Self-similar propagation of high-power parabolic pulses in optical fiber amplifiers

Self-similarity techniques are used to study pulse propagation in a normal-dispersion optical fiber amplifier with an arbitrary longitudinal gain profile. Analysis of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation that describes such an amplifier leads to an exact solution in the high-power limit that corresponds to a linearly chirped parabolic pulse. The self-similar scaling of the propagating pulse in the amplifier is found to be determined by the functional form of the gain profile, and the solution is confirmed by numerical simulations. The implications for achieving chirp-free pulses after compression of the amplifier output are discussed.     

Asymptotic characteristics of parabolic similariton pulses in optical fiber amplifiers

The fundamental asymptotic nature of parabolic similariton pulses in normal-dispersion fiber amplifiers is experimentally demonstrated. With frequency-resolved optical gating characterization measurements with a fixed input pulse energy, the output parabolic pulse characteristics are shown to be invariant with the input pulse profile and duration and to be completely determined only by the amplifier parameters.     

Influences of finite gain bandwidth on pulse propagation in parabolic fiber amplifiers with distributed gain profiles

The evolutions of the pulses propagating in decreasing and increasing gain distributed fiber amplifiers with finite gain bandwidths are investigated by simulations with the nonlinear Schr¨odinger equation. The results show that the parabolic pulse propagations in both the decreasing and the increasing gain amplifiers are restricted by the finite gain bandwidth. For a given input pulse, by choosing a small initial gain coefficient and gain variation rate, the whole gain for the pulse amplification limited by the gain bandwidth may be higher, which is helpful for the enhancement of the output linearly chirped pulse energy. Compared to the decreasing gain distributed fiber amplifier, the increasing gain distributed amplifier may be more conducive to suppress the pulse spectral broadening and increase the critical amplifier length for achieving a larger output linearly chirped pulse energy.     

Influences of finite gain bandwidth on pulse propagating in parabolic fiber amplifiers with distributed gain profiles

The evolutions of the pulses propagating in decreasing and increasing gain distributed fiber amplifiers with finite gain bandwidths are investigated by simulating with the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The results show that the parabolic pulse propagations in both the decreasing and the increasing gain amplifiers are restricted by the finite gain bandwidth. For a given input pulse, by choosing small initial gain coefficient and gain variation rate, the whole gain for the pulse amplification limited by the gain bandwidth may be higher, which is helpful to the enhancement of the output linearly chirped pulse energy. Compared to the decreasing gain distributed fiber amplifier, the increasing gain distributed amplifier may be more conducive to suppress the pulse spectral broadening and increase the critical amplifier length for achieving a larger output linearly chirped pulse energy.     

光纤放大器中的自相似抛物脉冲

本文研究在含有增益色散、增益饱和、三阶色散、自频移、自陡峭等效应的光纤放大器中自相似抛物脉冲的产生和传输。结果表明,在渐近约束条件下,自相似脉冲的中心区域可用倒置的抛物脉冲来描绘,并且它的有效脉宽和功率都是线性增长的,而峰值振幅和频谱宽度保持常量。数值模拟结果与理论预期符合的非常好,这表明:在光纤放大器中,在适当的条件下初始输入脉冲可自相似地演化为抛物脉冲。     

Proposal and analysis of a reconfigurable pulse shaping technique based on multi-arm optical differentiators

We propose and numerically investigate an optical pulse re-shaping method based on multi-arm ultrafast optical differentiators. In this approach, the desired (arbitrary) optical pulse shape is synthesized by coherently overlapping different successive time derivatives of an input optical pulse (not necessarily a Gaussian-shape pulse), including the input pulse itself, with suitable relative weights. Time derivatives of (sub-)picosecond pulses can be obtained using first and higher-order ultrafast optical differentiators practically implemented with integrated waveguide or fiber-based linear filtering technologies. Different output pulse shapes can be generated from the same platform by properly programming the relative weights among the different pulse derivatives. The effective bandwidth of the output waveform is not necessarily limited by the input pulse bandwidth but rather it depends on the highest derivative order used for the pulse synthesis. Our results reveal that interesting transform-limited pulse shapes (including flat-top and parabolic waveforms) can be synthesized from Gaussian-like (e.g. Gaussian, sech) pulses using a simple and practical three-arm ultrafast differentiation system with amplitude-only relative weights.     

