Self pulsations and self Q-switching in Ho3+, Pr3+:ZBLAN fibre lasers at 2.87 μm

The temporal characteristics of the output of a single-clad Ho³⁺, Pr³⁺-co-doped ZBLAN fibre laser pumped by a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm has been found to exhibit a range of cw, self pulsation and self Q-switching output dynamics, dependent on the excitation and fibre conditions. An interpretation is considered based on stimulated Brillouin scattering and the effect of the excited state absorption (ESA). For long fibre (∼13 m) and for uni-directional pumping, the output was a continuous wave (cw), but for bi-directional pumping, a significant decrease in the stability of the output is observed and the output displayed well developed self pulsations. A train of self Q-switched pulses with mean pulse duration of 767 ns, a peak pulse power of about 2.8 W and an average power of 183 mW and with more than 80% pulse-to-pulse stability has been observed when pumped with 4.4 W into each end of the fibre. Self pulsation phenomena are also observed in unidirectional pumping for shorter fibre lengths of ∼9.2 m at high pump power and for 1.5 m fibre length at all pumps power. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.60.Gd; 42.60.Mi     

High peak power green light generation using ytterbium fiber amplifier and lithium triborate crystal

We reported on a master-oscillator fiber power amplifier (MOPA) system and a second-harmonic generation (SHG) system. Actively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser was used as a seed source of light pluses. The MOPA system produced as much as 76 kW of peak power at wavelength of 1064 nm, with 35 kHz repetition rate and 20 ns pulse duration. With a lithium triborate (LBO) crystal at type II phase matching, a maximum 16 kW of peak power had been demonstrated. The fiber nonlinear effects such as stimulate Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulate Raman scattering (SRS) and the SHG conversion efficiency were investigated.     

Passively mode locked femtosecond Tm:Sc2O3 laser at 2.1 μm

We report on the passive mode locking of a Tm3+:Sc2O3 laser at 2.1 μm using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror based on InGaAsSb quantum wells. Transform-limited 218 fs pulses are generated with an average power of 210 mW. A maximum output power of 325 mW is produced during mode locking with the corresponding pulse duration of 246 fs at a pulse repetition frequency of 124.3 MHz. A Ti:sapphire laser is used as the pump source operating at 796 nm.     

High power and efficiency of a 2044-nm c-cut Tm, Ho:YAlO3 laser

A high power and efficiency of c-cut Tm, Ho:YAlO₃ (YAP) laser is reported in the paper. The laser operated in continuous wave (CW) mode or Acousto-optical (AO) Q-switched mode at 2044 nm. The Tm, Ho:YAP crystal was cooled at the temperature of 77 K and pumped by a fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) with the centre output wavelength of 794.8 nm. In CW operation, a 9.30-W output power was obtained at a 150-mm physical cavity length, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 42.5%. In Q-switch mode, the output average power of 9 W was achieved at the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz with a 130-ns pulse width. Moreover, the energy per pulse of 3.54 mJ in 47 ns was acquired at 2.5 kHz with a 75.3-kW peak power.     

钛宝石激光抽运的被动锁模Tm:YAG陶瓷激光实验研究

本文采用连续钛宝石激光作抽运,掺杂浓度为6 at.%、长度为2.7 mm的Tm:YAG陶瓷作增益介质,通过引入半导体饱和吸收体获得了稳定的被动锁模运转.实验中获得的激光锁模功率为116.5 mW,中心波长为2007 nm,重复频率为109 MHz,通过自行搭建的腔外非共线强度自相关测量得到的脉冲宽度是55 ps.     

Broadly tunable multiwavelength fiber laser with bismuth-oxide EDF using large effective area fiber

A multiwavelength laser comb using 2.49 m Bismuth-oxide erbium-doped fiber (Bi-EDF) with different lengths of large effective area fiber (LEAF) in a ring cavity configuration is realized. The Bi-EDF is used as the linear gain medium and LEAF is used as the non-linear gain medium for stimulated Brillouin scattering. Out of the four different lengths, the longest length of 25 km LEAF exhibits the widest tuning range of 44 nm (1576 to 1620 nm) in the L-band at 264 mW pump power and 5 mW Brillouin pump power. In addition, a total of 15 output channels are achieved with total average output power of −8 dBm from this laser structure. All Brillouin Stokes signals exhibit high peak power of above −20 dBm per signal and their optical signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 15 dB.     

