Visible continuum generation using a femtosecond erbium-doped fiber laser and a silica nonlinear fiber

Supercontinuum extending to visible wavelengths is generated in a hybrid silica nonlinear fiber pumped at 1560 nm by a femtosecond, erbium-doped fiber laser. The hybrid nonlinear fiber consists of a short length of highly nonlinear, germano-silicate fiber (HNLF) spliced to a length of photonic crystal fiber (PCF). A 2 cm length of HNLF provides an initial stage of continuum generation due to higher-order soliton compression and dispersive wave generation before launching into the PCF. The visible radiation is generated in the fundamental mode of the PCF.     

Review on recent progress on Yb-doped fiber laser in a variety of oscillation spectral ranges

We present review on recent progress on high power Yb-doped fiber laser in a variety of oscillation spectral ranges. According to Kurkov (Laser Phys. Lett. 2006), the oscillation spectral range of YDFLs can be divided into three bands: convenient (C-band), short (S-band), and long (L-band). For the C-band YDFL, tandem-pumped high power radiation by using 1018 nm fiber laser or 1030 nm thin-disk laser is reviewed. For the S-band YDFL, three mainly technical solutions, i.e., special designed fiber, the employment of photonic crystal fiber (PCF), and tandem pumping using 930 nm Nd-doped fiber laser are presented. For the L-band laser, active heating or self-heating the active fiber can help the long-wavelength oscillation. Fiber Raman laser or amplifier can also boost the power of L-band YDFL up. Some discussions and prospective predictions are proposed at the end of this paper.     

Microjoule supercontinuum generation by stretched megawatt femtosecond laser pulses in a large-mode-area photonic-crystal fiber

Microjoule supercontinuum generation is demonstrated using a large-mode-area photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by an amplified stretched-pulse output of a mode-locked Cr:forsterite laser. A PCF with a mode area of 380 μm² is employed to transform 300-fs Cr:forsterite laser pulses with a peak-power of a few megawatts into a supercontinuum radiation with a spectrum spanning from 700 to 1800 nm and a total energy of 1.15 μJ.     

Broad and tunable multiwavelength fiber laser at the assistance of modulation-instability-assisted four-wave mixing

Based on a piece of highly-nonlinear near-zero-dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fiber (PCF), a broadly tunable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed by using a bi-directionally pumping scheme. This kind of PCF induces the modulation-instability-assisted four-wave mixing to generate new wavelengths. The proposed laser with excellent stability is tunable and switchable by adjusting the fiber Bragg gratings and the variable optical attenuators. The outstanding merits of the proposed multiwavelength laser are the flexible tuning and the ultrabroad spectral range over 150 nm. Especially, the proposed laser source can work at the wavelength of less than 1460 nm, overcoming the limit of gain bandwidth of erbium-doped fiber.

     

占空比对光子晶体光纤激光器性能的影响

 在传统光纤激光器工作原理的基础上,考虑光子晶体光纤(PCF)模场分布特征,给出了连续泵浦情况下单模PCF激光器的速率方程和功率传输方程。利用该方程对掺镱单模PCF激光器的性能进行了数值模拟研究。结果表明：虽然空气占空比大小对PCF激光器的输出功率、泵浦阈值和斜率效率等影响不显著,但对拉曼非线性阈值影响却很大。当泵浦功率小于拉曼非线性阈值时,激光器主要输出信号激光;当超过拉曼阈值且在较宽的范围内,激光器同时输出功率相近的信号激光和拉曼光。基于这种效应,提出一种由泵浦功率控制的双波长光纤激光器的新思路。考虑到PCF非线性系数的可调控特性,采用不同光纤有可能在较宽的功率范围获得双波长激光振荡。     

在远离光子晶体光纤零色散波长的正常色散区入射飞秒脉冲产生四波混频及孤子效应的实验研究

在远离光子晶体光纤零色散波长的正常色散区入射飞秒脉冲,实验产生了一对由四波混频引起的信号波带和闲频波带,及一对由脉冲内拉曼散射和非孤子辐射引起的孤子和色散波带,并观察到功率饱和现象.利用有限元法理论模拟了光纤的色散和非线性特性,用四波混频的相位匹配条件模拟了光纤在满足相位匹配条件下所产生的信号波带和闲频波带出现的可能位置,并与实验结果符合得很好.结果表明:即使在光子晶体光纤的正常色散区抽运激光脉冲亦可以产生四波混频和孤子效应;研究发现四波混频的产生是由四阶色散参量引起的;并进一步从理论上解释了孤子及色散波的产生原因.     