Dependence of parabolic pulse amplification on stimulated Raman scattering and gain bandwidth

An analytical model has been developed and verified by numerical simulations to determine limits induced by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) on parabolic pulse evolution in high-power, high-energy Yb-fiber amplifiers. Our results show that the maximum achievable parabolic pulse energies are limited by SRS at low amplifier gains and by the finite gain bandwidth at high gains. Therefore, an optimum gain value exists that maximizes the achievable output pulse energy.     

脉冲形状对脉冲经光纤放大器传输后功率增益的影响

基于描述脉冲放大过程的时间相关非线性辐射迁移方程,对不同形状脉冲经掺镱光纤放大器传输后的功率特性进行了分析,该方程同时考虑了光与介质的相互作用.数值结果表明,在相同的脉冲能量下,不同形状脉冲经放大器放大后的功率增益随入射脉冲形状不同而不同,并且功率增益的差异在脉冲前沿比较大.这使得放大器输出脉冲峰值向前沿的偏移量以及峰值功率的放大倍数都与脉冲形状有关.尤其是当入射脉冲的能量较大时,不同形状脉冲的峰值功率的放大倍数明显不同,以超高斯脉冲为最大,高斯脉冲、双曲正割脉冲次之,洛伦兹脉冲最小.     

Highly Stable, Diode-Pumped Nd：YLF Regenerative Amplifier

We present the design and experimental results for a diode pumped Nd：YLF regenerative amplifier applied to amplify a nanosecond laser pulse. Numerical simulation shows that the maximum output energy and the best stability can be obtained when the regenerative amplifier operates in a saturated mode for all pulse duration and temporal profiles. Using extra post-pulse is a good method to decrease the square-pulse distortion caused by gain saturation effect. The amplifier shows output energy of 4.2mJ with a total energy gain of more than 10^7 and output energy stability of better than 1% rms. When extra post-pulse is added, square-pulse distortion is decreased from 1.33 to 1.17 for the amplifier that is seeded with an optical pulse of 3ns.     

Multistage Fiber Amplifier with Spectral Compression Elements for High-Energy Laser Pulse Generation

We consider general principles of spectral compression of parabolic pulses in nonlinear optical fibers. It is known that the variance analysis provides a way to describe correctly the evolution of the pulse parameters under the spectral compression. We propose a computational model of multistage amplifier with spectral compression segments incorporated. The model provides the possibility to amplify middle-power input pulses to obtain pulse energies of hundreds of nanojoules with such output spectral characteristics that provide the possibility for further effective enhancement. We also discuss a modification of the model that provides the formation of a parabolic envelope and linear frequency modulation of the output pulse.     

Pulse amplification characteristics of multimode fiber amplifier

Under small signal situation, the analytical expression for describing the output signal emitted from an Yb³⁺-doped fiber amplifier with a Gaussian input pulse signal is deduced, by full considering both fiber guided modes’ propagation constant and filling factor, which depend on the signal frequency. Pumped by continue wave (CW) source, the analytical expressions of the small signal gain and each guided mode's output power are obtained. Based on these analytical expressions, the various intensity distributions of output pulses amplified by the fiber amplifier with different Gaussian input pulse widths are analyzed.     

