Modeling and optimization of stable gain-switched Tm-doped fiber lasers

A numerical model that describes the operation behaviors and output characteristics of stable gain-switched Tm-doped fiber (Tm:fiber) lasers resonantly pumped at 1.56 mm is presented in this paper. Effects of some important laser parameters, such as repetition rates, pump power levels, transmission of the laser output coupler, fiber core sizes, fiber lengths, Tm concentrations, etc., on laser output were investigated. The model and simulating results were verified by preliminary experiments and good agreements have been achieved, suggesting that the model are useful for design and optimization of stable gain-switched Tm:fiber lasers at 2 mm wavelength region.     

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.     

增益调制高重频脉冲光纤激光器实验研究

采用脉冲泵浦方案,研制出了基于增益调制技术的全光纤结构高重频脉冲激光器。采用电路直接调制的激光二极管作为泵浦源,双包层光纤作为增益介质,构造了光纤光栅选模的线形腔结构。实验中通过调整泵浦光脉冲宽度和光纤激光器谐振腔长度,得到了稳定的高重频脉冲。在100kHz重复频率下,采用21W的峰值泵浦功率和2.5μs的泵浦脉冲宽度,获得了1.06μm波长,脉冲宽度247ns的稳定脉冲激光输出。脉冲峰值功率一致性好,平均功率长期功率稳定性为2%。观察并分析了由于纵模拍频在脉冲包络上产生的次脉冲特性。通过一级放大实现89.6 W输出。     

Stable 10 ns, kilowatt peak-power pulse generation from a gain-switched Tm-doped fiber laser

We report what we believe to be the first demonstration of stable short pulse (10 ns) generation from a gain-switched Tm-doped fiber laser in the 2 microm spectral region. A modulated 1.55 microm pump laser was used for fast gain switching to regulate the conventionally chaotic spiking in the gain-switched fiber laser. From a 6.3 microm core all-fiber oscillator, over a kilowatt of peak power was obtained at the slope efficiency of 50% and freely varying repetition rate up to 500 kHz.     

10kW峰值功率高脉冲能量全光纤结构2μm掺铥光纤激光器

基于增益开关技术在高掺杂浓度掺铥光纤中获得了稳定的2μm种子脉冲激光,输出激光中心波长为1 979.4nm,脉冲重复频率在1~100kHz之间可调,输出脉冲宽度变化范围为60~200ns。采用两级掺铥光纤放大器对该种子脉冲激光进行放大实验,当种子脉冲激光重复频率为20kHz时获得最大输出平均功率为17.2W,输出光谱没有观察到明显的放大自发辐射噪声。最大功率输出时,脉冲宽度为82ns,对应单脉冲能量为0.86mJ,脉冲峰值功率高于10kW。     

High-power pulsed diode-pumped Er:ZBLAN fiber laser

We report on the operation and performance of a gain-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser based on an active pulsed diode pump system. The produced laser pulses offer high peak powers while retaining the high average powers and efficiency of the cw regime. The measured pulse duration was about 300 ns and nearly independent of the pump repetition frequency. The maximum obtained 68 W of peak power is the highest reported, to our knowledge, for diode-pumped Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers, and the 2 W of average power at the repetition frequency of 100 kHz is 2 orders of magnitude higher than previously reported average power in a pulsed regime. The obtained slope efficiency was 34%.     

Tm–Ho codoped fiber based all fiber amplification of a gain-switched 2 μm fiber laser

A Tm–Ho codoped fiber amplifier system is built. And, amplification of a gain-switched Tm–Ho codoped fiber laser is investigated. Average output of 300 mW is obtained at repetition rate of tens of kHz with an amplification gain bigger than 11 dB. And, pulse amplification efficiency of resonantly pumped Tm–Ho codoped single clad fiber is comparable with 793 nm pumped Tm-doped double clad fiber. The maximal pulse energy generated is about 13.1 μJ, corresponding to a peak power of 282 W at 20 kHz. During the amplification process, gain-switching, partially modulated gain-switched mode-locking and 100% modulated gain-switched mode-locking are observed sequentially. At gain-switching mode, the laser output enjoys a narrow linewidth of 0.31 nm, while at gain-switched mode-locking mode, the spectral linewidth broadens to 0.6 nm.     

