Sub-100 kHz repetition rate erbium-doped fiber laser in anomalous dispersion regime

We propose and demonstrate a simple but efficient way to generate low repetition rate pulses in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser by using self-pulsing technique. About 2.25 km long single mode fiber is used to elongate in the cavity, providing large anomalous cavity dispersion in the wavelength region around 1550 nm. Self pulses at a repetition rate of 85.3 kHz with single pulse energy as high as 110 nJ are efficiently obtained on the nanosecond time scale. The experimental results demonstrate that the self-pulse fiber laser operating in the anomalous dispersion regime can also realize high-energy pulses at a very low pulse repetition rate.     

High repetition rate actively mode-locked Er:fiber laser with tunable pulse duration

An actively mode-locked fiber laser with controllable pulse repetition rate and tunable pulse duration is presented, in which an optical delay line(ODL) is used to adjust the cavity length precisely for regulating the repetition rate, and a semiconductor optical amplifier(SOA) is introduced for enabling the pulse duration control. Experimentally, continuous tuning of the repetition rate from 2 GHz to 6 GHz is realized, which is limited by the availability of an even higher repetition rate radiof...     

All-solid-state high-peak-power Ti:sapphire laser system above 5-kHz repetition rate

We have developed an all-solid-state Ti:sapphire laser system, which produces 22-fs, 0.2-TW pulses at 5-kHz repetition rate. An average power of 22.2 W is the highest ever obtained in ultrashort laser sources. The serious thermal lensing due to high power pumping in a small area of Ti:sapphire crystal is controlled successfully by a stable quasi-cavity with two concave mirrors. The attempt to increase the repetition rate to 10 kHz is also described.     

Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier with tunable repetition rate and pulse duration

A pulsed master-oscillator power fiber amplifier (MOPFA) system based on Yb³⁺-doped large mode area (LMA) double-clad optical fiber was developed. The system generated pulses of changeable duration ranging from about 8.5 to 250.0 ns at the repetition rate of up to 500 kHz. The laser system emitted up to 22 W of average output power at the wavelength of 1064 nm.     

Eye-safe, high-energy, single-mode all-fiber laser with widely tunable repetition rate

We present a novel high-energy, single-mode, all-fiber-based master-oscillator-power-amplifier （MOPA） laser system operating in the C-band with 3.3-ns pulses and a very widely tunable repetition rate, ranging from 30 kHz to 50 MHz. The laser with a maximum pulse energy of 25 μJ and a repetition rate of 30 kHz is obtained at a wavelength of 1548 nm by using a double-clad, single-mode, Er：Yb co-doped fiber power amolifier.     

Passively mode-locked Raman fiber laser with 100 GHz repetition rate

We experimentally demonstrate the operation of a passively mode-locked Raman fiber ring laser with an ultrahigh repetition rate of 100 GHz and up to 430 mW of average output power. This laser constitutes a simple wavelength versatile pulsed optical source. Stable mode locking is based on dissipative four-wave mixing with a single fiber Bragg grating acting as the mode-locking element.     

Environmentally stable picosecond Yb fiber laser with low repetition rate

A SESAM-mode-locked, all-polarization-maintaining Ytterbium fiber laser producing picosecond pulses with narrow spectral bandwidth is presented. A simple linear all-fiber cavity without dispersion compensation is realized using a uniform fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Different cavity lengths are investigated and repetition rates down to 0.7 MHz are obtained. Bandwidth and pulse duration of the output pulses are mainly determined by the choice of FBG. Pulses between 30 and 200 ps are generated employing different FBGs with bandwidths between 17 and 96 pm. The experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations. The laser holds great potential for simple amplification setups without pulse picking.     

Tunable and switchable dual-wavelength passively mode-locked fiber ring laser with high-energy pulses at a sub-100 kHz repetition rate

We demonstrate a tunable and switchable dual-wavelength passively mode-locked fiber ring laser in the anomalous dispersion regime that generates high-energy pulses at a sub-100 kHz repetition rate. The nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique is employed in this configuration to allow for passively mode-locked operation. By exploiting the intensity-dependent loss caused by NPR, the mode competition could be efficiently alleviated. Moreover, taking advantage of the intrinsic spectral filter induced by the intracavity birefringence, the dual-wavelength separations as well as the wavelength lasing locations could be flexibly tuned by properly rotating the polarization controller. With a repetition rate of 85.8 kHz, the laser delivers the single pulse energy of 198 nJ at a pump power of 250 mW. The combination of high per-pulse energy and flexible tunability in this fiber laser is useful for practical applications.     