Analysis of ultrafast nonlinear phenomena��s influences on output optical pulses and four-wave mixing characteristics in semiconductor optical amplifiers

We have analysed the output pulse characteristics of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). It is shown that they can be modified due to the variation of input parameters, such as, gain, input pulsewidth, input pulse energy and effects imposed by the medium. Therefore, the influence of these parameters are analysed on the output pulse shape, spectrum, chirp and pulsewidth. We have used the nonlinear propagation equation taking into account the gain spectrum dynamics, gain saturation which depends on carrier depletion, carrier heating, spectral hole-burning, group velocity dispersion, self-phase modulation and two photon absorption. We have used the finite-difference beam propagation method to simulate the wave evolution both in time and spectral domain in the SOA. We have also simulated the four-wave mixing characteristics between pulses for various input pulses. An accurate output pulse shape can be achieved by controlling the mentioned parameters. To the authors knowledge, pulse shaping in co-propagation regime due to medium effect and input pulse shapes in presence of all nonlinear effects relevant to picosecond regime have been studied comprehensively, for the first time in this work.     

增益色散和双光子吸收对光纤放大器中自相似脉冲的影响

以包含增益色散、增益饱和、三阶色散、自陡峭、自频移等高阶效应的光纤放大器为研究对象,对其产生渐近抛物型自相似脉冲的条件及传输特性进行了详细的讨论.结果表明,合理选择系统参数,在渐近约束条件下,可以获得不同振幅和脉宽大小的自相似脉冲;此外,非线性增益(或吸收)与非线性谱宽限制在自相似脉冲存在的范围内近似成线性比例关系,且脉冲的有效脉宽,功率,峰值振幅及能量的大小及增长速度也将随参数的变化面变化.相关结果将为实验中调节光纤放大器以及系统参数的选择提供一定的理论参考.     

Ported from Self-Similar Analytic Solutions of Ginzburg--Landau Equation with Varying Coefficients

Employing the technique of symmetry reduction of analytic method, we solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation with varying nonlinear, dispersion, gain coefficients, and gain dispersion which originates from the limiting effect of transition bandwidth in the realistic doped fibres. The parabolic asymptotic self-similar analytical solutions in gain medium of the normal GVD is found for the first time to our best knowledge. The evolution of pulse amplitude, strict linear phase chirp and effective temporal width are given with self-similarity results in longitudinal nonlinearity distribution and longitudinal gain fibre. These analytical solutions are in good agreement with the numerical simulations. Furthermore, we theoretically prove that pulse evolution has the characteristics of parabolic asymptotic self-similarity in doped ions dipole gain fibres.     

长脉冲X波段多注相对论速调管放大器的初步实验研究

设计了工作在长脉冲的X波段同轴强流多注相对论速调管放大器, 对长脉冲强流多注电子束在多注器件结构中的传输、电子束经过输入腔和中间腔后的束流调制以及经过输出腔的微波提取等过程进行了实验研究, 采用了相应的设计措施以减轻实验中出现的脉冲缩短现象, 得到了初步的长脉冲实验结果. 在输入微波功率60 kW、频率9.378 GHz、电子束电压700 kV、束流4.2 kA、轴向引导磁感应强度1 T的条件下, 重频5Hz输出微波功率为670 MW, 脉宽89 ns, 效率为23%, 增益为40 dB, 输出微波频率与输入微波一致. 从实验上验证了几十千瓦级输入微波驱动X波段同轴多注RKA输出几百兆瓦长脉冲高功率微波的可行性, 为后续更高功率研究打下了基础.     

Modeling and optimizing of low-repetition-rate high-energy pulse amplification in high-concentration erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Starting from the modeling of isolated ions and ion-pairs, a closed form rate and power evolution equations for pulse amplification in high-concentration erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are constructed. According to the equations, the effects of ion-pairs on the performance of a high-concentration EDFA in steady state including upper-state population, ASE powers without input signal are analyzed numerically. Furthermore, the effects of ion-pairs on the dynamic characteristics of low-repetition-rate pulse amplification in the EDFA including the storied energy, output pulse energy and evolution of pulse waveform distortion are systematically studied by using the finite-difference method. The results show that the presence of the ion-pairs deteriorates amplifier performance, such as the upper-state population, ASE power, storied energy, output pulse energy, and saturated gain, etc. For the high-concentration EDFA, the optimum fiber length should be modified to achieve a better performance. The relations between the evolution of pulse waveform distortion or output pulse energy and the input pulse peak power are also discussed. The results can provide important guide for the design and optimization of the low-repetition-rate pulse amplification in high-concentration EDFAs.     

