Tunable mid-infrared source from an ultrafast two-color Yb:fiber chirped-pulse amplifier

We present a tunable, ultrafast, mid-infrared source based on difference frequency between 16?μm and 20?μm from an ultrafast, two-color Yb:fiber chirped-pulse amplifier. We have recorded an average power of 1.5?mW at ～18 μm. We have improved the output power after the pre-amplifier by one order of magnitude. We present the simulation and experimental results to the pre-amplifier.     

Generation of 400 μW at 17.5 μm using a two-color Yb fiber chirped pulse amplifier

We have demonstrated the generation of 400 μW of power at ~18 μm by difference-frequency mixing the 1038 and 1105 nm from a two-color, chirped pulse amplification Yb fiber system. A two-color seed is selected from a continuum source and amplified to 300 mW of total power in a two-stage Yb fiber amplifier.     

Generation of 287 W, 5.5 ps pulses at 78 MHz repetition rate from a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier seeded by a fiber chirped-pulse amplification system

We generate linearly polarized, 287 W average-power, 5.5 ps pulses using a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier at a repetition rate of 78 MHz. An optical-to-optical efficiency of 41% is obtained at 700 W pump power. A 6 W, 0.4 nm bandwidth picosecond seed source at 1029 nm wavelength is constructed using a chirped-pulse fiber amplification chain based on chirped volume Bragg gratings. The combination of a fiber amplifier system and a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier results in good spatial beam quality at large average power. Low nonlinear phase accumulation as small as 5.1 x 10(-3) rad in the bulk Yb:YAG amplifier supports power scalability to a > 10 kW level without being affected by self-phase modulation. This amplification system is well suited for pumping high-power high-repetition-rate optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers.     

Generation of 520 mW pulsed blue light by frequency doubling of an all-fiberized 978 nm Yb-doped fiber laser source

Pulsed blue light at 489 nm has been generated by second-harmonic-generation of a nanosecond pulsed master-oscillator power amplifier system based on a short Yb(3+) doped single-mode fiber amplifier at 978 nm and an external-cavity diode laser as seed source. The Yb(3+)-doped fiber was core-pumped by a W type Nd(3+) doped double-clad fiber laser operating on the transition near 930 nm ((4)F(3/2)→(4)I(9/2)). 520 mW of average power was generated at 489 nm using a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO(3), corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 34%.     

Direct amplification of ultrashort pulses in μ-pulling-down Yb:YAG single crystal fibers

We demonstrated that Yb:YAG single crystal fibers have a strong potential for the amplification of femtosecond pulses. Seeded by 230?fs pulses with an average power of 400?mW at 30?MHz delivered by a passively mode-locked Yb:KYW oscillator, the system produced 330?fs pulses with an average power of 12?W. This is the shortest pulse duration ever produced by an Yb:YAG amplifier. The gain in the single crystal fiber reached a value as high as 30 in a simple double-pass configuration.     

Spectral broadening of femtosecond pulses in an nonlinear optical fiber amplifier

A promising method for the generation of a supercontinuum with a high spectral power density based on the spectral broadening of ultrashort pulses in a fiber amplifier is considered. The advantage of the method, as compared to the conventional way of the supercontinuum generation in a microstructure fiber, is a lower pulse spectral broadening rate, which allows one to achieve higher SC spectral power densities. The initial stage of the supercontinuum generation in an ytterbium fiber amplifier (a fiber core diameter of 7 μm) with side pumping from an array of laser diodes with a total power of 8 W at a wavelength of 976 nm is experimentally studied. Yb:KYW laser pulses with a duration of 250 fs, a central wavelength of 1046 nm, and an average power of 150 mW have been supplied to the input of the amplifier. In this case spectrally broadened radiation with an average spectral power density of higher than 65 mW/nm and a spectrum width of 50 nm has been obtained.     

Ultrawide tunable Er soliton fiber laser amplified in Yb-doped fiber

A Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled high-power Er-fiber soliton laser for seeding an efficient high-power Yb fiber femtosecond amplifier is demonstrated. The Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled Er-soliton laser is tunable from 1.00 to 1.070microm and produces bandwidth-limited 24-pJ pulses at a repetition rate of 50 MHz with a FWHM pulse width of 170 fs at 1.040microm . The Yb(3+) amplifier has a slope efficiency of 52% and generates 3-ps linearly chirped pulses with an average power of 0.8 W at 1.05microm . After pulse compression, 74-fs bandwidth-limited pulses with an average power of 0.4 W and a pulse energy of 8 nJ are generated.     