High-peak-power AlGaInAs quantum-well 1.3-mum laser pumped by a diode-pumped actively Q-switched solid-state laser

We report a room-temperature high-peak-power AlGaInAs 1.36 microm TEM00 laser pumped by a diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG 1.06 microm laser. With an average pump power of 1.0 W, an average output power of 140 mW was obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz. With a peak pump power of 8.3 kW, the highest peak output power was 1.5 kW at a pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz.     

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.     

Efficient approximately 2 microm Tm3+ -doped tellurite fiber laser

Laser emission in the range of 1.88-1.99 micrim from a Tm3+ -doped tellurite fiber is demonstrated when pumped with a diode-pumped Er3+/Yb3+-doped silica fiber laser operating at 1.57-1.61 microm. This pump source excites the Tm3+ ions directly into the F43 upper laser level and yields an output power of 280 mW with a slope efficiency of 76% in a 99%-12% laser cavity arrangement and a 32 cm long fiber. This result is very close to the Stokes efficiency limit of approximately 80%. This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first demonstration of high efficiency lasing in a tellurite fiber at wavelengths longer than 1.56 microm.     

单、双掺钒酸钇晶体的Raman光谱与能量转移研究

文章采用双光栅单色仪(HRD-1),氩离子激光器的488.0 nm波长激发,分别测得室温下,激发光平行、垂直晶体c轴入射时,Tm3 ,Ho3 单掺和双掺钒酸钇晶体的拉曼光谱,对检测结果进行分析并探讨了对能量转移的影响.观测到对Ho3 :YVO4,激发光垂直c轴时的散射光强明显强于激发光平行c轴时的散射光强;由于488.0 nm波长靠近Ho3 的一个吸收峰,吸收和散射相互竞争,使475 cm-1被削弱,且外模振动展宽;测得样品最大声子能量集中在880cm-1附近.主要是(VO4)3-的A1g呼吸模引起的,表明与YAG基质一样,也是一种具有高声子能量的晶体.用808 nm激发,锁相放大器,PbS探头接收,测得双掺Tm3 :Ho3 :YVO4的2.09 μm荧光强度是单掺Tm3 ∶YVO4 1.85 μm的4/5,意味着Tm3 对Ho3 的敏化效率高达80%,因为Tm3 :YVO4的荧光谱与Ho3 吸收谱重合甚少,由辐射跃迁导致的能量转移可能性不大,因此Tm3 离子之间的交叉弛豫以及Tm3 的3F4与Ho3 的5I7之间近共振的能量转移主要是依靠声子辅助的无辐射跃迁.     

Efficient continuous wave and Q-switched operation of a dual-end-pumped <Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>-cut Tm:YAP laser

An efficient continuous wave (CW) and Q-switched c-cut Tm:YAP laser is reported in this letter. With the dual-end-pumped convex-concave resonator, CW output power up to 13.6 W at 1.99 μm was obtained under a total incident pump power of 50 W. The corresponding slope efficiency was 34.3% and conversion efficiency was 27.2%. The active Q-switched operation of the laser had an average output power of 12.5 W at 10 kHz pulse repetition frequency, with a minimum pulse width of 126 ns. With 6 kHz pulse repetition frequency, the maximum pulse energy of 1.6 mJ was obtained. In addition, using the Tm:YAP laser as a pumping source for gain-switched Cr:ZnSe laser, as much as 4 W output power in the wavelength range of 2.5–2.6 μm was obtained.     

High-peak-power nanosecond pulse generation by stimulated Brillouin scattering pulse compression in a seeded Yb-doped fiber amplifier

We demonstrate the generation of nanosecond and multikilowatt peak-power pulses in a double-clad Yb-doped fiber amplifier seeded by a spectrally narrowed gain-switched laser diode. Injected pulses with 100 ns duration were simultaneously compressed and amplified by the combination of high amplifier gain and stimulated Brillouin scattering. A maximum peak power of 20 kW has been obtained, corresponding to a single-pass gain of +57 dB in terms of peak power. Part of this output signal was also converted into IR continuum light by splicing a length of single-mode fiber at the end of the fiber amplifier.     

High-powered millijoule pulse energy Tm3＋-doped fiber amplifier at 2.05μm

A high-powered millijoule pulse energy Tm 3+ -doped fiber amplifier seeded with a Q-switched operation of Tm (4 at.-%), Ho (0.4 at.-%):YVO 4 laser is reported. The output characteristics of the amplified laser are studied at the coupled powers of 0.266, 1.24, and 2.65 W. Maximum output power up to 15.7 W is at 10-kHz repetition rate. Nonlinear effects are not observed from the emitting spectrum and the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the pulse duration is reduced from 40.1 to 25.9 ns at 1.57-mJ pulse energy. The beam quality factor M 2 x = 1.9±0.03, M 2 y = 2.1±0.02 at the output power of 14.5 W is measured using the traveling knife-edge method.     

Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser

We report a compact Ho:YAG laser that is intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser. Both lasers exhibit pulse mode behavior. Operating both crystals at room temperature (25 degrees C), we obtained 1.6 W of average output at 2.09 microm from the Ho:YAG laser for 15.4 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YLF rod and a slope efficiency of 21%.     

High-spectral-resolution stimulated Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering at 1 microm

We have demonstrated stimulated Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering at a wavelength of 1.064 microm , using an injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser as a pump laser and a tunable diode laser as a probe laser. Spectra with a good signal-to-noise ratio are obtained despite the low probe-beam power and small gain coefficient in the infrared. Stimulated Rayleigh scattering is readily observable in organic and many other liquids because of absorption by the OH and CH overtone or combination bands. The absorption also causes an asymmetry in the stimulated Brillouin peak. A Rayleigh linewidth of 8 MHz is measured with this approach.     

激光二极管抽运Tm,Ho∶YLF晶体声光调Q激光器

对激光二极管端面抽运Tm,Ho∶YLF晶体声光调Q激光器的激光特性进行了研究。根据粒子跃迁和能量传递过程,在考虑能级传递上转换的前提下,建立了Tm,Ho∶YLF脉冲激光器的速率方程,得到了初始反转粒子数的解析表达式,分析了能量传递上转换效应对激光上能级反转粒子数的影响。在室温下实现了2 μm波长激光的脉冲输出。实验上给出并分析了Tm,Ho∶YLF脉冲激光器的平均输出功率、单脉冲能量和脉冲宽度随抽运功率以及声光Q开关调制频率的变化关系。在抽运功率为2.8 W,重复频率为9 kHz时,获得了平均输出功率为189 mW的激光脉冲,光光转换效率为6.8%。在重复频率为1 kHz时,得到最大单脉冲能量为65 μJ,峰值功率为0.17 kW。     

All-fiber passively mode-locked laser oscillator at 1.5 microm with watts-level average output power and high repetition rate

We report on a passively mode-locked all-fiber laser oscillator at 1.5 microm based on heavily doped phosphate-glass active fiber. An active fiber only 20 cm long is sufficient to produce as much as 2.4 W of average output power directly from the oscillator. The width of the mode-locked pulses varies from 8 ps at the lowest output power in the mode-locked state to 44 ps at the highest power. Our picosecond laser oscillator features a high repetition rate of 95 MHz and high peak pulse power of approximately 540 W. The oscillator combines the convenience of all-fiber construction with power performance that was previously achievable only with mode-locked bulk-optic laser oscillators or more complex systems involving fiber amplifiers.     

Q-switch operation of a c-cut 2132-nm Tm, Ho:YAP laser pumped by a laser diode of 794.3 nm

Q-switch operation of a c-cut Tm (5 at %), Ho (0.3 at %):YAP laser at 2132 nm wavelength were reported in this paper. In the temperature of 77 K, the Tm, Ho:YAP crystal was double end-pumped by a 21.4-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 794.3 nm. A 5.29-W Q-switch output power was acquired at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 24.7% and a slope efficiency of 28.1%. The energy per pulse of 3.57 mJ in 38 ns was achieved at 1.25 kHz with the peak power of 93.9 kW.     

High-pulse-energy actively Q-switched Tm3+-doped silica 2 microm fiber laser pumped at 792 nm

A diode-pumped Q-switched Tm(3+)-doped double-clad silica fiber laser is reported providing average powers of up to 30 W at pulse widths of only 41 ns and repetition rates in the range of 10-125 kHz. Up to 270 microJ pulse energy was produced. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) buildup limits the maximum peak power, and the pump power and average output power at the point of ASE induced clamping were found to depend linearly on the repetition rate.     

Continuous wave and AO Q-switch operation of a b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP laser with dual wavelengths pumped by a laser diode of 792 nm

Continuous wave (CW) and AO Q-switch operation of a b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP laser with dual wavelengths were reported in this paper. In the temperature of 77 K, the b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP crystal was double endpumped by a 7.21-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 792 nm. A 1.17-W Q-switch output power was acquired at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz, corresponding to an effective optical-optical conversion efficiency of 25.9% and an effective slope efficiency of 31.5%. The energy per pulse of 0.46 mJ in 100 ns was achieved at 2.5 kHz with the peak power of 4.6 kW.