Coherent beam combining of pulsed fiber lasers with hybrid phase control

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for coherent combining of all-fiber pulsed lasers with hybrid phase control involving passive phasing and active phasing for the first time. Synchronized and passive phased pulsed laser array is built by intra-activity phase modulation. Active phase control on the passive phased pulsed laser array using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm provides stable in-phase coherent beam combining pattern in a turbulent atmosphere. The fringe visibility is increased from 0 two 0.43 and the power encircled in the main-lobe is 1.616 times increased when the system evolves from passive phasing to hybrid phasing. The architecture can be easily scaled up to high power by increasing power of each individual laser, number of laser elements and introduction of power amplifiers, which will lead a promising way for scaleable high power coherent beam combining of pulsed lasers.     

自由旋涡气动窗口自适应光学波前校正初步研究

 自由旋涡气动窗口能有效地替代高能激光器传统晶体输出镜，起到密封激光器低腔压的作用。利用现有的37单元室内自适应光学系统，对自由旋涡气动窗口的输出激光波前畸变进行自适应光学波前校正。给出了自适应光学系统对气动窗口畸变波前的校正原理，采用直接斜率法在设计状态下对畸变波前进行了校正实验。结果表明，该自适应光学系统能够较好地校正工作在设计状态下的自由旋涡气动窗口对输出激光所引起的波前畸变。     

两个光纤激光器的互相注入锁定

光纤激光器的相干合成技术是实现高功率、高亮度光纤激光系统的重要技术途径.利用分束器分光使两个光纤激光器的能量互相注入，从而使两个光纤激光器达到锁相锁模实现相干输出. 实验研究表明：在独立运行的情况下，两个光纤激光器的远场光斑只是两个激光器光强的简单叠加；在互相注入锁定的情况下，两个光纤激光器的远场光斑是具有高对比度的干涉条纹，并得到两个激光器的输出模式总为异相模.这与理论分析的结果相一致. 关键词： 光纤激光器 相干合成 锁相     

Development of medium power, compact, all-solid-state lasers

Conclusions  We have briefly reviewed some of the applications of diode-pumping to solid-state laser systems. The potential of this combination is already well demonstrated in these few examples which only consider medium-power applications. New highly efficient laser crystals like Yb:YAG, and new pumping schemes like that employed in newly developed thin-disk lasers also appear promising as an alternative approach to medium-high power all-solid-state lasers [44]. High-power systems have also been developed for industrial, medical and environmental applications [45]; their massive use, however, largely depends on diode-bar cost drop, by this time being well-established that the more efficient pumping solution for these high power bulk systems is side-pumping. An increasingly attractive alternative to diode-pumped medium power infrared cw lasers is currently represented by diode-pumped fibre lasers, which generate as much as 35 W in a diffraction-limited beam. This technology offers superior ruggedness and compactness, but is presently limited to cw operation or very low-energyQ-switching. In conclusion, we strongly believe that an improved technology for more reliable and low-cost diode bar production could accelerate the power scale up of DPSS laser systems and quickly push them to fully replace all the other laser competitors.     

Ultra-fast speed, low grating lobe optical beam steering using unequally spaced phased array technique

In this paper, we present a low grating lobe optical beam steering technique using an unequally spaced phased array, in which the required spacings among the phase elements are quantitatively analyzed so that the grating lobe can be minimized by destructive interference. A large grating lobe is one of the major drawbacks of optical phased array technology because it limits the light efficiency and the quality of the light beam. Thus, the low grating lobe technique presented in this paper could substantially improve the light efficiency and the quality of light beam, and could potentially be used in a variety of applications such as fast speed ladar beam steering, large size high resolution displays, and wide bandwidth free space optics communications.     

用于光纤拉曼放大器抽运源的单级光纤拉曼激光器

抽运光源是光纤拉曼放大器应用于密集波分复用系统的关键技术,设计了一种紧凑型的808nm激光二极管抽运的基于钒酸钇（Nd^3＋：YVO4）晶体1342nm固体激光器模块,提出利用上述1342nm固体激光器抽运基于光纤光栅的单级全光纤型拉曼谐振器获得1．4μm激光输出的光纤拉曼激光器,分析了固体激光器的阈值特性、性能优化方法和单级光纤拉曼谐振器的设计方法。上述1342nm固体激光器模块在抽运功率2W时获得了最大655mW的激光输出功率和42．6％的斜率效率,单级拉曼谐振器的1342nm到1．4μm光功率转换斜率效率达75％,在1425nm、1438nm、1455nm和1490nm处的输出功率达到300mW以上。最后给出基于1．4μm光纤拉曼激光器抽运的宽带平坦放大的光纤拉曼放大器的结构参量和性能测试结果。     

自由旋涡气动窗口自适应光学波前校正初步研究

自由旋涡气动窗口能有效地替代高能激光器传统晶体输出镜 ,起到密封激光器低腔压的作用。利用现有的 37单元室内自适应光学系统 ,对自由旋涡气动窗口的输出激光波前畸变进行自适应光学波前校正。给出了自适应光学系统对气动窗口畸变波前的校正原理 ,采用直接斜率法在设计状态下对畸变波前进行了校正实验。结果表明 ,该自适应光学系统能够较好地校正工作在设计状态下的自由旋涡气动窗口对输出激光所引起的波前畸变     