Yb band parasitic lasing suppression in Er/Yb-co-doped pulsed fiber amplifier based on all-solid photonic bandgap fiber

A novel kind of all-solid photonic bandgap fiber (AS-PBGF) has been used in the master oscillator power amplifier structured Er/Yb-co-doped pulsed fiber amplifier to suppress the Yb band parasitic lasing for the power scaling and safety operation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to report the use of AS-PBGF to suppress the Yb band parasitic lasing. The experimental results show that the Yb band parasitic lasing has been suppressed efficiently and the amplifier power has been raised dramatically with the utilization of AS-PBGF. An output power of 2.66 W was finally obtained without any unwanted parasitic lasing.     

High-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier in the mid-infrared

We discuss a dual-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier generating sub-100-fs pulses in the mid-infrared at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. The system is based on a 1064 nm pump laser and a 3–4 μm difference frequency generation seed source derived from the output of a femtosecond fiber laser amplifier. Both lasers are commercially available, are diode-pumped, compact, and allow for turn-key operation. Here, we focus our discussion on the design and dimensioning of the optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier. In particular, we review the available gain materials for mid-infrared generation and analyze the impact of different stretching scenarios. Timing jitter plays an important role in short-pulse parametric amplifier systems and is therefore studied in detail. The geometry of the amplifier stages is optimized through a full 3-dimensional simulation with the aim of maximizing gain bandwidth and output power. The optimized system yields output pulse energies exceeding 1 μJ and an overall gain larger than 50 dB. The high repetition rate of the pump laser results in an unprecedented average power from a femtosecond parametric system at mid-infrared wavelengths. First experimental results confirm the design and the predictions of our theoretical model.     

单频纳秒脉冲全光纤激光器实现300 W平均功率输出

搭建了一台主振荡功率放大（MOPA）结构的单频脉冲全光纤激光器。通过对线宽为 20 kHz 的连续单频激光器进行强度调制,获得了重复频率 10 MHz、脉宽约 8 ns、平均功率约 0.5 mW 的单频脉冲种子激光。采用多级掺镱光纤放大器对脉冲种子激光进行级联放大,获得了平均功率 300.8 W 的高功率激光输出。目前,激光器输出功率仅受限于泵浦功率,有望通过增加泵浦功率进一步提高输出功率。     

Modeling of a two-color, two-stage, ultrafast Yb-doped fiber amplifier

We have modeled a two-stage, Yb-doped fiber amplifier system to amplify two-color ultrafast laser pulses in near-infrared. The first and second stages namely preamplifier and power amplifier are single-clad, single-mode and double-clad, single-mode Yb-doped fibers respectively. From numerical simulations of the modeled fiber amplifiers, the optimal lengths of the two fibers to have equal power at two colors centered at 1035 nm and 1105 nm are in agreement with our experimental results. Numerical simulations have also been performed to demonstrate the impact of using a flat-top, two-color seed spectrum on the system performance.     

Microsecond pulsed optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched fiber laser

We report on what is to our knowledge the first optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by microsecond pulses from a wavelength-tunable solid-state laser. The singly resonant OPO (SRO) is based on a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and pumped with 2.1-micros-long pulses from an actively Q-switched Yb fiber laser. At an average fiber laser power of 3.6 W, the SRO generates 1.9-micros-long pulses with a repetition rate of 25 kHz and an average power of 560 mW at 3360 nm. The SRO was tuned from 1518 to 1634 nm (signal) and from 3145 to 3689 nm (idler) via the crystal temperature and poling period. By all-electronic tuning of the fiber laser wavelength over 19 nm, tuning of the mid-infrared idler wavelength over 195 nm was achieved.     

基于光纤拉曼放大的级联式全光纤1020nm光源

设计并制作了输出功率为196 mW的级联式全光纤1020 nm光源.该光源采用光纤拉曼放大器与掺镜光纤放大器级联的放大方案,实现了对低功率1020 nm种子光的放大.在光纤拉曼放大级,采用了3段不同长度的拉曼增益光纤进行了对比实验,比较了一定信号光功率和抽运光功率下拉曼增益光纤长度对光纤拉曼放大级输出功率的影响;测量了...     

