Compact fiber laser at L-band region using Erbium-doped Zirconia fiber

A compact Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) operating in L-band region is demonstrated using a fabricated Erbium-doped Zirconia fiber (EDZF) for the first time. The fiber is fabricated by combining Zr and Al to achieve the maximum Erbium ion concentration of 4320 wt ppm. By using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a ring configuration, the laser operates at 1579.6 nm with a slope efficiency of 13.6% and the threshold pump power of 25.1 mW. The lasing wavelength is obtained at Bragg wavelength with an output power of 13 dBm and a 3 dB spectral width of 0.02 nm using a piece of 2 m long EDZF in conjunction with 120 mW of 1480 nm pump power.     

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.     

High-power diode-cladding-pumped Tm-doped silica fiber laser

The operation of a diode-pumped Tm-doped silica fiber laser that uses the cladding-pumping arrangement to produce high-power cw output at wavelengths near 2 microm is reported. We obtained a maximum output power of 5.4 W at a slope efficiency of 31% with respect to the launched pump power at a total optical-to-optical efficiency of 22%. The fiber-laser output wavelength was tuned between 1.880 and 2.033 microm by adjustment of the fiber length, with >4W of power obtainable from 1.94 to 2.01 microm. Self-pulsations detected in the output from the double-clad fiber laser may indicate the presence of ion-clustering effects.     

国产全光纤结构激光器实现245 W高功率激光输出

 以国产掺镱光纤为增益介质,利用国产泵浦源和光纤器件,构建了主振荡功率放大（MOPA）结构的全国产大功率全光纤激光器。激光器包括10 W种子激光器和高功率放大器两部分。在注入最大泵浦功率为356 W时,获得了245 W波长1 080 nm激光的稳定输出,光-光效率为69%。激光器单次连续出光时间约30 min,功率稳定性在1%以内。目前激光器输出功率受限于泵浦功率,增加泵浦源的数目有望进一步提高输出功率。     

High power CW laser operation with a Nd:YAG single-crystal fiber grown by LHPG method

We report a high power continuous wave laser operation with a Nd:YAG single crystal fiber. A piece of high quality Nd:YAG single crystal fiber was prepared by means of laser heated pedestal growth method and was then applied as the laser gain medium. The crystal fiber laser was end-pumped by a fiber pig-tailed laser diode working around 808 nm. A maximum output power of 13 W was obtained at a pump power of 60 W. To our knowledge, it was the highest laser power ever achieved with a piece of single crystal fiber.     

Single-transverse-mode 2.5-W holmium-doped fluoride fiber laser operating at 2.86 microm

A high-power tandem-pumped Ho3+, Pr3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser is demonstrated. Using the free-running 1100-nm output from a diode-cladding-pumped Yb3+-doped silica fiber laser as the pump source, a maximum output power of 2.5 W was generated at a slope efficiency of 29% after the threshold of approximately 30 mW was reached. Saturation of the output is avoided with Pr3+ codoping, which allows single-transition output. The center wavelength of the output was 2.86 microm and the bandwidth at maximum power was approximately 15 nm.     

Efficient single-axial-mode operation of a Ho:YAG ring laser pumped by a Tm-doped silica fiber laser

Efficient single-frequency operation of a Ho:YAG ring laser at room temperature with a traveling-wave TeO2 acousto-optic modulator to enforce unidirectional operation is reported. By use of a 2-at. % Ho3+-doped 10-mm-long Ho:YAG rod, end pumped by a cladding-pumped tunable Tm-doped silica fiber operating at 1.9 microm, the Ho:YAG ring laser yielded 3.7 W of single-frequency output at 2.1 microm in a diffraction-limited TEM00 beam with M2 < 1.1 for an incident pump power of 8.8 W. The rf power required for unidirectional operation was 0.3 W and corresponded to an increase in cavity loss for the lasing direction (due to diffraction) of only 0.5%. The prospects for further improvement in efficiency are discussed.     