高能量全光纤2 μm掺铥脉冲光纤激光器

基于增益开关技术获得了稳定的高能量全光纤结构2 m脉冲光纤激光器,脉冲重复频率在10~50 kHz之间可调,输出激光中心波长为1958 nm,输出脉冲宽度随着泵浦功率的增加不断减小,其变化范围为1.2~1.7 s。采用两级掺铥光纤放大器对种子激光进行放大,当脉冲重复频率为10 kHz时,获得了5.18 W的输出平均功率,输出脉冲宽度为1.6 s,单脉冲能量为0.518 mJ。     

Tm-doped Fiber Amplifier with Supercontinuum Output

We build a Tm-doped fiber amplifier based on a gain-switched seed laser. At Er-doped fiber-laser pumping, the maximum peak power of the gain-switched seed pulse is 227.7 W with a pulse duration of 48.3 ns. In the amplifier, peak power of the amplified pulse reaches 1.1 kW with a 3 dB linewidth of 0.06 nm. Supercontinuum generation is observed when this amplified pulsed laser source is injected into a section of 7 m long Tm-doped double-clad fiber.     

Stable, red laser pumped, multi-kilohertz Alexandrite laser

Operation of a miniature Alexandrite laser pulse-pumped at 671 nm by a Q-switched, frequency-doubled, diode-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ laser is reported. Average power output ∼150 mW at 765 nm with optical-to-optical slope efficiencies of 28% has been demonstrated for gain-switched operation of the Alexandrite laser at 80 kHz. Q-switched pump-pulse stacking has been used to reduce output pulse width by a factor of 6 and increase peak power by a factor of 38 over gain-switched operation.     

Erbium-doped CW and Q-switched fiber ring laser with fiber grating Michelson interferometer

The band-pass characteristic of fiber grating Michelson interferometer is analyzed, which acts as bothband-pass filter and Q-switch. An erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on fiber grating Michelsoninterferometer is implemented for producing single longitudinal mode CW operation with 5 MHz spectrallinewidth and up to 6 mW output power. In Q-switched operation, stable fiber laser output pulses withrepetition rate of 800 Hz, pulse width of 0.6 μs, average power of 1.8 mW and peak power of 3.4 W aredemonstrated. The peak power and average power of the Q-switched pulses are varied with the repetitionrate.     

100 W级全光纤化线偏振单频光纤放大器

报道了一种基于主振荡功率放大结构的全光纤化1064 mm线偏振单频光纤放大器。种子源是一个线宽约为3 kHz的单频光纤激光器。输出功率为50 mW的种子激光经两级掺Yb保偏双包层光纤(光纤纤芯直径分别为10 μm和20 μm)和一级手性耦合纤芯增益光纤放大后,最终获得了输出功率138 W、光束质量M2≤1.2、偏振消光比优于18 dB的高功率单频光纤激光输出。在脉冲调制模式下,获得了峰值功率465 W、脉宽宽度约为500 μs的线偏振单频光纤激光输出。     

Wavelength-spacing tunable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on four-wave mixing of dispersion-shifted fiber

We experimentally demonstrate a wavelength-spacing tunable multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on degenerate four-wave mixing in a dispersion-shifted fiber incorporating multiple-fiber Bragg gratings. We have achieved stable operation of the multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser, which has 0.8 nm spacing ten-channel lasing wavelengths and a high extinction ratio of more than approximately 45 dB, at room temperature. The output power of the multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is stable, so the peak fluctuation is less than approximately 0.2 dB. By changing the properties such as loss and polarization state of multiple fiber Bragg grating cavities, we can exercise flexible control of the wavelength spacing of the multiwavelength output. We can also obtain switchable multiwavelength lasing operation by elimination of the effects of alternate single-fiber Bragg gratings.     

All-fiber Tm-doped double-clad fiber laser with multi-mode FBG as cavity

An all-fiber LD-clad-pumped Tm-doped fiber laser was reported, and the CW maximal output power reached 24 W at nearly 1.94 μm. The double-clad Tm-doped fiber had a demission of 25/250 μm with the core NA 0.1 and inner-clad NA 0.46. A matched passive multi-mode FBG acted as the front cavity. Cooling by the water, the 56% high slope efficiency was achieved and threshold was 6.4 W, respected to the launched pump power. At the low power pump, the fiber laser spectrum had only one peak at 1.936 μm. Increasing the launched pump power, the output laser wavelength grew to 3–4 peaks. Because the multi-mode FBG reflectivity was not very high, both ends of the fiber laser had laser output power, and the ratio was nearly 10:1.     

