Environmentally stable all-normal-dispersion femtosecond fiber laser

We demonstrate a mode-locked all-normal-dispersion ytterbium-doped fiber laser constructed with polarization-maintaining fibers. Spectral filtering of a chirped pulse in the cavity, along with a semiconductor saturable absorber, produce self-starting femtosecond mode-locked operation with large normal dispersion. Environmentally stable generation of 2 nJ and 300 fs pulses is achieved.     

Stable nanosecond pulse generation from a graphene-based passively Q-switched Yb-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate stable 70?ns pulse generation from a Yb-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by a graphene-based saturable absorber mirror in a short linear cavity. The maximum output power was 12?mW and the highest single pulse energy was 46?nJ. The repetition rate of the fiber laser can be widely tuned from 140 to 257?kHz along with the increase of the pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for passively Q-switched sub-100-ns pulse operation of a graphene-based saturable absorber in a Yb-doped fiber laser.     

Efficient femtosecond pulse generation in an all-normal-dispersion Yb:fiber ring laser at 605 MHz repetition rate

We report a 1030 nm-wavelength Yb:fiber laser that produces the shortest/direct output pulse duration (502 fs) among all-normal-dispersion fiber lasers at the highest repetition rate (605 MHz) among the passively fundamentally mode-locked fiber lasers. The laser also exhibits an optical efficiency of 70% at CW and 65% at mode-locking modes.     

High-power Yb-doped multicore ribbon fiber laser

A highly elongated double-clad ribbon fiber that comprises a pure-silica inner cladding with transverse dimensions of approximately 1.4 mm by 0.23 mm with a linear array of ten ytterbium-doped cores has been fabricated and operated in a simple laser configuration pumped by two diode stacks. The fiber laser yielded 320 W of output power at a center wavelength of 1045 nm in a combined beam with beam propagation factors of approximately 2 (perpendicular to the array) and approximately 150 (parallel to the array) for 576 W of launched pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to absorbed pump power was 62%. The prospects for further power scaling and improved beam quality and efficiency are discussed.     

High-power double-clad large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber laser

A high power double-clad ytterbium-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber (LMA PCF) laser was demonstrated using a unique Fabry-Perot (F-P) configuration. The pump source is a fiber coupled diode array operating at 976 nm. A continuous wave (CW) output power of 50 W at ～ 1.04 μm with a slope efficiency of 76.3% is obtained. Single transverse mode operation is achieved without any thermal-optical problems. This laser has the potential for scaling to much higher output power.     

高能量掺Yb偏振型大模场面积光子晶体光纤孤子锁模飞秒激光器

实验研究了基于掺Yb偏振型大模场面积光子晶体光纤的孤子锁模激光器,获得了高脉冲能量的飞秒激光输出. 激光器基于线形腔结构,利用光栅对补偿腔内色散,并通过半导体可饱和吸收镜实现锁模的自启动. 实验中从振荡级直接获得了平均功率为700mW, 重复频率为47.3MHz(对应于14.8 nJ的单脉冲能量),脉冲宽度为518 fs的稳定锁模脉冲输出. 与普通孤子锁模飞秒光纤激光器相比,输出的单脉冲能量提高了两个数量级. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 飞秒 光纤激光器 孤子锁模     

Environmentally-stable all-normal-dispersion picosecond Yb-doped fiber laser with an achromatic quarter-wave-plate

We present an environmentally-stable picosecond Yb-doped fiber laser by employing an achromatic quarter-wave-plate (AQWP) as a pulse stabilizer in the all-normal-dispersion and polarization-maintaining linear laser cavity. It is shown that the AQWP plays a critical role to control both the polarization state and spectral filtering of the proposed mode-locked laser. The demonstrated laser generates 2-ps-long pulses with pulse energies of 1 nJ at a repetition rate of 117 MHz and parabolic spectral width of 26 nm. The fundamental RF carrier frequency exhibits Allan deviation of 3.8 × 10⁻⁸ at 1-s averaging time and phase noise of −95 dBc/Hz at 10-Hz offset frequency.     

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.     

Tunable all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped mode-locked fiber lasers

We experimentally investigate continuous wavelength tunability in an all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser with an Yb-doped fiber of a fixed length. The spectral tuning over 46.3 nm, from 1024.5 to 1070.8 nm, is achieved. Spectral dynamics with different pumping levels are demonstrated. The central wavelength of the dissipative solitons shifts 8 nm towards short wavelength with pump power increasing from 168 to 456 mW.     

High-power diode-pumped Yb-doped fiber laser at 1150 nm

A model of steady-state rate equations including amplified spontaneous emission for long-wavelength Yb doped fiber laser is set up, which provides design principle for a practical laser system. We demonstrate a diode-pumped all-fiber Yb-doped fiber laser at 1150 nm with an output power of 33.6 W, the optical efficiency is 60%.     

Adaptive femtosecond pulse shaping to control supercontinuum generation in a microstructure fiber

Efficient confinement of laser radiation in the core of a photonic crystal fiber increases the nonlinear processes resulting in supercontinuum generation. The technique of adaptive pulse shaping using an evolutionary algorithm provides a method to gain control over such highly nonlinear processes. Adaptive pulse shaping of the driving laser radiation passing through the photonic crystal fiber is employed to modify the shape and composition of the output supercontinuum. Amplitude and phase shaping are used to optimize the broadband emission between 500 and 700 nm, as well as a soliton centered at 935 nm. The intensities of the emission and of the soliton driven by a shaped laser pulse increase in comparison to an unshaped pulse by factors of 4 and 3, respectively. The spectral width in the range of 500-600 nm is increased by approximately 40%. In addition, the suppression of self-steepening effects in supercontinuum spectra is demonstrated.     

