Simulataneous coherent and spectral addition of fiber lasers

A new approach for the simultaneous coherent and spectral addition of a two-dimensional array of fiber lasers is presented. A combining efficiency of over 80% and a combined beam profile with M(2)=1.15 were experimentally obtained with an array of four fiber lasers. This approach can lead to significant upscaling in fiber laser additions.     

高功率光纤激光的时间部分相干性对相干合成的影响

 将多个光纤激光器的输出光束进行相干合成是获得高功率、高光束质量激光的有效途径。利用准部分相干光(PPCB)模型,计算了高功率光纤激光器阵列发出的部分相干光在远场的能量分布,分析了激光的时间部分相干性对相干合成的影响。计算结果表明,随着单根激光器输出光束线宽的增大,远场光斑的图样基本保持不变,但峰值功率和Strehl比随之减小。对于采用的算例,要保证远场光斑的Strehl比大于0.8,单根光纤激光器的线宽不能超过5 nm。     

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。     

Coherent beam combining of pulsed fiber lasers with hybrid phase control

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for coherent combining of all-fiber pulsed lasers with hybrid phase control involving passive phasing and active phasing for the first time. Synchronized and passive phased pulsed laser array is built by intra-activity phase modulation. Active phase control on the passive phased pulsed laser array using stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm provides stable in-phase coherent beam combining pattern in a turbulent atmosphere. The fringe visibility is increased from 0 two 0.43 and the power encircled in the main-lobe is 1.616 times increased when the system evolves from passive phasing to hybrid phasing. The architecture can be easily scaled up to high power by increasing power of each individual laser, number of laser elements and introduction of power amplifiers, which will lead a promising way for scaleable high power coherent beam combining of pulsed lasers.     

Propagation of partially coherent partially phase-locked laser array in turbulent atmosphere

The mechanism for beam quality degradation in recently developed phase locking of high power solid state lasers, which is caused mainly by partially coherent property of element beam and partially phase locking of the laser array, is analyzed in detail. Analytical expression for propagation of partially coherent partially phase-locked laser array in turbulent atmosphere is obtained based on extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. The effect of coherence width, phase error and intensity of turbulence on the beam quality in the target-plane is studied in detail. The tolerance on phase error for laser array with different coherence property is analyzed. It is concluded that the laser array with better coherence is more sensitive to turbulence, and phase control can improve beam quality in the receiving plane only in the case when the element beam has good beam quality and propagates in weak turbulence.     

基于公共环形腔耦合的光纤激光器相干合成技术

 为提高光纤激光器无源自调整相干合成阵列的效率、稳定性和可扩展性,提出了基于公共光纤环形腔耦合与单模光纤滤波的光纤激光器相干合成方案。将多个2×2的光纤耦合器分别插入各单元激光器的谐振腔,利用耦合器余下的端口,两两相连构成公共环形耦合腔。采用单模光纤滤波技术,提高了各输出激光束之间相位锁定的稳定性。利用该方案在实验上实现了三路光纤激光器的被动锁相输出,实验测得的远场干涉光斑、输出功率及光谱均表明该方案适于构建性能较好的光纤激光器相干合成阵列。     

不同波形脉冲激光的时域误差对相干合成的影响

相干合成技术是实现高功率、高亮度光纤激光系统的重要技术途径.然而, 脉冲激光阵列中常常存在时域误差,这将影响脉冲激光的相干合成效果. 建立了脉冲激光存在时域误差时的相干合成理论模型,并在不同波形(方波、三角波、正弦波) 的脉冲激光存在时域误差时,对相干合成光束在远场的脉冲波形、峰值功率、 光强分布和桶中功率(PIB)等特性进行了数值计算和对比分析.计算结果表明: 方波脉冲激光相干合成光束的脉冲波形受时域误差影响严重,光强分布和PIB随着时域误差 的增大发生线性变化;三角波脉冲激光相干合成光束的脉冲波形和峰值功率受时域误差 影响严重,光强分布和PIB在时域误差较大时随着时域误差的增大发生较为剧烈的变化; 正弦波脉冲激光相干合成光束具有较好的输出特性,在两路正弦波脉冲激光相干合成中, 将两脉冲之间的时延控制在脉冲持续时间的10%以内,就能取得良好的合成效果.     

134-W phase locking of two-dimensional four-fiber lasers with improved self-imaging resonator

We experimentally demonstrate the phase locking of a two-dimensional （2D） array of four fiber lasers using an improved self-imaging resonator with a spatial filter. The high visibility interference round stripes of the coherent beam profile are observed. The coherent output power of the fiber array exceeds 134 W. Tile entire system operates quite stably, and no thermal effects observe in the spatial filter, indicating that the coherent output power can be increased using this method.     