Dark pulses with tunable repetition rate emission from fiber ring laser

We demonstrated the experimental observation of the dark pulses with tunable repetition rate from an erbium-doped fiber ring laser. A considerable length of high nonlinear fiber is incorporated into the fiber ring laser to enhance the nonlinear intensity. In our experiment, both bright and dark pulses can be observed under the conditions of appropriately setting of the device in the cavity. Further study showed that the dark pulse is formed due to the cross coupling between two different lasing wavelengths. Particularly, dark pulse-train with multiple repetition rates was observed from the laser cavity and the repetition rate switchable operation can be realized by simply adjusting the polarization controller (PC) in the cavity. The operation of multiple repetition rates of dark pulses was further experimentally investigated and detected as a result of pulse splitting of each component with different wavelength.     

Dependence of stimulated Brillouin scattering in pulsed fiber amplifier on signal linewidth,pulse duration,and repetition rate

The dependencies of stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) threshold in pulsed fiber amplifiers on spectral linewidth,pulse duration,and repetition rate are measured and discussed.Experimental results show that the SBS threshold is highly related to spectral linewidth and pulse duration.Therefore,the power handling limitation in a pulsed fiber amplifier may be the average power in some cases and the peak power in others.     

High repetition rate Q-switched microchip Nd:YVO4 laser with pulse duration as short as 1.1 ns

We have demonstrated a compact and an efficient passively Q-switched microchip Nd:YVO₄ laser by using a composite semiconductor absorber as well as an output coupler. The composite semiconductor absorber was composed of an LT (low-temperature grown) In_0.25Ga_0.75As absorber and a pure GaAs absorber. To our knowledge, it was the first demonstration of the special absorber for Q-switching operation of microchip lasers. Laser pulses with durations of 1.1 ns were generated with a 350 μm thick laser crystal and the repetition rate of the pulses was as high as 4.6 MHz. The average output power was 120 mW at the pump power of 700 mW. Pulse duration can be varied from 1.1 to 15.7 ns by changing the cavity length from 0.45 to 5 mm. Pulses with duration of 1.67 and 2.41 ns were also obtained with a 0.7 mm thick laser crystal and a 1 mm thick laser crystal, respectively.     

Passively mode-locked fiber laser with kilohertz magnitude repetition rate and tunable pulse width

We propose and demonstrate a strictly all-fiber, erbium doped passively mode-locked figure-eight fiber laser (EDFL). In the laser structure, we use the nonlinear optical loop mirror combination with a variable ratio coupler (VRC-NOLM) to achieve mode-locking. Due to the nonlinear effect in the nonlinear fiber, stable self-starting pulse is obtained. In order to reduce the repetition of pulse, a segment of nonlinear fiber (NLF) has been incorporated into the VRC-NOLM. The laser generates stable rectangular pulses with a low repetition rate (kilohertz magnitude) by extending the length of the cavity. Furthermore, the output pulse width of the fiber laser can be varied by changing the coupler ratio of the variable ratio coupler.     

Highly efficient synchronous amplification of a picosecond dye laser at a kHz repetition rate

A short pulse, high energy, high repetition rate dye amplifier with superior conversion efficiency is reported. The dye amplifier is composed of three single-pass dye cells, longitudinally pumped by a frequency doubled 1 kHz Nd: YLF regenerative amplifier. The dye amplifier yields 3.5 ps, 150 J pulses at 595 nm, corresponding to a 12% conversion efficiency. The ASE is 1% or less, and the transverse mode quality is near-Gaussian.In absentia from the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA     

Optical breakdown and filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air at a kHz repetition rate

We report the experiments on the optical breakdown and filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air at a kHz repetition rate and with several hundreds micro-joule-energy.A 10m-long filament and its breakup and merging at the nonlinear focal region produced by modulational instability of femtosecond laser pulses in air are observed.A simple model based on the nonlinear Schroedinger equation coupled with multiphoton ionization law is presented to explain the several experimental results.     

