Design and fabrication of hollow-core photonic crystal fibers for high-power ultrashort pulse transportation and pulse compression

We report on the recent design and fabrication of kagome-type hollow-core photonic crystal fibers for the purpose of high-power ultrashort pulse transportation. The fabricated seven-cell three-ring hypocycloid-shaped large core fiber exhibits an up-to-date lowest attenuation (among all kagome fibers) of 40 dB/km over a broadband transmission centered at 1500?nm. We show that the large core size, low attenuation, broadband transmission, single-mode guidance, and low dispersion make it an ideal host for high-power laser beam transportation. By filling the fiber with helium gas, a 74?μJ, 850?fs, and 40?kHz repetition rate ultrashort pulse at 1550?nm has been faithfully delivered at the fiber output with little propagation pulse distortion. Compression of a 105?μJ laser pulse from 850?fs down to 300?fs has been achieved by operating the fiber in ambient air.     

All-passive phase locking of a compact Er:fiber laser system

A passively phase-locked laser source based on compact femtosecond Er:fiber technology is introduced. The carrier-envelope offset frequency is set to zero via difference frequency generation between a soliton at a wavelength of 2?μm and a dispersive wave at 860?nm generated in the same highly nonlinear fiber. This process results in a broadband output centered at 1.55?μm. Subsequently, the 40?MHz pulse train seeds a second Er:fiber amplifier, which boosts the pulse energy up to 8?nJ at a duration of 125?fs. Excellent phase stability is demonstrated via f-to-2f spectral interferometry.     

Coherently combined fiber laser system delivering 120 μJ femtosecond pulses

We report on the coherent combination of two chirped pulsed fiber lasers. The beams coming from two 100?μm core diameter ytterbium-doped rod-type fibers were coupled in a Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer by means of a polarization beam splitter. Active stabilization of the interferometer was achieved by using a piezo-mounted mirror driven by a H?nsch-Couillaud polarization detection system. Pulses with 120?μJ energy and a compressed duration of 800?fs were obtained. This, compared with the 66?μJ coming from each single amplifier, results in a combining efficiency as high as 91%.     

High-power broadband laser source tunable from 3.0 μm to 4.4 μm based on a femtosecond Yb:fiber oscillator

We describe a tunable broadband mid-IR laser source based on difference-frequency mixing of a 100?MHz femtosecond Yb:fiber laser oscillator and a Raman-shifted soliton generated with the same laser. The resulting light is tunable over 3.0?μm to 4.4?μm, with a FWHM bandwidth of 170?nm and maximum average output power up to 125?mW. The noise and coherence properties of this source are also investigated and described.     

Short Tm3+-doped fiber lasers with watt-level output near 2 μm

High-power operation of diode-pumped fiber lasers at wavelength near 2μm are demonstrated with short length of heavily Tm3 -doped silica glass fibers. With 7-cm long fiber, a laser at near 2 μm is obtained with the threshold of 135 mW, maximum output power of 1.09 W, and slope efficiency of 9.6% with respect to the launched power from a laser diode at 790 nm. The output stability of this fiber laser is within 5%.The dependence of the performance of fiber lasers on the operation temperature and cavity configuration parameters is also investigated.     

Octave spanning supercontinuum in an As₂S₃ taper using ultralow pump pulse energy

An octave spanning spectrum is generated in an As?S? taper via 77 pJ pulses from an ultrafast fiber laser. Using a previously developed tapering method, we construct a 1.3 μm taper that has a zero-dispersion wavelength around 1.4 μm. The low two-photon absorption of sulfide-based chalcogenide fiber allows for higher input powers than previous efforts in selenium-based chalcogenide tapered fibers. This higher power handling capability combined with input pulse chirp compensation allows an octave spanning spectrum to be generated directly from the taper using the unamplified laser output.     

Silica-clad crystalline germanium core optical fibers

Silica-clad optical fibers comprising a core of crystalline germanium were drawn using a molten core technique. With respect to previous fibers drawn using a borosilicate cladding, the present fibers exhibit negligible oxygen despite being fabricated at more than twice the melting point of the germanium. The counterintuitive result of less oxygen when the fiber is drawn at a higher temperatures is discussed. The measured propagation loss for the fiber was 0.7?dB/cm at 3.39?μm, which is the lowest loss reported to date.     

