The slave laser is an AR-coated diode laser and characteristics of injection locking are experimentally studied. The injection current of the slave laser is utilized to stabilize the output power or to produce pulsed output. Using this spectrometer, we probed the intercombination line of Ca and observed high-contrast optical Ramsey fringes with a linewidth of 10 kHz. A velocity-selective Ramsey fringe is also observed in the pulse-mode operation.     

低噪声环形腔掺铒光纤激光器的研究

分析了环形腔掺铒光纤激光器的输出特性,给出了稳态下的激光器输出功率、阈值泵浦功率和斜率效率的解析表达式,为激光器结构的优化提供了依据。搭建了全保偏环形腔掺铒光纤激光器,利用未泵浦铒纤中由驻波干涉和饱和吸收诱发的自写入光纤光栅的窄带滤波特性及反射波长的自适应特性,有效地解决了激光器的跳模问题。通过测量得到激光器系统的泵浦阈值为15.3mW,斜率效率为2.8%,输出偏振度为32dB。利用非平衡光纤干涉仪系统和相位产生载波(PGC)调制解调技术测得激光器的相位噪声为3×10-5rad/Hz~1/2(1kHz)。     

Passively harmonic mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser at a 580 MHz repetition rate based on carbon nanotubes film

We propose and demonstrate a passively harmonic mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) using carbon nanotubes polyvinyl alcohol(CNTs-PVA) film. The laser allows generation of the pulses with a repetition rate of 580 MHz, which corresponds to the 22nd harmonics of a 26.3 MHz fundamental repetition rate under 323 mW pump power. A particularly noteworthy feature of the pulses is the super-mode suppression ratio(SMSR), which is over 40 dB, indicating a stable operation.     

Generation of tunable multi-wavelength optical short pulses using self-seeded Fabry-Perot laser diode and tilted multimode fiber Bragg grating

We experimentally demonstrate the simultaneous generation of tunable multi-wavelength picosecond laser pulses using a self-seeding configuration that consists of a gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser diode (FPLD) with an external cavity formed by a tilted multimode fiber Bragg grating.Dualand triple-wavelength pulses are obtained and tuned in a flexible manner by changing the temperature of the FPLD.The side mode suppression ratio larger than 25 dB is achieved at different dualand triple-wavelengths and the typical pulsewidth of the output pulses is ～70 ps.In the experiment,the wavelength separation can be narrowed to 0.57 nm.     

基于简单MOPA结构实现3.08 kW全光纤窄线宽线偏振激光输出

基于简单的主振荡功率放大结构,演示了一种高功率窄线宽线性偏振全光纤激光器,其最大输出功率为3.08 kW,3 dB线宽为0.2 nm。在整个功率缩放过程中,偏振消光比约为94%,光束质量M 2约为1.4。这是国内外首次实现3 kW全保偏光纤激光输出,与基于相位调制的窄线宽激光器相比,该激光器可实现近似的线宽,同时具有受激布里渊散射阈值高、系统结构简单、成本低等特点。     

A compact graphene Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser using optical circulator and tunable fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate a passively Q-switched tunable erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL)based on graphene as a saturable absorber(SA).A three-port optical circulator(OC)and a strain-induced tunable fiber Bragg grating(TFBG)are used as the two end mirrors in an all-fiber linear cavity.The Q-switched EDFL has a low pump threshold of 23.8 mW.The pulse repetition rate of the fiber laser can be widely changed from 9.3 kHz to 69.7 kHz by increasing the pump power from23.8 mW to 219.9 mW.The minimum pulse duration is 1.7μs and the highest pulse energy is 25.4 nJ.The emission wavelength of the laser can be tuned from 1560.43 nm to 1566.27 nm by changing the central wavelength of the straininduced TFBG.     

Reduced graphene oxide as saturable absorbers for erbium-doped passively mode-locked fiber laser

We demonstrate a nanosecond mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL)based on a reduced graphene oxide(RGO)saturable absorber(SA).The RGO SA is prepared by depositing the graphene oxide(GO)on fluorine mica through thermal reduction of GO.A scanning electron microscope(SEM),Raman spectrometer,and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)are adopted to analyze the RGO characteristics.The results show that the reduction degree of graphene oxide is very high.By embedding the RGO SA into the EDFL cavity,a stable mode-locked fiber laser is achieved with a central wavelength of 1567.29 nm and repetition rate of 12.66 MHz.The maximum output power and the minimum pulse duration are measured to be 18.22 mW and 1.38 ns respectively.As far as we know,the maximum output power of18.22 mW is higher than those of other nanosecond mode-locked oscillators reported.Such a nanosecond pulse duration and megahertz repetition rate make this mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser a suitable seed oscillator for high-power applications and chirped pulse amplifications.     