高能激光技术进展与面临的挑战

文章分析和比较了几种高能激光器技术发展现状和面临的挑战,以及各自可能适用的范围.特别对二极管抽运固体激光器和光纤激光器的几种束相干合成方法和光束质量评价方法进行了分析和讨论.二极管抽运固体激光器和光纤激光器近十年来异军突起,被人们看作是继化学激光器后的第二代高能激光器.光纤激光器进展要比二极管抽运固体激光器滞后5到10年.对几十万瓦以上的激光器来说,在相当长的时间内仍然要靠化学激光器.     

Coherent beam combining of hybrid phase control in master oscillator-power amplifier configuration

A novel scalable architecture for coherent beam combining with hybrid phase control involving passive phasing and active phasing in master oscillator-power amplifier configuration is presented. Wide-linewidth mutually injected passive phasing fibre laser arrays serve as master oscillators for the power amplifiers, and the active phasing using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm is induced. Wide-linewidth seed laser can suppress the stimulated Brillouin scattering effectively and improve the output power of the fibre laser amplifier, while hybrid phase control provides a robust way for in-phase mode coherent beam combining simultaneously. Experiment is performed by active phasing fibre laser amplifiers with passive phasing fibre ring laser array seed lasers. Power encircled in the main-lobe increases1.57 times and long-exposure fringe contrast is obtained to be 78% when the system evolves from passive phasing to hybrid phasing.     

不同波形脉冲激光的时域误差对相干合成的影响

相干合成技术是实现高功率、高亮度光纤激光系统的重要技术途径.然而, 脉冲激光阵列中常常存在时域误差,这将影响脉冲激光的相干合成效果. 建立了脉冲激光存在时域误差时的相干合成理论模型,并在不同波形(方波、三角波、正弦波) 的脉冲激光存在时域误差时,对相干合成光束在远场的脉冲波形、峰值功率、 光强分布和桶中功率(PIB)等特性进行了数值计算和对比分析.计算结果表明: 方波脉冲激光相干合成光束的脉冲波形受时域误差影响严重,光强分布和PIB随着时域误差 的增大发生线性变化;三角波脉冲激光相干合成光束的脉冲波形和峰值功率受时域误差 影响严重,光强分布和PIB在时域误差较大时随着时域误差的增大发生较为剧烈的变化; 正弦波脉冲激光相干合成光束具有较好的输出特性,在两路正弦波脉冲激光相干合成中, 将两脉冲之间的时延控制在脉冲持续时间的10%以内,就能取得良好的合成效果.     

A novel wavelength switchable fiber laser source and its application in photonics beamforming for optically controlled phased array antenna

A novel wavelength-switchable fiber laser source that can individually scan 14 required wavelengths within 40 ms, and its application in photonics true time delay beamforming is presented in this paper. The laser source is constructed using a unidirectional fiber ring cavity, a tunable fiber Fabry–Perot filter and two cascaded sampled fiber Bragg gratings with the wavelength spacing of 1.6 nm. A five-channel true-time-delay system using the proposed fiber laser source cooperating with a single-mode fiber and four chirped-grating-based is constructed and demonstrated for the application of phased array antenna beam steering. Continuous beam steering at the microwave frequency up to 20 GHz has been achieved. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.81.Wg; 84.40.Ba     

Optimum beam steering of optical phased arrays using mixed weighting technique

In this paper, we present a novel technique for high precision optical beam steering of optical phased arrays (OPA) using mixed weighting method. Optimal OPA parameters are determined to obtain the best beam directivity by minimizing the main lobe width and eliminating grating lobes of the far field diffraction pattern. The quantitative analysis for a fibre-type optical phased array is given. The calculation results demonstrate that the grating lobe level can be distinctly reduced from 80% to 20% of the main lobe level. Thus, the mixed weighting technique proposed in this paper can substantially improve the beam steering efficiency and the beam quality.     

相控阵天线主控系统中实时数据交互

波束控制系统是高功率相控阵天线的神经中枢,负责天线阵面中所有单元相位的精确控制和状态监测任务。为实现天线阵面的快速、精确波束转换,采用分布式拓扑结构和嵌入式实时操作系统,设计了两级分布式波束控制方案,开发了基于VxWorks的相控阵天线主控系统。通过UDP协议实现主控系统与其他系统的多节点网络通讯;针对高速、实时通讯需求,利用VxWorks多任务编程接口,设计了一种基于双缓冲队列的Socket通讯方法;为使通讯被各方正确解析,制定了自定义的应用层协议。基于VxWorks的相控阵天线主控系统的开发应用,验证了方案的可行性以及控制软件的可靠性和稳定性。     

