Double chirped-pulse-amplification laser: a way to clean pulses temporally

We demonstrate a double chirped-pulse-amplification (CPA) Ti: sapphire laser system that includes two CPA stages with intermediate nonlinear temporal pulse filtering. The method makes it possible to reduce substantially the background of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), including prepulses and postpulses. An ASE temporal contrast of 10(10) was demonstrated at 20 mJ of output energy and 50-fs pulse duration. The demonstrated scheme is applicable to petawatt power-level laser systems.     

WDM Systems in the C-Band Using Er 3+ -Doped Tellurite Optical Waveguide Amplifiers

A 16-channel, 2.5 Gb/s, wavelength-division multiplexing system is analyzed with its channels allocated in the 1.52-1.56 μm wavelength region in order to increase the usable amplifier bandwidth to ≈45 nm. To avoid amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and the nonuniform signal gain in the wavelength region, an amplifier module consisting of an Er 3+ -doped tellurite waveguide amplifier, an ASE filter, and two concatenated long-period grating filters are proposed. A tellurite-based amplifier was chosen as the amplifying element because of its broad emission bandwidth (~80 nm), its high emission cross section (6.44 ×10 -25 m 2 ), and its high rare-earth ion solubility. The amplifier model is based on propagation and populationrate equations and includes both uniform and pair-induced up-conversion mechanisms. It is solved numerically by combining finite elements and a Runge-Kutta algorithm. The analysis predicts that using the proposed amplifier module, the channels may be transmitted to a maximum distance of 1800 km, finding applications in large optical networks where either many wavelengths are required or channel spacing must be large.     

WDM Systems in the C-Band Using Er 3+ -Doped Tellurite Optical Waveguide Amplifiers

A 16-channel, 2.5 Gb/s, wavelength-division multiplexing system is analyzed with its channels allocated in the 1.52-1.56 w m wavelength region in order to increase the usable amplifier bandwidth to , 45 nm. To avoid amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and the nonuniform signal gain in the wavelength region, an amplifier module consisting of an Er 3+ -doped tellurite waveguide amplifier, an ASE filter, and two concatenated long-period grating filters are proposed. A tellurite-based amplifier was chosen as the amplifying element because of its broad emission bandwidth (~80 nm), its high emission cross section (6.44 2 10 -25 m 2 ), and its high rare-earth ion solubility. The amplifier model is based on propagation and populationrate equations and includes both uniform and pair-induced up-conversion mechanisms. It is solved numerically by combining finite elements and a Runge-Kutta algorithm. The analysis predicts that using the proposed amplifier module, the channels may be transmitted to a maximum distance of 1800 km, finding applications in large optical networks where either many wavelengths are required or channel spacing must be large.     

Effect of injection of C-band ASE on L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier

The effect of injecting conventional band (C-band) amplified spontaneous emission on the performance of long-wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) is demonstrated. It uses a circulator and broadband fiber Bragg grating (FBG) to route C-band ASE from a C-band EDFA. Injection of a small amount of ASE (attenuation of 20 dB or above) improves the small signal gain with a negligible noise figure penalty compared to that of an amplifier without the ASE injection. A maximum gain improvement of 3.5 dB is obtained at an attenuation of 20 dB. At very large amounts of ASE injection (attenuation of 0 dB), the gain of the amplifier is clamped at 15.2 dB from ?40 to ?10 dBm with a gain variation of less than 0.3 dB. The saturation power is also increased from ?8 dBm (for without ASE injection) to 2 dBm (VOA=0 dB) with a slight noise figure penalty. These results show that the ASE injection technique can be used either for gain improvement or for gain clamping in L-band EDFA.     

Millijoule pulse energy picosecond fiber chirped-pulse amplification system

The efficient generation of a 1.17-mJ laser pulse with 360 ps duration using an ytterbium (Yb)-doped fiber amplifier chain seeded by a homemade mode-locked fiber laser is demonstrated experimentally.A specially designed figure-of-eight fiber laser acts as the seed source of a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) system and generates mode-locked pulses with hundreds of picosecond widths.Two kinds of large-mode-area (LMA) double-clad Yb-doped fibers are employed to construct the pre-amplifier and main amplifier.All of the adopted instruments help avoid severe nonlinearity in fibers to raise sub-nanosecond pulse energy with acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).The output spectrum of this fiber-based CPA system shows that amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is suppressed to better than 30 dB,and the onset of stimulated Raman scattering is excluded.     

Theoretical study on the laser gain of a multi-stage dye laser amplifier

Theoretical studies on laser gain of a multi-stage dye laser amplifier are presented in this paper. The resultsshow that the influences of amplified spontaneous emission(ASE)and nonlinear absorption of excited-state on the gain are different for different input laser energies and gains. A threshold input intensityexists for a specific system. If the imput intensity is higher than the threshold, the nonlinear absorptionof excited-state will be the main cause for gain decrease. Otherwise, the ASE is the main cause. A newscheme is proposed to calculate the gain of the amplifier by the comparison of the input intensity with theeffective saturation intensity and the choice of the calculation gain method.     