Synchronization and coherent combining of two pulsed fiber lasers

We demonstrate a scalable architecture for coherent combining of pulsed fiber lasers.A new method for generating synchronous pulsed fiber lasers by direct phase modulation is proposed and investigated.It is shown that phase modulated mutually coupled laser array can be a steady synchronous pulsed fiber laser source.The synchronous pulsed fiber lasers are coherently combined with an invariable phase difference of π in adjacent lasers.Neither active phase control nor polarization control is taken in our experiment.     

多单元光纤激光阵列的倾斜控制实验研究

本文结合光纤激光阵列技术的发展趋势,介绍一种基于大模场面积光纤的自适应光纤光源准直器的研制进展,搭建七单元光纤激光阵列,进行平行发射体系下阵列间的倾斜控制实验,并初步探索了基于目标在回路的共形发射体系下阵列间的倾斜控制.最后,在三级全光纤放大链路的主振荡-功率放大系统中,完成了两路10W量级光纤激光阵列的倾斜控制及锁相.为在实际大气环境下应用光纤激光阵列技术提供了参考.     

高功率光纤激光阵列被动相干组束技术研究

对高功率光纤激光的被动相干组束技术进行了理论和实验研究.介绍了几种典型的被动相干组束技术,并对其功率可提升性进行了分析.详细报道了课题组在光反馈环形腔结构光纤激光相干组束方面的研究进展,研究分析了该相干组束技术的输出光谱特性和路数可提升性,建立了4路和8路高功率光纤放大器的相干组束系统,并分别实现了1062和1090W...     

Tolerance on tilt error for coherent combining of fiber lasers

Limited by the precision of optical machining and assembling, the optical axes of lasers in an array cannot be strictly parallel to each other, which will result in the beam quality degradation of the combined beam. The tolerance on tilt error for coherent combining of fiber lasers is studied in detail. The complex amplitude distribution in the far field for the Gaussian beam with tilt angle is obtained by a novel coordinate transform method. Effect of tilt error on coherent combining is modelled analytically. Beam propagation factor is used to evaluate the effect of coherent combining. Numerical results show that for ring-distributed fiber laser array with central wavelength A and geometry size D, if the root-mean-square （RMS） value of the tilt error is smaller than 0.72A/D, the energy encircled in the diffraction-limited bucket can be ensured to be more than 50% of the value when there is no tilt error. The results are helpful to the designing and manufacturing of fiber array for coherent combining.     

Stable all-fiber dual-wavelength thulium-doped fiber laser and its coherent beam combination

We demonstrate which we believe the first investigation on mutual injection-locking and coherent combining of two thulium-doped fiber lasers. Mutual coherence between the two fiber lasers is established by means of mutual coupling through two 3 dB couplers. High combining efficiency of 99% for two fiber laser has been obtained, and the fringe contrast of the intensity pattern at the receiving plane is as high as 93%. The solution to scale to high power coherent beam combining is briefly discussed.     

32路光纤激光相干阵列的相位锁定

报道了32路光纤激光相干阵列的相位锁定实验研究。搭建了32路光纤激光相干阵列实验系统,基于现场可编程逻辑阵列(FPGA)设计制作了高速高精度相位控制器。当相位控制器执行随机并行梯度下降(SPGD)算法对各路激光的相位进行锁定时,相干阵列输出的激光功率与不进行相位锁定时相比提高了约26倍。     

Mutual injection locking and coherent beam combining of two thulium doped fiber lasers

We demonstrate which we believe the first investigation on mutual injection-locking and coherent combining of two thulium-doped fiber lasers. Mutual coherence between the two fiber lasers is established by means of mutual coupling through two 3 dB couplers. High combining efficiency of 99% for two fiber laser has been obtained, and the fringe contrast of the intensity pattern at the receiving plane is as high as 93%. The solution to scale to high power coherent beam combining is briefly discussed.     

Optimal Truncation of Element Beam in a Coherent Fiber Laser Array

The beam quality of a coherent fiber laser array often suffers from the low fill factor of the Gaussian laser array. One simple and effective approach to improve the fill factor is to truncate the array element properly. An analytical expression for far-field intensity distribution of a truncated coherent fiber laser array is derived. Optimal truncation of the element beam in different coherent fiber laser arrays is obtained by using energy encircled in the far-field central-lobe as the beam quality criterion. By optimal truncation, energy encircled in the central-lobe can be 97% compared with the ideal case. The shift in optimal truncation parameter in the case of phase noise is also analyzed.     

