Self-pulsing characteristics of a high-power single transverse mode Yb-doped CW fiber laser

We present an experimental study of self-pulsing characteristics of a high-power single transverse mode Yb-doped double-clad continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. The self-pulsing features under high-power single-end pumping and double-end pumping configurations have been shown to be distinct. Our experimental observation indicates that in single-end pumping configuration, self-pulsing is predominant due to saturable absorption effect, caused by the weakly pumped portion of the fiber at the farther end. However, in double-end pumping configuration, uniform pumping and hence gain uniformity along the fiber length avoids the onset of saturable absorption of signal along the fiber length and thereby reduces self-pulsing, which finally results in a much more stable output.     

掺Yb3+双包层光纤激光器的数值分析

 对掺Yb³⁺双包层光纤激光器不同参数情况下的输出功率和增益分布进行了数值模拟，分析了一端泵浦和双端泵浦方式下输出特性的差异，激光沿光纤长度方向的分布，输出功率与光纤长度、腔镜反射率及泵浦功率的关系。结果显示：两端泵浦较一端泵浦增益更加平坦，输出功率也稍高；当泵浦光波长为975nm时，输出激光功率对光纤长度更为敏感，最佳光纤长度相对于泵浦光波长为915nm时短且转化效率高；在大功率长光纤的情况下，光纤有损耗时输出功率随输出腔镜反射率的增加单调地减小，无损耗时输出功率不随输出腔镜反射率变化。     

An approximate analytic solution of strongly pumped Yb-doped double-clad fiber lasers without neglecting the scattering loss

A theoretical analysis of strongly pumped Yb-doped double-clad fiber lasers is presented and an approximate analytic function of distributed laser along the whole fiber with the scattering loss is obtained for the first time. A comparison is made between the analytic solution and the exact numerical solution. The results have shown that the analytic function of distributed laser within the fiber is accurate and explicit. With the analytic solution the losses caused by laser scattering are shown in three different pump modes. The results verify that the backward pumping can get the highest output power in strongly pumped fiber lasers.     

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。     

Comparison of Yb-doped fiber laser with one-end and double-end pumping configuration

A high-power Ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) with homemade double clad fiber (DCF) is introduced in this paper. The output power characteristics of a linear cavity fiber laser have been studied theoretically by solving the rate equations and experimentally tested with single- and double-end-pumping configurations. When both ends of the fiber are pumped by two high-power laser diodes with a launched power of 300 W each, a maximum CW output of 444 W is obtained with a slope efficiency of 75%.     

Threshold characteristics of linear cavity Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

The threshold characteristics of linear cavity Yb³⁺-doped double-clad fiber laser have been studied theoretically and experimentally. By solving rate equations, the expression for threshold pump power is obtained. The effects of fiber length, mirror reflectivity, pump wavelength, laser wavelength and Yb³⁺ concentration on threshold pump power are discussed. Then, the Yb³⁺-doped double-clad fiber laser with linear cavity is developed. By using various output couplers, threshold pump power has been measured. The experimental results are in accord with theory.     

A theoretical and experimental study on all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped mode-locked fiber lasers

We report on a theoretical and experimental study of an all-normal-dispersion (ANDi) Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser, in which nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) is used to realize mode-locking without any dispersion compensation. Based on the coupled nonlinear Schrdinger (CNLS) equation, a model simulating the mode-locked process of an allnormal-dispersion ring fiber laser is developed, which shows that the achievement of stable mode-locking depends on the alignment of the polarization controller (PC) along the fast-polarization axis of the fiber, the birefringence intensity, and the net cavity dispersion. According to the theoretical analysis, stable mode-locked pulses with pulse duration 300 ps and average output power 33.9mW at repetition rate 36MHz are obtained.     

All-fiber single polarized Yb-doped fiber laser with a high extinction ratio

We present an all-fiber design for a single polarization Yb-doped fiber laser with all-fiber connections spliced. Single polarization with a high extinction ratio was achieved by the design of a laser cavity consisting of a fiber Bragg grating inscribed on a single-polarization fiber as a high reflective mirror and a piece of end-cleaved single-polarization fiber as an output coupler. The fiber laser operates at 1063.25 nm with an output power of 1.7 W, an optical signal- to-noise ratio of 70 dB and a narrow bandwidth of 54 pm. The laser output has a polarization extinction ratio of 700:1 or 28 dB, and a very stable power output.     

