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.     

Change of gain characters for short pulses with third order dispersion in a fiber amplifier

The effect of the third order dispersion (TOD) induced into pulses before entering an Yb-doped fiber amplifier on their power gain characters is investigated using a model of which the pulse amplification process is described by nonlinear time-dependent radiation transfer equations. Numerical results show that peak power gain for the pulse with positive TOD is larger than that with zero and without TOD while the improvement of the peak power gain varies as the obtained output pulse energy changes. The improvement also depends on the ratio of dispersion lengths for group velocity dispersion and TOD.     

High-gain Tm-doped fluoride fiber amplifier

A diode-pumped Tm-doped fiber-optic amplifier that has a small-signal gain of >30 dB at 1870 nm is reported. Output pulses of up to 3-W peak power at a 1-60-kHz repetition rate can be generated by amplification of 20-40-ns laser diode pulses of up to 2-mW launched peak power. The output signal quality, i.e., the ratio of the output pulse energy and the total amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) output energy between two pulses, depends on the relative propagation direction of pump and signal and can be dramatically increased by choice of the correct propagation scheme. In the optimum pump geometry the pulse energy can be raised to as much as 20 times the ASE energy. This is the first report to the author's knowledge of fiber-optic amplification of short diode laser pulses near 1.9 microm with high repetition rates in Tm-doped fibers.     

皮秒光纤激光脉冲两个关键问题的研究

窄带耗散孤子锁模光纤激光器可以产生接近变换限制的皮秒脉冲,但受非线性相移的限制,输出脉冲重复频率不能通过增加腔长来降低,脉冲能量仅在0.1 nJ以下,严重制约着这类皮秒脉冲的实际应用。提出一种通过耦合器抽取腔内脉冲能量、抑制腔内非线性相移积累,进而允许增加腔长来降低窄带耗散孤子皮秒光纤激光脉冲重复频率的方法。运用该方法,成功地将激光器重复频率由35.2 MHz降低到了1.77 MHz,且脉冲时频特性保持不变。提出了一种基于级间FBG陷波滤波的抑制皮秒脉冲光纤放大中光谱展宽的方法。通过简单地使用级间陷波滤波器,既可窄化第一级光纤放大器后的输出脉冲谱宽,允许采用第二级光纤放大器进一步提升脉冲能量,而且,还可将脉冲重塑为近高斯形,利用高斯脉冲光谱展宽斜率小的特点,允许第二级光纤放大器将脉冲能量提升得更高。利用该方法,在RMS（均方值）谱宽保持0.4 nm以内的前提下,10 ps脉冲经标准单模光纤放大器后,能量可由0.2 nJ可提升到10 nJ以上。     

Ultrabroad bandwidth solitons in fiber amplifier

The amplification of an ultrabroad bandwidth pulse in an Erbium-doped fiber amplifier in the case where the spectral bandwidth of pulse is comparable to the gain bandwidth of the amplifier is investigated. Based on the numerical simulation of a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation, it is shown that the amplifier limits the efficiency of amplification. However, the limitation can be minimized by choosing the corresponding optimal fiber length for different gain bandwidths. In addition, the effect of gain bandwidth on the amplification of a soliton with initial chirp depends on the sign of the chirp.     

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.     

基于耗散孤子种子的啁啾脉冲光纤放大系统输出特性

以不同滤波器带宽下获得的全正色散光纤激光器耗散孤子作为啁啾脉冲放大(CPA)系统的种子脉冲, 研究了光栅对和光纤展宽器CPA系统输出脉冲的可压缩性. 结果表明, 对于大能量耗散孤子种子脉冲, 当CPA系统采用正色散光纤展宽器时, 光纤群速色散与自相位调制之间的相互作用不仅可抑制耗散孤子脉冲光谱调制的影响, 还可使脉冲在光纤展宽器中自相似演化, 从而可提高CPA输出脉冲的可压缩性. 通过优化光纤展宽器长度, 对于耗散孤子种子源, 采用光纤展宽器的CPA系统输出脉冲可压缩性与主脉冲所占脉冲总能量之比均优于采用光栅对展宽器时的情况.     

Theory of noise in a kilo-Hz cascaded high-energy Yb-doped nanosecond pulsed fiber amplifier

A theoretical analysis of noise in a high-power cascaded fiber amplifier is presented. Unlike the noise theory in low power communication, the noise of a high power system is redefined as the leaked output energy between pulses with coherent beat noise uncounted. This definition is more appropriate for high power usage in which the pulse energy receives more attention than the pulse shape integrity. Then the low power pre-amplifying stages are considered as linear amplification and analyzed by linear theory. In the high-power amplification stages, the inversion is assumed to recover linearly in the time interval between pulses. The time shape of the output pulse is different from that of the input signal because of different gains at the front and back ends of the pulse. Then, a criterion is provided to distinguish the nonlinear and linear amplifications based on the signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） analysis. Then, an experiment that shows that the output SNR actually drops off in nonlinear amplification is performed. The change in the noise factor can be well evaluated by pulse shape distortion.     

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.     