Integrated injection seeded terahertz source and amplifier for time-domain spectroscopy

We used a terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser (QCL) as an integrated injection seeded source and amplifier for THz time-domain spectroscopy. A THz input pulse is generated inside a QCL by illuminating the laser facet with a near-IR pulse from a femtosecond laser and amplified using gain switching. The THz output from the QCL is found to saturate upon increasing the amplitude of the THz input power, which indicates that the QCL is operating in an injection seeded regime.     

Higher-order effects on self-similar parabolic pulse in the microstructured fibre amplifier

By considering higher-order effects, the properties of self-similar parabolic pulses propagating in the microstructured fibre amplifier with a normal group-velocity dispersion have been investigated. The numerical results indicate that the higher-order effects can badly distort self-similar parabolic pulse shape and optical spectrum, and at the same time the peak shift and oscillation appear, while the pulse still reveals highly linear chirp but grows into asymmetry. The influence of different higher-order effects on self-similar parabolic pulse propagation has been analysed. It shows that the self-steepening plays a more important role. We can manipulate the geometrical parameters of the microstructured fibre amplifier to gain a suitable dispersion and nonlinearity coefficient which will keep high-quality self-similar parabolic pulse propagation. These results are significant for the further study of self-similar parabolic pulse propagation.     

掺铒光纤环镜中超短光孤子的放大与压缩Ⅱ.环镜及输入脉冲特性对放大结果的影响

最近的研究发现,用掺铒光纤环镜放大并压缩超短光孤子不仅能避免常规掺铒光纤放大器中由于非线性效应引起的孤子畸变,而且可克服绝热放大技术中放大器长度随输入脉宽增大而指数规律增大的困难。进一步研究了环镜及输入脉冲特性对放大结果的影响。数值计算表明,对于确定的输入脉冲,当环镜参量(环镜长度、增益、耦合器功率耦合系数)在较大范围内变化时,环镜放大器的孤子输出性能基本稳定。对于确定的环镜,输入脉冲形状的变化、初始输入功率的起伏以及高阶效应等因素对放大结果的影响较小;相对而言,初始频率啁啾对输出孤子宽度的影响较大,但对输出孤子质量的影响并不严重。     

Efficient dispersion tailoring by designing alternately arranged dispersion compensating fibers and fiber amplifiers to create self-similar parabolic pulses

The parabolic similariton pulse formation by alternate arrangements of passive and active dispersion compensating fibers (DCFs) is presented here. These combinations of passive and active DCFs with constant core radii and constant nonlinearities are suggested as equivalent profiles of a dispersion tailored fiber amplifier in normal dispersion regime. The dispersion tailored fibers, usually known as dispersion decreasing fibers (DDFs) in normal dispersion regime, are capable of producing linearly chirped parabolic self-similar pulses. The DDF is designed and optimized with proper choice of fiber parameters so that considerable variation of nonlinearity can be achieved, which in turn enhances the effective gain coefficient of the fiber. Inclusion of this nonlinear variation along the DDF amplifier length leads to obtain the simulated output pulses with very small misfit parameters with respect to perfect parabolic pulse at sufficiently reduced optimum length. At the same time to avoid the fabrication difficulties of the DDF, the alternately arranged passive and active DCFs are suggested as suitable alternatives of the DDF. The performances of the cascaded systems for generation of self-similar parabolic pulses are compared with that of the DDF amplifier as well as combined systems consisting of DCFs with equal gain. The results show that the proposed alternately arranged cascaded system with less pumping requirements, are efficient enough to produce similar parabolic pulses as compared to the previously designed DDF, even when considerable amount of splice loss at each joint is included.