High gain L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with two-stage double-pass configuration

An experiment on gain enhancement in the long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) is demonstrated using dual forward pumping scheme in double-pass system. Compared to a single-stage single-pass scheme, the small signal gain for 1580 nm signal can be improved by 13.5 dB. However, a noise figure penalty of 2.9 dB was obtained due to the backward C-band ASE from second stage and the already amplified signal from the first pass that extracting energy from the forward C-band ASE. The maximum gain improvement of 13.7 dB was obtained at a signal wavelength of 1588 nm while signal and total pump powers were fixed at -30 dBm and 92 mW, respectively.     

高功率激光片状放大器中自发辐射放大研究

 采用理论模拟和实验研究相结合的方法，研究了高功率激光片状放大器中的自发辐射放大(ASE)效应。建立了一套较完整的包含空间和时间的3维ASE模型，分析了不同电压、不同储能分布和不同泵浦时刻、不同增益长度积条件下ASE效应对放大器储能效率和小信号增益系数的影响。对4×2×3组合式放大器的计算结果表明：随着泵浦电压升高，ASE效应明显加强；23kV泵浦电压下，ASE效应造成的平均储能下降210%，小信号增益系数损耗为16.62%，增益不均匀性为7.44%；增益长度积可以作为判断ASE效应的依据，其值越大，ASE效应越强。     

Gain and noise figure improvements in double-pass S-band EDFA

Double-pass short-wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (S-band EDFA) with enhanced gain and noise figure characteristics is demonstrated. It uses a broadband fiber Bragg grating (FBG) operating in conventional-band (C-band) region to reduce the C-band amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in the amplifier system and thus increases the population inversion in the S-band region. The small signal gain is increased by about 2.7 dB for 1500 nm signal at pump power of 103 mW, compared with that of the conventional double-pass amplifier without the FBG. The corresponding noise figure is also improved by 0.5 dB.     

主振荡功率放大装置中的放大自发辐射效应和能量提取效率

 建立了放大自发辐射(ASE)和相干激光能流耦合的模型,使用迭代算法,计算了长方体形状放大级中的ASE能流和相干激光能流的分布以及放大级出口0.5 m处的ASE分布,并讨论了入射光强、饱和光强对输出功率及能量提取效率的影响。对于增益区呈长方体、增益系数沿流场方向呈抛物线分布的放大级的计算结果表明：输入光的存在不仅会降低放大级中ASE光强的大小,而且将改变ASE的分布,使放大级中ASE能流的极大值向入口处移动;在饱和光强一定的情况下,输出功率和能量提取效率将随着入射功率的增大而增大;在入射光强一定的情况下,输出功率将随着饱和光强的增大而增大,而能量提取效率将随着饱和光强的增大而减小。     

Gain-clamping techniques in two-stage double-pass L-band EDFA

Two designs of long-wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) for gain clamping in double-pass systems are demonstrated and compared. The first design is based on ring laser technique where a backward amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the second stage is routed into the feedback loop to create an oscillating laser for gain clamping. The gain is clamped at 18.6 d B from -40 to -80 dBm with a gain variation of less than ±0.1 dB and a noise figure of less than 6 dB. Another scheme is based on partial reflection of ASE into the EDFA, which is demonstrated using a narrowband fiber Bragg grating. This scheme achieves a good gain clamping characteristic up to -12 dBm of input signal power with a gain variation of less than ±0.3 dB from a clamped gain of 22 dB. The noise figure of a 1580 nm signal is maintained below 5 dB in this amplifier since this scheme is not based on lasing mechanism. The latter scheme is also expected to be free from the relaxation oscillation problem.     

Calculation of transient gain enhancement by suppressing intra-cavity ASE in a large-aperture KrF laser amplifier

In a large-aperture amplifier, steady-state gain is heavily reduced by the intra-cavity amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). However, the reduced gain could be transiently enhanced by temporally suppressing the ASE with an intense depleting short pulse. Previously, we reported the experimental observation of this transient gain enhancement in a KrF laser amplifier with a 29-cm-diameter aperture. In this paper, this transient gain enhancement is examined theoretically by using a time-dependent ASE code. From a comparison of the code calculations with the experimental results, the observed quick gain recovery and also the possibility of a transient gain higher than the steady-state value are discussed. Received: 18 February 1999 / Revised version: 5 March 1999 / Published online: 28 April 1999     

High-power top-hat pulses from a Yb master oscillator power amplifier for efficient optical parametric amplifier pumping

We demonstrate shaping of high-energy broadband Yb amplifier pulses for the generation of a (sub)picosecond top-hat temporal pulse profile that significantly improves pumping efficiency of an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). Phase-only modulation is applied by an acousto-optic programmable dispersion filter. This simple scheme is scalable to a high average power due to a relatively broad bandwidth of the Yb:CaF(2) gain medium used in the amplifier that supports a sub-150-fs transform-limited pulse duration. Additionally we show that OPA seeding with supercontinuum remains possible because top-hat-shaped pulses passed through a glass block recompress to ≈200 fs with minimum satellite production.     