Passively harmonic mode-locked fiber laser with controllable repetition rate based on a carbon nanotube saturable absorber

We have proposed and demonstrated a passively harmonic mode-locked fiber laser based on a single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber (SWCNT-SA) that has a controllable repetition rate. With the pump power fixed, we have experimentally observed harmonically mode-locked optical pulses with repetition rates that can be controlled over the range from the fundamental to the seventh-order mode through careful adjustment of the polarization controller only. From the experimental results, we deduce that the likely origin of the self-stabilization is the result of global and local soliton interactions induced by the continuous wave (CW) components.     

Development of a highly stable Yb:YAG thin disk pulsed green laser for high power Ti:sapphire based amplifier at 100 kHz repetition rate

We have developed a pulsed Yb:YAG thin disk green laser for pumping a 100 kHz and 10 W femtosecond laser. We optimized numerically and experimentally the open duration of the acousto-optic (AO) Q-switcher and the internal SHG method, generating stable output energy at a 100 kHz repetition rate. We demonstrated a 515 nm output power of over 80 W with a pulse-to-pulse stability of less than 1% RMS with an LD power to green power conversion efficiency of 24%. With the developed green laser, we obtained 16 W of a Ti:sapphire laser in a cavity dumped mode. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd; 42.60.By; 42.65.-k; 42.65.Re     

A high efficient end-pumped TEM<Subscript>00</Subscript> laser with pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz

An end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser fiber-coupled diode was designed. A maximum output power of 4.74 W TEM₀₀ mode CW laser was obtained for a pump power of 10.5 W. The optical efficiency and slope efficiency were measured as 45.1 and 57.8% at 1064 nm, respectively. In Q-switching operation, 4.45 W average power at a pulse repletion rate of 5 kHz was produced, with a stability of pulse peak value <2%.     

Time-dependent photothermal characterization on damage of fused silica induced by pulsed 355-nm laser with high repetition rate

Time-dependent damage to fused silica induced by high frequency ultraviolet laser is investigated.Photothermal spectroscopy(PTS) and optical microscopy(OM) are utilized to characterize the evolution of damage pits with irradiation time.Experimental results describe that in the pre-damage stage of fused silica sample irradiated by 355-nm laser,the photothermal spectrum signal undergoes a process from scratch to metamorphism due to the absorption of laser energy by defects.During the visible damage stage of fused siliea sample,the photothermal spectrum signal decreases gradually from the maximum value because of the aggravation of the damage and the splashing of the material.This method can be used to estimate the operation lifetime of optical elements in engineering.     

Generation of high-energy dual-wavelength domain wall pulse with low repetition rate in an HNLF-based fiber ring laser

The generation of high-energy dual-wavelength domain wall pulse with a low repetition rate is demonstrated in a highly nonlinear fiber （HNLF）-based fiber ring laser. By introducing the intracavity birefringence-induced spectral filtering effect, the dual-wavelength lasing operation can be achieved. In order to enhance the cross coupling effect between the two lasing beams for domain wall pulse formation, a 215-m HNLF is incorporated into the laser cavity. Experimentally, it is found that the dual-wavelength domain wall pulse with a repetition rate of 77.67 kHz could be efficiently obtained through simply rotating the polarization controller （PC）. At a maximum pump power of 322 mW, the 655-nJ single pulse energy in cavity is obtained. The proposed configuration provides a simpler and more efficient way to generate high energy pulse with a low repetition rate.     

Dispersion and nonlinear phase-shift compensation in high-peak-power short-pulse fiber laser sources using photonic-crystal fibers

Photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) with a specifically designed dispersion profile and nonlinearity are shown to enable an accurate broadband compensation of the stretcher-compressor dispersion in fiber laser sources of high-peak-power ultrashort light pulses. We demonstrate that the nonlinear phase shift in such systems can partially compensate for the fourth-order dispersion, allowing the stretcher—compression group delay to be compensated up to the fourth-order dispersion terms by using a sequence of only two fibers—a standard optical fiber and a PCF.