Efficient single-mode operation of a cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped helical-core fiber laser

A novel approach to achieving robust single-spatial-mode operation of cladding-pumped fiber lasers with multimode cores is reported. The approach is based on the use of a fiber geometry in which the core has a helical trajectory within the inner cladding to suppress laser oscillation on higher-order modes. In a preliminary proof-of-principle study, efficient single-mode operation of a cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped helical-core fiber laser with a 30 microm diameter core and a numerical aperture of 0.087 has been demonstrated. The laser yielded 60.4 W of output at 1043 nm in a beam with M2 < 1.4 for 92.6 W launched pump power from a diode stack at 976 nm. The slope efficiency at pump powers well above threshold was approximately 84%, which compares favorably with the slope efficiencies achievable with conventional straight-core Yb-doped double-clad fiber lasers.     

Watt-level ~2 μm laser output in Tm3+-doped tungsten tellurite glass double-cladding fiber

We report, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a watt level cw fiber laser at ~2 μm from a piece of 40-cm-long newly developed highly thulium-doped (3.76 × 10(20) ions/cm(3)) tungsten tellurite glass double cladding fiber pumped by a commercial 800 nm laser diode. The maximum output power of the fiber laser reaches 1.12 W. The slope efficiency and the optical-optical efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump are 20% and 16%, respectively. The lasing threshold is 1.46 W, and the lasing wavelength is centered at 1937 nm.     

2.14kW级联泵浦光纤放大器

利用大模场掺镱光纤搭建了1018nm高功率光纤激光器,获得了476 W的最高输出功率。利用6台高亮度1018nm光纤激光器泵浦掺镱光纤,搭建了全光纤结构的级联泵浦光纤放大器,实现了2.14kW的最高输出功率,输出功率随泵浦功率线性增长,整体斜率效率为86.9%,M2因子为1.9。     

Local-cooled watt-level Nd-doped phosphate single-mode fiber laser

Efficient and stable continuous-wave (CW) laser operation at 1053 nm in a Nd-doped phosphate single-mode fiber (Nd:PSMF) has been demonstrated experimentally. The fiber laser consisted of a 21 cm Nd:PSMF placed in a F-P cavity formed by high reflector butt-coupled to coupling end of the fiber and Fresnel reflection of the other end facet. An output power of 1.42 W and a slope efficiency of 34.1% (18.4%) with respect to absorbed pump power (incident pump power) were obtained with 808 nm diode pumping. An increment as much as 9.7 and 15.0% in slope efficiency of the input coupling efficiency and the output power, respectively, were obtained by using a local-cooling design provided by watered sealing the coupling point. The repeatable results indicate that the design, featuring fluid sealing the coupling point of the fiber laser, which was capable of offering an effective alleviation of thermal effects and an elevation of the quality of the laser cavity, could be expected to be a convenient and effective scheme to improve the performance characteristics of the non-silica fiber lasers and the high power fiber lasers, generally in free-space coupling configuration.     

Dual-wavelength high-power Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser based on a few-mode fiber Bragg grating

We report a high-power dual-wavelength Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser based on a few-mode fiber Bragg grating (FMFBG). The FMFBG was fabricated by using a piece of fiber in a length of fiber with a cutoff wavelength of 1225 nm, which supported two modes at 1060 nm. The laser was pumped by a fiber pigtailed laser diode working at 915 nm. Single-wavelength, dual-wavelength and triple-wavelength laser oscillations were observed when the fiber laser operated under different low pump powers. However, stable dual-wavelength operation was achieved at higher pump power of 3.9 W and remained unchanged until the output power reached 5.67 W under the maximum available pump power of 10.7 W. The laser wavelengths were centered at 1059.12 and 1060.80 nm with a full-width at half-maximum of 37 and 43 pm, respectively. The signal-to-noise-ratio was greater than 50 dB and the beam quality factor (M²) was about 1.9.     

Actively Q-switched and mode-locked Tm3+-doped silicate 2 μm fiber laser for supercontinuum generation in fluoride fiber

A diode-pumped actively Q-switched and actively mode-locked Tm3+-doped double-clad silicate fiber laser is reported providing up to 5 W of average output power at ~60 kHz Q-switch envelope repetition rate and ~8 μJ subpulses with up to 2.4 kW peak power. Using this source as a pump laser for supercontinuum generation in a ZBLAN fiber, over 1080 mW of supercontinuum from 1.9 μm to beyond 3.6 μm was obtained at an overall efficiency of 3.3% with respect to the diode pump power.     