光纤激光相控阵相干合成技术研究进展

主要介绍了近年来光纤激光相控阵相干合成技术的发展现状,总结了中国科学院光电技术研究所在这方面的最新研究成果,包括基于振幅调制的光纤激光相控阵相干合成能力优化、光纤激光相控阵实现收发一体相干合成、光纤激光相控阵的目标在回路相干合成、光纤激光相控阵在大气湍流下实现耦合接收光束的共相合束、基于多孔径波前探测的相干合成方法、基于自适应光纤准直器和微透镜阵列的光束大角度高精度连续寻址扫描等。以上研究工作将促进光纤激光相控阵技术朝向更多单元、更高功率、更远距离等方向演进,并推动其与激光大气传输、空间激光通信、自适应光学等理论和应用的结合与发展。     

Ka-band E-plane Beam Steering/Shaping Phased Array System Using Antipodal Elliptically-tapered Slot Antenna

In this letter, we present a Ka-band 8-element E-plane beam steering/shaping phased antenna array (PAA) using antipodal elliptically tapered slot antenna (AETSA). The power feeding network, phase shifter and antenna element were fabricated on a single low cost PCB substrate to avoid the extra loss caused by connection of different circuit pieces and for easier integration and easier fabrication. The system achieved wide scanning angle, which is from −21° to +24° and the 3 dB beamwidth is widened by 10°, the latter being the requirement for plasma imaging application.     

Simulation of 3-D radiation beam patterns propagated through a planar interface from ultrasonic phased array transducers

Phased array transducers are quite often mounted on solid wedges with specific angles in many practical ultrasonic inspections of thin plates <10 mm in their thickness or welded joints with convex crowns. For the reliable application of phased array techniques with testing set-up, it is essential to have thorough understanding on the characteristics of radiation beam pattern produced in the interrogated medium. To address such a need, this paper proposes a systematic way to calculate full 3-D radiation beam patterns produced in the interrogated solid medium by phased array transducers mounted on a solid wedge. In order to investigate the characteristics of radiation beam patterns in steel, simulation is carried out for 7.5 MHz array transducers mounted on an acrylic wedge with the angle of 15.45 degrees with various of steering angles and/or focal planes.     

二极管泵浦Nd:YAG圆片激光技术研究

介绍了热容激光技术的发展历史及现状,介绍了固体激光器热容方式工作的基本原理,报道了二极管泵浦NdYAG圆片激光器热容方式工作的实验结果.用热像仪测量了激光器工作时增益介质通光面上的温度分布特性;采用干涉测量的方法测量了工作中的增益介质的与光束传输方向相垂直的方向上的折射率分布特性;结果表明片状固体增益介质热容方式工作对振荡光束波前畸变影响很小.给出了与光束传输方向相垂直的截面上增益介质的荧光分布.得到输出平均功率达47.5 W,此时的光-光转换效率为17%.     

High power fiber lasers

In this review article, the development of the double cladding optical fiber for high power fiber lasers is reviewed. The main technology for high power fiber lasers, including laser diode beam shaping, fiber laser pumping techniques, and amplification systems, are discussed in detail. 1050 W CW output and 133 W pulsed output are obtained in Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, China. Finally, the applications of fiber lasers in industry are also reviewed.      

多层介质中超声相控阵声场仿真*

由于良好的声束偏转与聚焦特性,超声相控阵已经广泛应用于多层固体介质的缺陷检测。当超声束经过多层介质时,由于反射、透射以及模式转换的存在,多种声束存在于这种结构中,使得声场分析变得复杂。为了提高多层介质检测的准确性,有必要对超声声场的分布规律进行深入地了解。该文结合高斯声束等效点源模型以及射线追踪法,给出了相控阵声源在多层固体介质中激发声场的仿真方法,并且模拟计算了一维线型相控阵在楔块-铝-黄铜-钢四层固体介质中的辐射声场。通过对不同延时法则的计算,实现了声波在这种复杂介质中的偏转与聚焦,进而研究了不同焦点处聚焦声场的分布。结果表明:相控阵方法能使聚焦点处的声场幅值增大,能量集中,提高了检测分辨率;不同聚焦点处声场聚焦效果不同,实际检测时应根据检测区域结构及位置特点,合理放置相控阵换能器。与瑞利积分法的比较表明,该文的仿真方法适用于多层介质相控阵声场的计算。     

Speckle-metric-optimization-based adaptive optics for laser beam projection and coherent beam combining

Maximization of a projected laser beam's power density at a remotely located extended object (speckle target) can be achieved by using an adaptive optics (AO) technique based on sensing and optimization of the target-return speckle field's statistical characteristics, referred to here as speckle metrics (SM). SM AO was demonstrated in a target-in-the-loop coherent beam combining experiment using a bistatic laser beam projection system composed of a coherent fiber-array transmitter and a power-in-the-bucket receiver. SM sensing utilized a 50 MHz rate dithering of the projected beam that provided a stair-mode approximation of the outgoing combined beam's wavefront tip and tilt with subaperture piston phases. Fiber-integrated phase shifters were used for both the dithering and SM optimization with stochastic parallel gradient descent control.