采用光纤消光法检测脉冲激光测距仪消光比的研究

阐述了光纤消光法检测脉冲激光测距仪消光比的测试原理,采用光纤消光法分析了光纤对大功率脉冲激光的耦合与传输等关键技术问题,提出了0．22NA、400μm大功率传能光纤方案,并设计了耦合器和光学系统,分析了聚焦透镜的损耗、光纤端面的损耗、光纤耦合器与光纤的对准误差等影响耦合效率的因素,计算了光学系统弥散斑数据,接收光学系统和发射光学系统在1ω视场的弥散斑分别为9．03μm和10．6μm。设计分析结果对光纤消光法的工程应用具有一定的研究价值。     

高激光损伤阈值Ge-As-S硫系玻璃光纤及中红外超连续谱产生

测量了Ge-As-S系列硫系玻璃在中红外波段的飞秒激光损伤阈值,研究了它与玻璃化学组成的关系.基于优化的玻璃组成,采用棒管法制备了芯径为15μm的阶跃折射率非线性光纤.采用飞秒脉冲抽运光纤,研究了光纤中超连续谱(supercontinuum,SC)的产生特性.在研究的Ge-As-S硫系玻璃中,具有化学计量配比的Ge0.25As0.1S0.65玻璃显示出最高的激光损伤阈值.以该玻璃作为纤芯材料、以与其相匹配的Ge0.26As0.08S0.66玻璃作为包层材料制备的光纤的数值孔径约为0.24,背景损耗<2 dB/m.采用4.8μm的飞秒激光抽运长度为10 cm的光纤,获得了覆盖2.5-7.5μm的SC.这些结果表明,Ge-As-S硫系玻璃光纤是一种有潜力的中红外高亮度宽带SC产生的非线性介质.     

Supercontinuum generation in single crystal sapphire fibers

In this paper, we report supercontinuum generation by launching ultra-short femtosecond laser pulses into single crystal sapphire fibers. The major advantages of using sapphire fiber for supercontinuum generation are: (1) high transparency up to 5 μm, (2) low material dispersion in the 0.8-5 μm spectral range, and (3) a higher laser damage threshold (500 times higher than that of silica). Thus, a very high power, super broadband [from visible to middle IR (up to 5 μm)], supercontinuum source can be realized by employing sapphire fiber for supercontinuum generation. Our experimental results also confirm that sapphire fiber can offer a broader supercontinuum spectrum than that of bulk sapphire counterpart under the same exciting conditions. This work opens the door to new opportunities in generating high power supercontinuum radiation (in particular, at the middle-IR regime), and will have a great impact on many applications, including sensing and broadband multi-spectrum free space communications.     

大芯径光纤整形飞秒激光脉冲空间分布的研究

通过将1 kHz重复频率的飞秒放大激光脉冲耦合到大芯径(100μm)阶跃光纤,在27 mm长的光纤中产生了环形空间光强分布,并在3 160 mm的长光纤中观察到平台型的空间光强分布,通过自聚焦效应对该现象进行了解释.结果表明,通过选择合适的光纤,可以实现对放大飞秒激光脉冲的有效空间整形,从而达到改善光束质量的效果.     

High-energy temporally shaped nanosecond-pulse master-oscillator power amplifier based on ytterbium-doped single-mode microstructured flexible fiber

We present a versatile master-oscillator power amplifier system at 1053?nm in the few-nanoseconds regime meeting the high-level requirements of high-power laser facility front ends. Thanks to temporal shaping, more than 1.5?mJ pulse energy at 1?kHz with an excellent optical signal-to-noise ratio has been obtained in a single-mode 40?μm core flexible fiber.     

High-resolution monitoring of the hole depth during ultrafast laser ablation drilling by diode laser self-mixing interferometry

We demonstrate that diode laser self-mixing interferometry can be exploited to instantaneously measure the ablation front displacement and the laser ablation rate during ultrafast microdrilling of metals. The proof of concept was obtained using a 50-μm-thick stainless steel plate as the target, a 120?ps/110?kHz microchip fiber laser as the machining source, and an 823?nm diode laser with an integrated photodiode as the probe. The time dependence of the hole penetration depth was measured with a 0.41?μm resolution.     

Long wavelength photodetectors

The role of long wavelength systems (1.0μm<λ< 10.0μm) in fiber optics communications is evaluated. For high-bit rate optical telecommunications at 1.3 μm or 1.5 μm, GaInAs p-i-n detectors have emerged as the preferred choice because of their low noise, excellent sensitivity, and high temperature stability. Ge and HgCdTe photodiodes offer nearly equivalent performance and a somewhat more advanced production technology. Beyond 2 μm, HgCdTe would seem to be the clear choice for photodetector applications. Avalanche photodiodes in long wavelength optical fiber links may find uses in situations involving high bit rate transmission using low cost components. Although avalanche gain will always improve the system sensitivity, the LED/APD combination is only half as sensitive as a laser/p-i-n system, as well as being bandwidth limited. Nontelecommunications applications involving data base and fiber guidance systems are discussed, and a prospective look is taken at the uses, such as power transmission, of ultra low-loss fibers in the 2 to 10 μm region of the optical spectrum.     