Influence of the UV-induced fiber loss on the distributed feedback fiber lasers

It was found that the output power of the distributed feedback fiber lasers would be improved after annealing or left unused for several days after the laser had been fabricated, and the output of the fundamental mode would not increase but be clamped while the ±1 order modes would be predominant with the enhancement of the coupling coefficient during the fabrication. The paper discussed the influence of UV-induced fiber loss on the fiber phase-shifted DFB lasers. Due to the gain saturation and fiber internal loss, which included the temperament loss and permanent loss, there was an optimum coupling coefficient for the DFB fiber lasers that the higher internal fiber loss corresponded to the lower optimum values of coupling coefficient.     

Ytterbium-doped Y2O3 nanoparticle silica optical fibers for high power fiber lasers with suppressed photodarkening

We report efficient laser demonstration and spectroscopic characteristics of a Yb-doped Y₂O₃ (or Y₃Al₅O₁₂) nanoparticle silica fiber developed by conventional fiber fabrication technique. The spectroscopy study evidences modification in the environment of Yb ions by the Y₂O₃ nanoparticles. As a result, photodarkening induced loss is reduced by 20 times relative to Yb-doped aluminosilicate fibers. The fiber is suitable for power scaling with good laser slope efficiency of 79%.     

Stability performance of short cavity Er-doped fiber lasers

An experimental study of stability between two types of short-cavity laser configurations is carried out. The short-cavity lasers are comprised of one or two pairs of wavelength-matched FBGs, encompassing a short length of highly-doped Er-fiber, to create effectively single- or dual-wavelength fiber lasers. The laser performance in terms of the laser output power and laser stability in relation to the gain medium length was investigated experimentally, analyzed and reported in this letter.     

High birefringence fiber ring resonator with an inline reflector for single-frequency fiber lasers

A high birefringence fiber (HBF) ring resonator with an inline weak reflector is newly proposed to generate narrowband reflection peaks. When a linear polarizer is located at the input port, effective free spectral range (FSR) of the reflected linearly polarized light is dramatically enhanced in single physical ring setup due to the intrinsic vernier effect between the traveling orthogonally polarized lights along the fast and slow axes of the HBF. What’s more, the side reflectivity suppression ratio can reach 6 dB. To sum up, these special properties facilitate its application in single-frequency fiber lasers.     

1018 nm短波长掺镱光纤激光高功率自组织相干合成

搭建了两台高功率、低量子损耗的1018 nm短波长掺镱光纤激光器,进行了全光纤结构下两路光纤激光器的相干合成实验。获得了功率为55 W、合成效率为90.2%的相干输出,这是当前严格单模1018 nm光纤激光器的最高功率水平。同时,验证了Michelson腔自组织相干合成技术能够实现光纤激光器的高功率单模输出。     

Radio-frequency interrogation of a fiber Bragg grating sensor in the configuration of a fiber laser with external cavities

A fiber laser sensor, which consists of two coupled cavities based on three fiber Bragg gratings (two of them acting as sensing elements) and is interrogated via the longitudinal mode beating frequency, is presented. The two resonant cavities have lengths of 4250 m and 4297 m, respectively. Their beating frequency is of the order of 24 kHz, and its shift as a function of the variation of the period of one (or both) of the sensing gratings, induced by strain or temperature changes, can be measured by a radio-frequency analyzer. The system is suitable for long-distance sensing with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity.     

Four-wave mixing self-stability based on photonic crystal fiber and its applications on erbium-doped fiber lasers

The analytic solutions of coupled-mode equations of four-wave mixings (FWMs) are achieved by means of the undepleted approximation and the perturbation method. The self-stability mechanism of the FWM processes is theoretically proved and is applicable to design a new kind of triple-wavelength erbium-doped fiber lasers. The proposed fiber lasers with excellent stability and uniformity are demonstrated by using a flat-near-zero-dispersion high-nonlinear photonic-crystal-fiber. The significant excellence is analyzed in theory and is proved in experiment. Our fiber lasers can stably lase three waves with the power ripple of less than 0.4 dB.     

Weak versus strong harmonic-expansion analyses of self-pulsing lasers: I—the Laser Lorenz model

We apply a simple harmonic expansion method to the single-mode laser equations to analyze their dynamic properties. First, we extend the well-known small signal analysis to predict the transient pulsations of the relaxation oscillations. Such transients are characteristic of the laser signal relaxing towards its long-term solution, at any level of excitation, both beyond and below the instability threshold. Secondly, we extend the method to a strong harmonic expansion to analyze the properties of the long-term solutions. These properties are derived for typical examples, extending well beyond the boundary region of the instability domain, for which the laser field amplitude undergoes regular pulsations around zero-mean values.     