High-energy soliton pulse generation with a passively mode-locked Er/Yb-doped multifilament-core fiber laser

We report the generation of high-energy short pulses from a mode-locked erbium/ytterbium-doped large-mode-area multifilament-core fiber laser operating in the purely anomalous dispersion regime. The self-starting fiber laser emits 400 mW of average output power at a pulse repetition rate of 44 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 9.1 nJ. The laser produces near transform-limited output pulses with pulse duration of 1.6 ps, corresponding to 5 kW peak power. This new type of low-nonlinearity fibers demonstrates the power and energy scaling potential of fiber-based short pulse lasers in the eye-safe region.     

Fabrication of 16W all-normal-dispersion mode-locked Yb-doped rod-type fiber laser with large-mode area

A mode-locked ytterbium-doped rod-type fiber laser with 85 μm core diameter is developed based on the nonlinear polarization evolution in an all-normal-dispersion ring cavity, in which a uniaxial birefringent plate is used as the spectral filter. Average power up to 16 W is obtained at the repetition rate of 58 MHz, and the pulse duration is compressed to 182 fs with a grating-pair compressor. The output laser pulses show very good beam quality and power stability.     

Wavelength-tunable high-energy soliton pulse generation from a large-mode-area fiber pumped by a time-lens source

We demonstrate high-energy soliton generation from 1560?nm to 1700?nm using soliton self-frequency shift in a large-mode-area fiber. A 1.5?ps time-lens source at 1544?nm is used as the input source. The combination of a time-lens source and soliton self-frequency shift in a large-mode-area fiber enables a turn-key, high pulse quality, wavelength-tunable, energetic femtosecond source with arbitrary pulse repetition rate.     

Second harmonic generation by femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser source based on PPKTP waveguide fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing

The frequency doubling of femtosecond pulses from an Yb-doped fiber laser source was demonstrated in a PPKTP waveguide fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing. The PPKTP waveguide contains a fixed period of 8.9 μm and the feomtosecond fundamental pulses have a central wavelength of 1044 nm. A maximum SHG power of 406 mW was produced, yielding a conversion efficiency of 5.6%. Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the property of frequency doubling for femtosecond pulses. The results show that the SHG process proceeds even the quasi-phase-matching (QPM) condition is not well satisfied, which is significantly different from that of “long” pulses or CW light and is accorded with the experimental results.     

自由耦合输出的大模场面积光子晶体光纤锁模激光器

对一种基于高增益掺Yb³⁺大模场面积光子晶体光纤（PCF）的锁模激光器进行了简化线型腔结构的实验和理论研究.实验中直接使用塌陷打磨为0°角的光纤端面作为一端腔镜,利用其端面反馈获得了激光振荡,并进一步利用半导体可饱和吸收镜（SESAM）和光栅对的滤波作用实现了稳定的锁模运转.通过调节滤波程度,使激光器实现了从宽带滤波锁模到窄带滤波锁模的连续可调谐.在宽带滤波锁模的条件下,得到了最大平均输出功率2.2 W,单脉冲能量29.3 nJ,脉冲宽度367 fs的锁模脉冲输出;在窄带滤波锁模的条 关键词： 飞秒激光 光纤激光器 光子晶体光纤 大模场面积光纤     

High-power third-harmonic flat pulse laser generation

The generation of a high-power laser pulse at 266 nm that is longitudinally shaped according to a prefixed intensity profile is reported. The main features of the pulse shape modifications due to second- and third-harmonic conversions are measured, and the results are in good agreement with the theory. The UV temporal shape depends on the chirp of the fundamental pulse and on the crystal phase-matching angle. Exploiting the large stretching imposed on the third-harmonic signal, we show that the pulse intensity profile can be obtained by spectral single-shot measurements.     

High-energy pulse generation using Yb-doped Q-switched fiber laser based on single-walled carbon nanotubes

An all-fiber laser using a single-walled carbon nanotube(SWCNT) as the saturable absorber(SA) for Q-switched operation in the 1031 nm region is demonstrated in this work. A lasing threshold as low as 17 mW was realized for continuous wave operation. By further increasing the pump power, stable Q-switched pulse trains are obtained when the pump power ranges from 38 mW to 125 mW, corresponding to repetition rate varying from 40.84 kHz to 66.24 kHz, the pulse width from 2.0 μs to 1.0 μs,and the highest single pulse energy of 40.6 nJ respectively.     

11-mJ pulse energy wideband Yb-doped fiber laser

We report a wide bandwidth (Δλ=8 nm) optical pulsed MOPA (master oscillator power amplifier) source emitting 11.23 mJ pulses (1.25 MW peak power) in the wavelength centered at (λ=1064 nm). Pulse duration and repetition rate were 9 ns and from 10 Hz to 100 Hz, respectively. In order to suppress amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), multi-stage pulse pump technology is applied. And the large core diameter (90 μm) and wide bandwidth ensures the high peak power and energy output.     

Improvement of the fiber raman soliton laser for femtosecond optical pulse generation

Femtosecond optical pulses generated from a synchronously pumped fiber Raman soliton laser (FRASL) have been shown to have large excess noise and high background light (i.e., the pedestal) levels. In this paper, to improve the FRASL, the operation characteristics of the FRASL are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that real femtosecond soliton oscillation in the FRASL can be obtained only when the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) effect in the fibers is suppressed and proper choices of both the Stokes oscillation wavelength and the pump power level are required for the SSFS suppression in the FRASL. By using a tunable all-fiber Raman ring laser, optical pulses as short as 400 fs with a low white AM noise level of -120 dBc / Hz have been generated from the compact FRASL with SSFS suppression. Based on the theoretical analyses, we propose to use an intracavity saturable absorber to prevent the generation of high-level Stokes background light in the FRASL, and the feasibility of this method is shown by numerical simulations.