Influences of ASE on the performances of Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber lasers

The output characteristics of actively Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber lasers (YDFL) are investigated in this paper. Our experimental results show that, the combined effect between the short switching time and the gain transient property of doped fiber causes the initial amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) power fluctuation, forming the multi-peak structure in the output pulse for either ring or linear cavity Q-switched YDFL. The pulse buildup time decreases with the rising of the pump. Moreover, since the broad-band ASE generated in the YDF is very high, it may saturate the doped fiber once the switch has been opened, making it difficult to achieve Q-switched laser oscillation for both fiber lasers. By using ASE filter to suppress the initial ASE, the gain supplied by the YDF can be greatly enhanced, which can not only decrease the threshold, but also greatly decrease the duration, and enhance the peak power of the Q-switched laser pulse as well. By using such an ASE filter, the Q-switched laser pulse with the peak power of 40.7 W and the duration of 30 ns has been achieved for the linear cavity YDFL pumped with 160 mW.     

High-peak-power Tm-doped double-clad fluoride fiber amplifier

A diode-pumped Tm-doped double-clad fiber-optic amplifier is reported that provides up to 5 kW of peak power at pulse durations of 30 ns and a repetition rate of 33.5 kHz. When the repetition rate is increased to 123.6 kHz, the peak power drops to 1.5 kW, while the average output power of the amplifier stays at 6.5 W with a slope efficiency of 34.9%. As an amplifier the fiber can be saturated by a very low average launched input power of only 36 mW at 1.87 microm and yields the same average output power as in a fiber laser or amplified spontaneous emission source setup for all the repetition rates investigated. The peak powers reported are to the author's knowledge the highest generated by Tm-doped fiber lasers or amplifiers at repetition rates above 1 kHz with simultaneously short pulse durations of 30 ns.     

Tandem-pumped 1120-nm actively Q-switched fiber laser

We report on a tandem-pumped actively Q-switched fiber laser system emitting at 1120 nm.Parasitic oscillation is challenging in Yb-doped Q-switched 1120-nm fiber laser,which is suppressed by pumping with a fiber laser at 1018 nm.At least four times improvement in output peak power is demonstrated in a single laser setup with 1018-nm fiber laser pumping instead of 976-nm laser diode pumping.This is,to the best of our knowledge,the first demonstration of a tandem-pumped Q-switched fiber laser.     

Investigation of a multiwavelength raman fiber laser based on few-mode fiber Bragg gratings

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple multiwavelength Raman fiber laser based on few-mode fiber Bragg gratings without additional multichannel filters. The multiwavelength Raman laser output has a high extinction ratio of more than 45 dB. The multiwavelength output is so stable that the peak power fluctuation is less than 0.5 dB. The number of lasing wavelengths can be adjusted, corresponding to the properties of few-mode Bragg gratings with multiple resonant wavelengths. By the thermal tuning method, the lasing wavelength of each channel can be effectively controlled, and the laser's tunability is measured to be 10.5 pm/ degrees C.     

All-fiber clad-pumped Tm3+-doped fiber amplifier using high power fiber combiner

The diode laser (LD) clad-pumped 1947.6 nm continuous wave (CW) Tm³⁺-doped fiber amplifier is reported using the master oscillation power amplifier (MOPA) method. The injected seed laser is provided by an all-fiber LD-clad-pumped Tm³⁺-doped single-mode fiber laser, which has a nearly 2.4 W maximal output power and 0.1 nm ultra-narrow linewidth based on the intracore reflection FBG. Using the 25/400 μm double-clad LMA Tm³⁺-doped fiber as the gain fiber, the output maximal output power is 30.6 W from the fiber amplifier, with a slope efficiency of 39.1% respected to the LD total output power. A high power multi-mode fiber combiner is used to couple high power LD light into the gain fiber. The output wavelength is also located at 1947.6 nm, with the slightly expanded laser linewidth of 0.2 nm.     

Development of a high-pulse-energy Q-switched Tm-doped double-clad fluoride fiber laser and its application to the pumping of mid-IR lasers

A diode-pumped Q-switched Tm-doped double-clad fluoride fiber laser is reported providing up to 90 microJ pulse energy (160 ns, 100 kHz, i.e., 9 W of average power). The dependence of the fiber laser's repetition rate on pump power and modulator repetition rate was investigated. By amplification even higher pulse energies of 410 microJ could be generated. In a second stage of the setup the Q-switched fiber laser serves as a pump for a gain-switched tunable Cr2+:ZnSe laser. The pulse energies reported are to the author's knowledge the highest generated by Tm-doped fluoride fiber lasers or amplifiers today.