飞秒光脉冲光纤放大增益特性的实验研究

报道了掺Ｅｒ＾３＋光纤激光器输出１．５３１μｍ波长飞秒激光脉冲增益放大的实验研究结果,将自起振相加脉冲摹参Ｅｒ＾３＋光纤激光器输出的飞秒激光脉冲注入掺Ｅｒ＾３＋光纤放大器中进行放大,分别采用正向和逆向抽地这的方式,得到了最高放大倍数５５倍（１７．４ｄＢ）和６４倍（１８．１ｄＢ）的增益,对应的最大单脉冲能量（峰值功率）分别为０．３８４ｎＪ（７５２Ｗ）０．４５２ｎＪ（１２９５Ｗ）,脉冲重复率为２０．８     

高重复频率飞秒掺镱光纤放大器

 数值分析了掺镱单模光纤放大器的最佳增益光纤长度,并在实验上对掺镱单模光纤放大器和光栅对压缩器进行了研究。以最大平均输出功率为7 mW、重复频率为25.4 MHz、脉宽为56 ps的被动锁模环形腔掺镱光纤激光器作为种子脉冲,用250 mW的976 nm单模半导体激光器分别泵浦3种不同长度的掺镱单模光纤,对种子光进行放大,并用光栅对压缩器对放大后的脉冲在不同光栅距离上进行了压缩实验研究。当掺镱单模光纤长度为1.2 m时得到了较好的放大效果,种子脉冲被放大到140 mW,相应的增益为13 dB,放大后的单脉冲能量为5.5 nJ。在光栅距离为14.1 cm时获得了最短440 fs的脉冲,压缩后的功率为43 mW,相应的峰值功率为3.8 kW。     

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.     

Effect of initial chirp on near-infrared supercontinuum generation by a nanosecond pulse in a nonlinear fiber amplifier

Theoretical and experimental research on the effect of initial chirp on near-infrared supercontinuum generation by a nanosecond pulse in a nonlinear fiber amplifier is carded out. The complex Ginzburg-Landau equation is used to simulate the propagation of the pulse in the fiber amplifier and the results show that pulses with negative initial chirp produce the widest supercontinuum and pulses with positive initial chirp produce the narrowest supercontinuum when the central wavelength of the pump lies in the normal dispersion region of the gain fiber. A self-made line width narrowing system is utilized to control the initial chirp of the nanosecond pump pulse and a four-stage master oscillator power amplifier configuration is adopted to produce a high power near-infrared suppercontinuum. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulations which can provide some guidance on further optimization of the system in future work.     

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。     

Generation of high-energy pulses from an all-normal-dispersion figure-8 fiber laser

We propose and study numerically an all-normal-dispersion Ytterbium-doped figure-eight fiber laser scheme for generation of high-energy pulses. The monotonous pulse stretching that takes place in the fiber under the combined actions of normal dispersion and nonlinear Kerr effect is compensated by the amplitude modulation effect of a bandpass filter inserted in the ring section of the laser. The Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror (NOLM) also contributes to shorten the pulses. An output coupler with a large output coupling ratio is inserted at the amplifier output in order to extract the maximal energy from the laser. A short segment of Ytterbium-doped fiber compensates for the losses. Stable single-pulse operation is predicted over a wide range of values of the laser parameters. If the laser parameters (ring and NOLM length, dispersion, filter bandwidth, output coupling ratio) are optimized, pulses with several tens of nanojoules energy are readily obtained, with picosecond duration and a large positive chirp which is linear near the peak. If small-signal gain is large enough, the use of very large output coupling ratios opens the way to pulse energies close to 100 nJ and, after dechirping outside the laser, to durations of ˜50 fs and peak powers of 1 MW.     

High power pulse amplification of ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier

By solving a set of time-dependent equations, the characteristics of the ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier are presented. Besides the steady state in the fiber of the upper-state population, pump power and amplified spontaneous emission without the input signal, the dynamic characteristics of the high power Gaussian pulse amplification like the evolution of pulse waveform distortion, upper-state population distribution and stored energy and pulse energy of the amplifier under the forward and backward pump,are simulated. The relations between the output pulse energy of the amplifier and the different input pulse peak power or pump power are also discussed. The models and results can provide important guide for the design and optimization of the high power pulse amplification.     

Generation of 10-GHz duty-cycle tunable square optical pulse in an SOA-based mode-locked fiber laser

We demonstrate the generation of 10-GHz optical square pulses by injecting a picosecond pulse train into an SOA-based mode-locked fiber laser. The novel scheme exploits nonlinear effects and gain saturation phenomenon in the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). This technique uses gain-compression dynamics between the input pulses and the generated ones in gain-saturated SOA to form square pulses. The center wavelength of the generated optical square pulse can be tuned from 1530 to 1570 nm by adjusting the center wavelength of the optical band pass filter (OBPF) in the SOA-based mode-locked fiber ring laser. The duty cycle of the output pulse can be tuned from 12.7 to 88.4%, which strongly depends on the input power and intra-cavity power.     

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.     

基于高非线性光纤的增益谱平坦拉曼光纤放大器研究

针对光纤通信中密集波分复用系统各信道的在线平坦光放大这一光通信问题,提出利用级联高非线性光纤来设计增益平坦的拉曼光纤放大器。对高非线性光纤(As S光纤)拉曼增益谱前后沿进行线性拟合处理,利用不同波长泵浦抽运同种光纤,实现前放大后增益补偿,并考虑信号光损耗不同,在输出端得到了一个近似固定的功率输出值,并分析了影响拉曼光纤放大器输出特性的因素。模拟结果表明:平均增益为20.45 dB,增益平坦度为0.15 dB。