用157 nm激光制作的光子晶体光纤法布里-珀罗传感器

157nm准分子激光用于微加工具有单光子能量高,峰值功率高,材料吸收系数高,分辨率高等优点。利用157nm激光微加工的方法,在光子晶体光纤上融切出微小矩形孔,从而构成腔长为45.6μm的微光纤法布里-珀罗干涉腔,得到的干涉条纹平滑,衬比度约为26dB,并从激光与石英材料的相互作用上分析了形成较好干涉条纹的原因。把这种微腔应用于应变测量,在550μm范围内,腔长增量相对于应变的灵敏度为0.32nm/μm,线形度达0.9994。实验证明该微腔对温度不敏感,800℃范围内腔长变化仅20nm。157nm准分子激光加工光纤法布里-珀罗腔方法简单,一次成型,具有较高的加工效率和精度,有望实现光纤法布里-珀罗腔的规模化批量制造,具有较好的应用前景。     

飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤不同色散区产生超连续谱的数值分析

采用预测校正分步傅里叶方法数值模拟了飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤中的非线性传输和超连续谱产生,分析了初始光脉冲的中心波长、峰值功率和光纤长度在光子晶体光纤正、反常色散区对超连续谱形状和带宽的影响。结果表明,当初始光脉冲的中心波长在光纤的反常色散区时,产生的超连续谱宽要远宽于正常色散区,但是光谱的平坦性较差;当光脉冲中心波长在靠近零色散波长的反常色散区且其他脉冲参数不变的情况下,存在一个产生宽且平坦的超连续谱的最佳峰值功率和最佳光纤长度。对于超连续谱系统的优化设计与实际应用具有参考意义。     

Investigation of impact of photonic crystal fiber structure modified by femtosecond laser micromachining on long period gratings׳ sensing characteristics

The sensing characteristics of long period gratings (LPGs) in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) can be changed by using femtosecond laser to modify the PCF waveguide structure although dispersive characteristic plays a key role in determining the sensitivity. Based on the coupled local-mode theory, the coupling behaviors and spectral characteristics of the LPGs in PCF fabricated by a femtosecond laser and a CO₂ laser are analyzed which are supported by experiment results. When the distance between the central of fiber core and the peak of the drilled hole, namely the micro-hole diameter is about 3.5 μm, the temperature and strain sensitivities are changed by 27% (from 6.20 to 7.81 pm/°C) and −21% (from −2.41 to −1.91 pm/με) in comparison with the changes of the sensitivities that is induced by CO₂ laser. The investigation demonstrates that the local structural changes of PCF have an impact on the sensitivity of LPGs. The investigation demonstrates the versatility of the technique in potential applications to design the desired sensitivity of fiber grating flexibly by forming proper geometrical modulations.     

双波长抽运拉锥光子晶体光纤产生超连续谱研究

利用1064 nm抽运光在总长度为1 m的光子晶体光纤(PCF)的前半段(77 cm)通过四波混频产生747 nm短波信号光,并对光纤的后半段进行拉锥处理,拉锥光纤具有707 nm和1177 nm两个零色散点(ZDW).利用1064 nm抽运光和产生的747 nm信号光共同在两个零色散点之间的反常色散区抽运拉锥光子晶体...     

Room temperature multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser using a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber

A multiwavelength laser source is demonstrated with a high power erbium-doped fiber amplifier as the gain medium. A highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is inserted in the ring cavity to provide nonlinear gain by four-wave mixing. A Sagnac loop is incorporated in the ring cavity serving as a comb-like multichannel filter. The comparison between fiber ring laser without PCF and with PCF shows that the highly nonlinear PCF can generate a larger number of excited wavelengths and help stabilize the output power.     

All fiber supercontinuum light source using photonic crystal fibers pumped by nanosecond fiber laser pulses

A novel compact supercontinuum (SC) source using the single mode photonic crystal fibers (PCF) pumped with an all fiber MOPA fiber laser is demonstrated experimentally. A bandwidth of 700 nm is achieved by operating the pumping fiber laser at a wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 10 ns, repetition rate of 50 kHz and peak power of 1 kW. The SC generation is initiated through modulation instability (MI) which breakups the nanosecond pump pulses into picosecond or femtosecond pulses, and further broadened through nonlinear effects of PCF.     