Spectral superbroadening of subnanojoule Cr:Forsterite femtosecond laser pulses in a tapered fiber

Spectral superbroadening of subnanojoule femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser pulses is demonstrated for the first time in experiments with a tapered fiber. Coupling 40-fs 0.6-nJ pulses of 1.25-μm Cr:forsterite laser radiation into a tapered fiber with a taper waist diameter of about 2 μm and a taper waist length of 90 mm, we observed the spectra spanning more than two octaves at the output of the fiber. These experimental results open new horizons for the creation of compact femtosecond systems based on Cr:forsterite lasers and tapered fibers for optical metrology and biomedical applications.     

医用3μm与2μm级联振荡钬光纤激光器的工作原理与初步设计

分析了医用3μm与2μm级联振荡Ho³⁺:ZBLAN光纤激光器的工作原理,首次给出了1.1μm带泵浦下级联振荡Ho³⁺:ZBLAN光纤激光器的动态及稳态速率方程,最后给出了级联振荡Ho³⁺:ZBLAN光纤激光器的初步设计.     

Dissipative dispersion-managed soliton 2 μm thulium/holmium fiber laser

We report a first dissipative dispersive-managed soliton fiber laser operating at 2?μm. The cavity comprised of all-anomalous-dispersion fiber employs chirped fiber Bragg grating, which ensures net-normal cavity dispersion and semiconductor saturable absorber for mode-locking.     

All-fiber Kerr cell

An all-fiber nanosecond Kerr light gate is described that was constructed using microstructured fibers. The switching voltage for a 20?cm long device is as low as Vπ～85 V at a 1.06?μm wavelength. The device is fully spliced. The active element is a three-hole fiber provided with internal electrodes in the side-holes and a liquid core of nitrobenzene, which is fully enclosed. This work allows the exploiting of electrically driven liquid-core fibers and demonstrated the removal of the major limitations of Kerr cells in the past, allowing for integration, safe use, and relatively low switching voltage.     

Laser diode to single-mode circular core dispersion-shifted/dispersion-flattened fiber excitation via hyperbolic microlens on the fiber tip: Prediction of coupling efficiency by ABCD matrix formalism

The formulated ABCD matrix formalism is employed to prescribe analytical expression of coupling efficiency of a laser diode to single-mode circular core dispersion-shifted as well as dispersion-flattened fiber via hyperbolic microlens on the tip of the fiber. We assume that field distribution in case of both the source and the fiber is one parameter Gaussian type. For maximum excitation efficiency, it is required that the lens transmitted spot size of the source should match with the spot size of the fiber. Further, as regards the spot size of the fiber, we use Petermann II spot size in order to take care of non Gaussian nature of field of such fibers and to make the estimations more realistic thereby. The investigations are carried out for two different wavelengths 1.3 and 1.5 μm. Our simple method predicts the concerned coupling optics excellently and the necessary evaluations require little computations. This simple but accurate technique is expected to benefit the system designers who work in the field of optical technology.     

矩形晶格高偏振、低损耗铋锗镓光子晶体光纤的结构设计及性能分析

非对称结构光子晶体光纤应用广泛。其良好的偏振特性、灵活的色散调控能力以及低限制损耗品质,对于优化与改善偏振光纤器件、非线性光学光纤、光通信光纤、光纤传感器等性能发挥着关键的作用。选用高折射率铋锗镓激光玻璃为材料,设计了八边形阵列、矩形晶格排列的光子晶体光纤,纤芯缺陷区包层及外包层均为圆形空气孔。模拟实验数据显示,结构参数为M=0.5,0.6时,在波长为1.55 μm处的双折射系数分别为1.16×10?2和1.33×10?2;在近红外波段短波区,矩形晶格结构光子晶体光纤的色散范围分别在±30 ps·nm?1·km?1之间及?18～32 ps·nm?1·km?1之间。色散斜率较低,曲线具有零色散点,展现了良好的连续谱调控能力;在1.00～1.90 μm波段内,当M=0.5,0.6时,光纤限制损耗稳定在10?7～10?9 dB·km?1之间;在1.55 μm处,限制损耗测量值分别为2.32×10?7和1.62×10?8 dB·km?1。