Experimental study of SBS suppression and coherence property of 1064 nm high power multi-tone fiber amplifier

Seeding high power fiber amplifier employing multi-tone fiber laser is an effective approach to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). In this paper, a two-stage 1064 nm high power fiber amplification system was set up. Single-, two- and three-tone fiber lasers were employed. SBS threshold powers and maximum output powers of the multi-tone cases are enhanced compared with the single-tone case. The multi-tone amplifiers also show comparable optical-to-optical efficiency to the single-tone amplifier. To demonstrate and validate coherence property of the two multi-tone fiber amplifiers, the output laser beams of the amplifiers were self-interfered in our self-made coherent beam combining system. The laser beams of the multi-tone cases showed good coherence property comparable to the single-tone case, which implied that the high power output laser light of the multi-tone fiber amplifiers could be used for coherent beam combining.     

两路双包层光纤激光器互注入锁相实验研究

提出了一种利用45°半透半反分束镜和角锥反射器实现两路光纤激光器的能量相互注入,从而获得相干合成激光输出的新方法,分析了其锁相原理.在实验上成功实现了两路独立振荡双包层光纤激光器的互注入锁相输出,在远场观察到了清晰稳定的干涉条纹（可见度约0.57）,获得了超过10W的相干合成激光输出,功率合成效率约为76%.实验表明,这种互注入锁相方法可以在更高功率条件下运行,是光纤激光相干合成领域一种有前途的新技术. 关键词： 光纤激光器 相干合成 互注入锁相     

Status of single-model optical fiber standardization in the electronic industries association (EIA)

This paper introduces and analyzes revolutionary laser system architecture capable of dramatically reducing the complexity of laser systems while simultaneously increasing capability. The architecture includes three major subsystems. The first is a phased array of laser sources. In this article, we discuss diode-pumped fiber lasers as the elements of the phased array, although other waveguide lasers can also be considered. The second provides wavefront control and electronics beam steering, as described in an IEEE Proceedings article on “Optical Phased Array Technology” [1]. The third is subaperture receiver technology. Combining these three technologies into a new laser systems architecture results in a system that has graceful degradation, can steer to as wide an angle as individual optical phased array subapertures, and can be scaled to high power and large apertures through phasing of a number of subapertures. Diode-pumped fiber lasers are appealing as laser sources because they are electrically pumped, efficient, relatively simple, and scalable to significant power levels (over 100 Watts has been demonstrated from a single diode-pumped fiber laser) [2]. The fiber laser design also lends itself to integration into a phased array. Fiber lasers have been phased. Initial phasing demonstrations have been at low power and were conducted by taking a single source, dividing it into multiple fibers, then phasing them together. To develop this technology further we need to use independent fiber lasers or fiber amplifiers, seeded by a common source, and to increase laser power. As we increase laser power, we will have to learn to cope with nonlinearities in the laser amplifiers. Optical Phased Array technology has demonstrated steering over a 90-degree field of regard [4], although this approach used additional optical components. If we use straightforward optical phased array beam steering without additional optics we can steer with high efficiency to about one-third λ/d, where d is the smallest individually addressable element. The one-third factor depends on the efficiency threshold. For example, if we use 1.5 μm light, and 5 μm center-to-center spacing, we can steer with high efficiency to about ±6 degrees, or a field of regard of 12 degrees. Last, we need to develop a subaperture receive technology. This can be a pupil plane receiver, an image plane receiver, or some combination of the approaches. When we have matured each individual technology and combined them into new laser systems architectures, we will have the ability to build simpler and more capable laser systems. The vision for an integrated, phased array laser concept is to enable a new class of laser systems with significant advantages, including high-efficiency, all-electric laser source; all waveguide beam transport; wavefront control at the sub-aperture level (enabling wavefront compensation, conformal apertures, and wide-angle electronic beam steering); random access beam pointing over wide angles; multiple simultaneous beam generation and control; and graceful degradation.     

Coherent beam combination of adaptive fiber laser array with tilt-tip and phase-locking control

We present an experimental study on tilt-tip(TT) and phase-locking(PL) control in a coherent beam combination(CBC) system of adaptive fiber laser array.The TT control is performed using the adaptive fiber-optics collimator(AFOC),and the PL control is realized by the phase modulator(PM).Cascaded and simultaneous controls of TT and PL using stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD) algorithm are investigated in this paper.Two-fiber-laser-,four-fiber-laser-,and six-fiber-laser-arrays are employed to study the TT and PL control.In the cascaded control system,only one high-speed CMOS camera is used to collect beam data and a computer is used as the controller.In a simultaneous control system one high-speed CMOS camera and one photonic detector(PD) are employed,and a computer and a control circuit based on field programmable gate array(FPGA) are used as the controllers.Experimental results reveal that both cascaded and simultaneous controls of TT using AFOC and PL using PM in fiber laser array are feasible and effective.Cascaded control is more effective in static control situation and simultaneous control can be applied to the dynamic control system directly.The control signals of simultaneous PL and TT disturb each other obviously and TT and PL control may compete with each other,so the control effect is limited.