All-photonic-crystal-fiber coherent black-light source

Photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) are widely recognized as efficient sources of white-light supercontinuum. Here, we show that a combination of an ultrashort-pulse ytterbium PCF laser with a highly nonlinear PCF enables all-fiber generation of ultrashort pulses of coherent UV radiation in the black-light spectral region with all the key processes, such as lasing, amplification, and conversion of the amplified PCF-laser output to the UV range, taking place in specifically designed fiber components.     

Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber using femtosecond pulses

Supercontinuum (SC) generation in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is demonstrated using an amplified femtosecond stretched pulses. The stretched pulse is obtained from a mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser and operates at 1564 nm with a repetition rate of 8.27 MHz and a pulse width of 340 fs. Using a 50 m long PCF, broad SC spectra are observed starting from 1220 and 1050 nm for the corresponding 5.1 and 177 kW pump and spanning a wavelength region of more than 1750 nm. At a maximum peak pump power of 177 kW, flat SC which extends over bandwidths of 660 and 486 nm are obtained using 50 and 100 m piece of PCF respectively. However, the output power level is higher for the 100 m PCF especially at longer wavelength region.     

两光子晶体光纤激光器相干锁定的实验研究

利用自成像腔技术进行光子晶体光纤(PCF)激光器光束相干合成的实验研究,实现了两光子晶体光纤激光器的相位锁定.在不使用滤波器的情况下,实验仍能观测到清晰的下涉图样,且在高功率输出状态以及环境噪声情况下干涉图样仍可保持稳定,表明具有单模大模场特性的光子晶体光纤在实现光束相干合成方面比传统的双包层光纤(DCF)有明显的优越性.实验还表明耦合输出镜的反射率对相干输出功率有一定影响,当反射镜的反射率分别为5%,10%和15%时,两台激光器相干输出斜率效率分别为63.8%,61.6%和60.2%.在抽运功率为150 W和耦合输出镜的反射率为5%时,获得95.8 W的最大相干功率输出,相干功率合成效率为90.2%.实验中无任何热光效应产生,有望利用该方法获得更高的相干输出功率.     

Erbium-doped photonic crystal fiber laser with 49 mW

We have demonstrated a continuous-wave (CW) all fiber laser operation at 1558.4 nm of a diode-pumped erbium-doped PCF laser based on 9.6 m erbium-doped PCF. The maximum output power and the threshold of the fiber laser are 49.4 mW and 6.67 mW, respectively. We show that it is possible to achieve a high stability and beam quality laser, which has a great application potential in optical communication field in future.     

Supercontinuum generation in chloroform-filled photonic crystal fibers

We propose a novel method to achieve highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF) by filling highly nonlinear liquid chloroform in the core of hollow-core PCF (HCPCF). The dispersion properties and electric field distribution of the fundamental mode are calculated by using the full-vector finite element method (FVFEM). Simulation results indicate that the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDWL) of the chloroform-filled PCF is adjustable around 800 nm. Hence the femtosecond laser pulses with central wavelength at 800 nm can propagate in anomalous dispersion regime of the PCF, inducing the spectra broadening.     

随机光纤激光器中光纤与随机介质匹配问题的研究

降低阈值是随机激光实用化的前提, 随机光纤激光器是将随机增益介质填充到空芯光子晶体光纤中利 用其光子禁带来降低阈值的一种随机激光器. 理论分析表明: 在光子晶体光纤光子禁带的约束下, 随机光纤激光器中的大部分能量被集中在芯区传播, 这使局域在芯区的光与随机介质相互作用得到增强, 激发效率得以提高. 然而, 光纤填充介质后, 纤芯等效折射率发生了改变, 光子带隙也会随之移动, 因此当选用带隙光纤来降低阈值时, 只考虑光纤本身的带隙是不够的, 应考虑到介质的增益频率和填充后的光子带隙之间的匹配问题, 合理选择光纤或介质的材料, 如果匹配得当, 光子禁带对激光的调控能力会更强, 激光阈值有望得到更大程度的降低. 关键词： 随机激光 光子晶体光纤 光子禁带 阈值