掺镱光纤放大器中的热效应分析

为了研究掺镱双包层单频光纤放大器中受激布里渊散射产生的规律,从含有受激布理渊散射的速率方程和热传导方程出发,对光纤放大器中的热效应问题进行了理论分析.讨论了泵浦功率、包层半径和换热系数对受激布理渊散射的影响,所得结论为实验研究单频光纤放大器中受激布理渊散射的变化规律提供了理论依据.     

High-energy, diode-pumped, picosecond Yb:YAG chirped-pulse regenerative amplifier for pumping optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

A diode-pumped, cryogenic-cooled Yb:YAG regenerative amplifier utilizing gain-narrowing has been developed. A 1.2-ns chirped-seed pulse was simultaneously amplified and compressed in the regenerative amplifier, which generated a 35-ps pulse with ~8-mJ of energy without a pulse compressor. Second-harmonics of the amplified pulse was used to pump picosecond two-color optical parametric amplification.     

高功率,红光至中红外可调谐腔内和频光学参量振荡器

本文利用高重复频率,高平均功率大模场面积飞秒光纤激光器作为同步抽运源,抽运以多周期极化掺氧化镁铌酸锂为非线性晶体的单共振光学参量振荡器,获得了高功率可调谐红光至中红外光,信号光调谐范围为1450—2200 nm,闲频光调谐范围为2250—4000 nm,在2 W的抽运功率下,信号光输出波长为1502 nm时获得最大输出功率374 mW,转换效率为18.7%,脉冲宽度为144 fs,此时中红外输出中心波长为3.4μm,平均功率为166 mW.再利用BBO晶体对信号光进行腔内和频,获得和频光输出波长调谐范围为610—668 nm,在4.1 W抽运的情况下,最高平均功率为615 nm处的694 mW,转换效率达16.9%.     

一种基于增益调制技术的全光纤化脉冲Yb光纤激光器

以波长为975 nm的半导体激光器作为泵浦源,周期性地脉冲泵浦一个包含Yb掺杂光纤和光纤光栅对的Yb光纤激光器,实现了基于增益调制技术的全光纤化高功率Yb光纤激光器的稳定脉冲输出.在50 kHz重频下,采用20 W的泵浦功率和2.4 μs的泵浦脉冲宽度,获得了1 060 nm波长脉冲宽度仅100 ns的稳定脉冲激光输出,单脉冲激光能量约为20 μJ.以此作为脉冲激光种子进行功率放大,获得了性能稳定的全光纤结构高功率脉冲激光输出,放大后单脉冲能量超过200 μJ,激光放大器斜率效率达到60%.     

超短脉冲掺Yb3+光纤放大器实验研究

通过采用不同类型和不同长度掺Yb3+光纤进行被动锁模光纤放大器的实验研究.获得了最大输出功率为140 mW,单脉冲能量为5.5 nJ的超短脉冲.实验分析表明:掺杂光纤绿色荧光的产生和自吸收是影响放大器光转换效率的主要原因.绿色荧光的产生为Yb3+离子间相互作用引起合作能量转移过程,这种能量转移过程将降低光纤放大器的量子效率.     

光纤激光泵浦MgO:PPLN高功率中波红外光参量振荡器

为实现高效率、高功率中波红外激光输出,研制基于MgO:PPLN晶体的中波红外光参量振荡器（OPO）,泵浦源为基于主振荡功率放大（MOPA）结构的线偏振掺Yb光纤激光器（YDFL）。实验结果表明:YDFL可实现最高79.1 W的1064.1 nm脉冲线偏振激光输出;在YDFL泵浦下,通过优化输出镜曲率半径和泵浦光束腰直径,该OPO实现最高9.15 W的3.754 μm脉冲激光输出,光光转换效率为11.57%,重复频率为300 kHz,脉冲宽度约为110 ns。     

Highly efficient cryogenically-cooled Yb:YAG laser

A MOPA laser system for high pulse energy and high average power has been developed by using a cryogenic Yb:YAG. In the regenerative amplifier with our original TRAM architecture, the high pulse energies of 6.5 and 1.5 mJ were obtained at the repetition rate of 200 Hz and 1 kHz, respectively. An optical efficiency was as high as η_o-o = 9.3% with an excellent beam quality of M ² < 1.1, which ensured that a cryogenic Yb:YAG TRAM had a high thermal strength. The following four pass power amplifier with a cryogenic Yb:YAG rod showed 140 mJ at 100 Hz. Both a high optical efficiency of η_o-o = 30% and a high slope efficiency of η_s = 44% showed that an efficient laser operation could be realized for a power amplification with both a high pulse energy and a high average power by using a cryogenic Yb:YAG.