Characterization of a high-power tapered semiconductor amplifier system

We have characterized a semiconductor amplifier laser system which provides up to 200 mW output after a single-mode optical fiber at 780 nm wavelength. The system is based on a tapered semiconductor gain element, which amplifies the output of a narrow-linewidth diode laser. Gain and saturation are discussed as a function of operating temperature and injection current. The spectral properties of the amplifier are investigated with a grating spectrometer. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) causes a spectral background with a width of 4 nm FWHM. The ASE background was suppressed to below our detection limit by a proper choice of operating current and temperature and by sending the light through a single-mode optical fiber. The final ASE spectral density was less than 0.1 nW/MHz, i.e. less than 0.2% of the optical power. Related to an optical transition linewidth of Γ/2π=6 MHz for rubidium, this gives a background suppression of better than -82 dB. An indication of the beam quality is provided by the fiber coupling efficiency of up to 59%. The application of the amplifier system as a laser source for atom-optical experiments is discussed. Received: 8 May 2000 / Revised version: 21 September 2000 / Published online: 7 February 2001     

Hundred mJ, sub-picoseconds, high temporal contrast OPCPA/Yb:YAG ceramic thin disk hybrid laser system

The authors have demonstrated an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA)/Yb:YAG ceramic thin disk hybrid laser system having hundred mJ level pulse energy sub-picosecond pulse duration with high temporal contrast. At an input chirped-pulse energy of 3.8?mJ from an OPCPA preamplifier an output energy of 130?mJ has been generated from multipass diode-pumped Yb:YAG ceramic thin disk amplifier. A recompressed pulse duration of 450?fs with a contrast level of less than 7.2×10^?9 at ?150?ps before the main pulse has been obtained. The contrast level is the highest value achieved in Yb:YAG chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) laser system at 100?mJ level.     

Temporal contrast improvement in chirped pulse amplification systems by a four-grating compressor and by spectral modifications

The quest for higher peak focused intensities and better temporal contrast drives one to improve the design of all possible stages of the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system. In this paper, we have analyzed the role of dispersion and spectral profile on the temporal shape and contrast ratio of the output pulse of a CPA system. The simulations indicate that an initial sech² or a Gaussian pulse in the CPA system is best for a good contrast ratio. Incorporating a four-grating based pulse compressor in the CPA system improves the contrast as well as provides the flexibility to compensate the dispersion upto the fourth order. The simulations also detail the effect of spectral profile tailoring on the contrast ratio and peak power.     

低温Yb:YAG放大器增益与热畸变特性实验研究

为了研究低温条件下Yb:YAG放大器的增益和热特性,搭建了一套液氮冷却的低温放大器,开展了实验研究。测量了不同泵浦强度下的小信号增益以及低温和常温下的介质热致波前畸变。结果表明:低温条件下,可以用更少的泵浦能量得到高于常温的增益;常温下泵浦电流200A、脉冲宽度1200μs的小信号增益为1.59;低温下泵浦电流200A、脉冲宽度400μs的小信号增益为1.82,光光效率显著提高。自发辐射放大(ASE)问题在低温下更加显著,采用短脉冲泵浦有利于降低ASE的影响。低温的热管理效果较常温有显著提高,可以在更高的平均功率下运行。     

基于新型长周期光纤光栅的掺铒光纤放大器

报道了基于高频CO₂激光脉冲写入的新型长周期光纤光栅的低噪音掺铒光纤放大器,这种新型长周期光纤光栅是用大约几千Hz的高频CO₂激光脉冲对光纤玻璃热冲击作用而形成的.在铒纤中插入一个长周期光纤光栅,会明显减少掺铒光纤放大器的放大自发辐射(ASE)噪音.报道了两种低噪音掺铒光纤放大器,作为前置放大器和线路放大器,它们的ASE噪音指数分别从4.0 dB减少到3.5 dB和从4.8 dB减少到4.3 dB,并且在作为线放时,其小信号增益从30 dB提高到37 dB,降噪及提高增益效应十分显著.     

具有空间色散的超短脉冲放大器的研究

分析了采用栅引入空间色散的超短脉冲放大器对抑制谱带空窄，增益饱和及减少放大的自发辐射等作用，并在实验上采用４ｆ系统的单级染料放大器，获得了大于１０＾３放大倍率。     

啁啾脉冲激光放大的数值分析

 从Maxwell波动方程出发,建立了描述脉冲在啁啾放大系统中传播的非线性薛定谔方程;采用数值计算,系统地分析研究了放大过程中的各种效应对脉冲的影响,给出了啁啾脉冲在频域、时域内及放大压缩后脉冲信噪比的动态演化特征;讨论了展宽器附加色散量在放大过程中的影响。