波长可调谐取样光纤光栅激光器的输出特性研究

建立了具有两个取样周期略有不同的取样光纤光栅反射镜的Vernier波长调谐机制的光纤分布布拉格反射式激光器的数值仿真模型,对激光器的输出特性进行了分析. 研究了激光器输出特性随着激光器前后光栅反射镜波长以及前后光栅反射镜反射率的变化关系. 提出了对两取样光栅反射率的优化配置方案,可以使输出激光的边模抑制比有所提高;同时对波长调节方式也进行了探讨;进行了实验研究. 关键词： 取样光纤光栅 光纤激光器 波长可调谐激光器     

掺Yb光纤激光器阵列谱合成系统的光束传输模型及光束特性分析

建立了由掺Yb光纤激光器阵列、变换透镜、闪耀光栅和输出耦合镜组成的光束谱合成系统的光束传输模型.在考虑光栅角色散、光栅刻槽倾角误差和光栅衍射效率情况下,利用光线追迹法、衍射积分方法、光束非相干叠加原理和强度二阶矩方法,推导出高斯光束非平行倾斜入射到闪耀光栅的相位变化公式以及谱合成光束的光强分布解析表达式.分析了高斯光束非平行倾斜入射到光栅后,光栅角色散、光栅衍射效率和光栅刻槽倾角误差对掺Yb光纤激光器谱合成系统输出光束特性的影响.研究结果表明,谱合成光束具有与单根光纤激光器几乎相同的光束质量;光栅角色散对合成光束特性的影响可忽略;随着光栅刻槽倾角误差的增大,谱合成光束的光束质量明显变差;当光栅刻槽倾角误差较大时,必须考虑光栅衍射效率对合成光束特性的影响. 关键词： 掺Yb光纤激光器 非平行倾斜入射 光束谱合成 光束质量     

伽马辐照对掺镱光纤材料特性影响的研究

掺镱光纤是高功率激光器的核心材料,但在高能射线辐照后其应用性能会显著下降,因此有必要对掺镱光纤材料在辐照环境下的性能变化进行深入研究。采用改进型化学气相沉积法结合稀土螯合物掺杂制备了系列光纤预制棒及光纤,测试了光纤在不同剂量下射线辐照前后的高功率输出性能,以及光纤预制棒辐照前后的吸收光谱及镱离子荧光寿命。结果表明：小剂量辐照后掺镱光纤的高功率输出显著下降,通过预制棒吸收光谱可看出主要是因为伽马辐照后使掺镱光纤材料中Al的相关缺陷浓度增多,在可见光区域吸收损耗增加。Ce离子的掺杂通过缓减辐致铝氧空位中心（Al-OHC）色心缺陷的增加,减少Yb离子荧光寿命的下降,可在一定程度上抑制高功率掺镱光纤的辐致暗化。     

掺镱光纤激光器自脉冲与自脉冲内的自锁模研究

采用单端连续抽运方式, 对自由运转的双包层掺镱光纤激光器的输出特性进行了详细的实验研究. 实验中不但观察到了自脉冲, 而且首次在自由运转的光纤激光器中观察到自锁模现象, 对它们产生的物理机理进行了相应的理论分析. 分析表明: 增益光纤的弱(未) 抽运部分对信号光的吸收导致光纤激光器内自脉冲的出现, 轴向模之间的拍频和自相位调制导致自锁模现象的出现, 而受激拉曼散射、 受激布里渊散射等非线性效应使它们进一步增强. 当抽运光功率略高于阈值时, 自脉冲宽度比较宽, 随抽运光功率增加自脉冲的脉宽变窄; 自脉冲包络面内的自锁模脉冲的宽度随抽运光功率增加也变窄, 进一步增加抽运光功率, 自脉冲和自脉冲包络面内的自锁模现象消失. 实验测得自锁模脉冲的间隔为224 ns, 最大(小) 自锁模脉冲的半高全宽约为35.0 ns (6.3 ns); 测得信号光的中心波长为1090 nm, 谱线半高全宽的最大(小) 值约为7.05 nm (2.01 nm).