High efficient Tm3+ doped double cladding silica fiber laser with an intracavity biconical taper

A high efficient LD (laser diode) pumped Tm³⁺ doped double clad silica fiber laser with an intravacity biconical taper was reported. A biconical taper located ～3 cm from the output end of the fiber laser was fabricated by heating and stretching method with a length 1.5 cm and waist diameter ～20 µm. The slope efficiency was 49.8% with respected to the launched pump power, and the maximum output power was 1.97 W. Pre and post output laser power ratio was ～10. This fiber laser was compared with other three biconical tapered fiber lasers (the same fiber with different tapers) and a uniform geometry fiber laser. With intracavity biconical tapers, fiber lasers’ thresholds were ～1 W higher than the fiber laser without the taper (1.97 W). The pump end’s slope efficiencies of fiber lasers with tapers were 3–5% in contrast with 37.6% of the uniform one. After tapered, the pre and post laser power ratios were much higher than the un-tapered one’s, but not changed much with the launched pump power.     

Single-mode plane-polarized ytterbium-doped large-core fiber laser with 633-W continuous-wave output power

We demonstrate a cladding-pumped single-mode plane-polarized ytterbium-doped fiber laser generating 633 W of continuous-wave output power at 1.1 microm with 67% slope efficiency and a polarization extinction ratio better than 16 dB. The laser is end pumped through both fiber ends and shows no evidence of roll-over, even at the highest output power, which is limited only by the available pump power.     

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 and highly efficient Tm3+-doped silica fiber lasers pumped with diode lasers operating at 1150 nm

An output power of 1.74 W at 2.03 microm was generated at a slope efficiency of 51% when a double-clad Tm(3+)-doped silica fiber laser was pumped with high-power 1150 nm diode lasers. Pump excited state absorption from the upper laser level populates higher energy levels allowing cross relaxation to repopulate the upper laser level at a quantum efficiency greater than unity and to limit losses relating to additional pump excited state absorption. The output power was scaled to 4.77 W when both ends of the fiber were pumped.     

一种基于增益调制技术的全光纤化脉冲Yb光纤激光器

以波长为975 nm的半导体激光器作为泵浦源,周期性地脉冲泵浦一个包含Yb掺杂光纤和光纤光栅对的Yb光纤激光器,实现了基于增益调制技术的全光纤化高功率Yb光纤激光器的稳定脉冲输出.在50 kHz重频下,采用20 W的泵浦功率和2.4 μs的泵浦脉冲宽度,获得了1 060 nm波长脉冲宽度仅100 ns的稳定脉冲激光输出,单脉冲激光能量约为20 μJ.以此作为脉冲激光种子进行功率放大,获得了性能稳定的全光纤结构高功率脉冲激光输出,放大后单脉冲能量超过200 μJ,激光放大器斜率效率达到60%.     

20 W single-mode Yb3+ -doped phosphate fiber laser

We report the demonstration of the first, to our knowledge, cladding-pumped continuous-wave Yb(3+)-doped phosphate-glass fiber laser. Phosphate hosts are of interest because they can be much more heavily doped than silica, and because of the possibility that they may have a higher photodarkening threshold. In an 84.6 cm double-clad fiber doped with 12 wt. % of Yb(2)O(3) and laser-diode pumped at 940 nm, nearly 20 W of single-mode 1.07 microm output power was generated with 60.2 W of absorbed pump power. The measured dependence of the output power on pump power is in excellent agreement with simulations.     

Highly efficient in-band pumped Er:YAG laser with 60 W of output at 1645 nm

A high-power Er:YAG laser that is in-band pumped by a high-power cladding-pumped erbium-ytterbium codoped fiber laser operating at 1532 nm is reported. The Er:YAG laser produced 60.3 W of continuous-wave output at 1645.3 nm in a beam with M2 approximately equal to 3 for 82 W of incident pump power and 20 W of TEM00 output with M2 < 1.2 for 32.4 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power at pump powers of >20 W was approximately 81%. In the Q-switched mode of operation, a slightly modified resonator configuration incorporating an electro-optic Q switch produced pulses of approximately 4 mJ energy and approximately 100 ns (FWHM) duration, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 42 kW at a repetition rate of 1 kHz for an incident pump power of 16.8 W. The prospects for further improvement in continuous-wave and Q-switched performance are discussed.