1.06kW 13GHz线宽全光纤激光器

分析了高功率光纤激光器中受激布里渊散射(SBS)效应的抑制方法。研究表明,利用宽带噪声源高速相位调制展宽光谱的方法对于抑制SBS十分有效,可实现kW级用于光谱组束的数10GHz高功率光纤激光子束。通过理论计算线宽与SBS阈值的关系,并分析噪声相位调制各参数对SBS阈值提升的影响,优化了光纤激光器设计参数。通过宽带噪声高速相位调制的方法,展宽单频种子源线宽至13GHz,通过两级预放大至10 W后,使用20/400μm掺Yb光纤最终实现了中心波长1064nm、线宽13GHz、最高功率1.06kW的激光输出,光束质量M21.2,光-光转换效率86%,实验过程未观测到模式不稳定性现象。进一步扩宽噪声源频带,加大调制深度,有望实现更高功率的窄线宽光纤激光输出。     

Simulation studies of DFB laser longitudinal structures for narrow linewidth emission

The paper presents simulation studies targeting high-power narrow-linewidth emission from semiconductor distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. The studies contain analytic and numerical calculations of emission linewidth, side mode suppression ratio and output power for DFB lasers without phase shifts and with \(1\times \lambda /4\) and \(2\times \lambda /8\) phase shifts, taking into account the grating and facets reflectivities, the randomness of the spontaneous emission and the longitudinal photon and carrier density distributions in the laser cavity. Single device structural parameter optimization is generally associated with a trade-off between achieving a narrow linewidth and a high output power. Correlated optimization of multiple structural parameters enables the evaluation of achievable ranges of narrow linewidth and high power combinations. Devices with long cavities and low grating coupling coefficients, \(\kappa\) (keeping \(\kappa L\) values below the levels that promote re-broadening), with AR-coated facets and with a distributed phase-shift have the flattest longitudinal photon and carrier density distributions. This flatness enables stable single-longitudinal-mode operation with high side-mode-suppression ratio up to high injection current densities, which facilitates narrow linewidths and high output powers. The results reported in the paper indicate that Master-Oscillator Power-Amplifier laser structures are needed for achieving W-level high-powers with sub-MHz linewidths because most single-cavity DFB laser structural variations that reduce the linewidth also limit the achievable output power in single-mode operation.     

Compact fiber laser at L-band region using Erbium-doped Zirconia fiber

A compact Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) operating in L-band region is demonstrated using a fabricated Erbium-doped Zirconia fiber (EDZF) for the first time. The fiber is fabricated by combining Zr and Al to achieve the maximum Erbium ion concentration of 4320 wt ppm. By using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a ring configuration, the laser operates at 1579.6 nm with a slope efficiency of 13.6% and the threshold pump power of 25.1 mW. The lasing wavelength is obtained at Bragg wavelength with an output power of 13 dBm and a 3 dB spectral width of 0.02 nm using a piece of 2 m long EDZF in conjunction with 120 mW of 1480 nm pump power.     

Efficient Cr:ZnSe laser with a volume Bragg grating

An efficient and narrow linewidth Cr:ZnSe laser pumped by Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser with a volume Bragg grating (VBG) is reported. The Cr:ZnSe laser operated at 2580 nm with emitting linewidth (FWHM) about 0.8 nm. Using the volume Bragg grating, 3.57 W of output was achieved under total incident pump power of 13.1 W, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 27.3%. By use of conventional mirror, 4.11 W of output was achieved the same incident pump power and the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 31.4%.     

光梳主动滤波放大实现锶原子光钟二级冷却光源

提出一种结合注入锁定技术的主动滤波放大方法,将光梳直接注入锁定至光栅外腔半导体激光器,产生窄线宽激光光源,该光源可以用于锶原子光钟二级冷却.实验中,将中心波长为689 nm,带宽为10 nm的光梳种子光源注入689 nm光栅式外腔半导体激光器,通过半导体增益光谱与半导体光栅外腔,从飞秒光梳的多个纵模梳齿中挑选出一个纵模模式来进行增益放大,再通过模式竞争,实现单纵模连续光输出;同时,光梳的重复频率锁定在线宽为赫兹量级的698 nm超稳激光光源上,因此,注入锁定后输出的窄线宽激光也继承了超稳激光光源的光谱特性.利用得到的输出功率为12 mW的689 nm窄线宽激光光源实现了88Sr原子光钟的二级冷却过程,最终获得温度为3μK,原子数约为5×10~6的冷原子团.该方法可拓展至原子光钟其他光源的获得,从而实现原子光钟的集成化和小型化.     

Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser with all fiber cavity

A novel all fiber cavity Yb3+-doped double-clad fiber laser (DCFL) based on two double-clad fiber (DCF)Bragg grating is presented. The fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as the input and output mirrors have been formed in Yb3+-doped DCF with the phase-mask method, and their reflectivities are 99% and 22%,respectively. When the input pump power is 417 mW, the maximum output power is 144 mW with linewidth ＜0.1 nm at the wavelength of 1.057μm, over 40-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and 50.8% slope efficiency.