High Power Fiber Lasers SPRC

High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Stanford Photonics Research Center Annual Meeting
September 19-21, 2005
Johan Nilsson
Optoelectronics Research Centre
University of Southampton, England
www.orc.soton.ac.uk/hpfl
Also with Southampton Photonics, Southampton, England
University
www.spioptics.com
Optoelectronics
of Southampton Research Centre
Surge to power
J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 1
Co-workers on
high-power fiber lasers
David Payne, Director, ORC
High-power fibre laser group Silica fibre fab Andy Clarkson
Johan Nilsson (head) Jayanta Sahu (head) David Hanna
Yoonchan Jeong Seongwoo Yoo Andy Malinowski
Beom Soo (Daniel) Soh Alex Boyland Jonathan Price
Christophe Codemard Andy Webb David Richardson
Pascal Dupriez Jaesun Kim Deyuan Shen
Carl Farrell Laurence Cooper David Shepherd
Pu Wang
Khu Voo
And many more..
Soft glass and micro-structured fiber fabricators

70 employees at Southampton Photonics
Surge to power
Great potential for power
scaling is a primary attraction
of fiber sources
In addition,
• Control, versatility, sophistication,
• Efficiency, integration
• Reliability, robustness
Surge to power
Power doubles every year
10000
1000 Telecom
boom &
Power [W]
bust
100
a r
r
ye
ea
/
dB
/y
dB
3
10 4
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year
CW high-brightness
ytterbium-doped fiber lasers High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Fibers are key to
current progress
Large fiber size and especially
large core most important
• Large inner cladding for
design feature launch of high-power
pump beams
-- Many parameters at limit
• Large core area to
facilitate:
Size
– power handling
matters! – minimization of nonlinear
effects
– high energy storage for
9 / 125 µm pulsed application
100 W
40 / 650 µm, > 1 kW
– efficient High-power
pump absorption
fiber lasers:
& reduced device
Surge to power lengths
Diffraction-limited large-core fiber lasers
Control of refractive index profile
Conventional process Improved process
In large cores, the
beam follows the
index profile. The
fundamental mode is
NOT diffraction-
limited with ring-
shaped large cores.
Progress
• More accurate RIP allows
for diffraction-limited
Central dip fundamental mode No central dip
M2 value ~ 3.2 • Precise control in large M2 value ~ 1.4
structures real challenge High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
J. Sahu, CLEO 2004 J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 6
All fibers made
at ORC
MCVD setup
• Preform & fiber

fabrication
• Post-fabrication Drawing tower

processing
– tapers
– splicing
– side-splicing
– gratings High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Cladding-pumping
• LARGE heavily multimode pump waveguide
– (inner) cladding surrounded by low-index outer cladding
– allows the use of HIGH-POWER multimode pump sources
• Conventional rare-earth doped core
– embedded within the pump waveguide
– can be single mode but LARGE size!!
High power, high
brightness laser
signal from doped
core at λs
Rare-earth doped (single mode)

Multimode waveguide
pump beam at λp
Heavily MM waveguide
for pump radiation
Surge to power
Schematic end-pumped fiber laser
Dichroic mirror for Cavity feedback from

pump / signal Lens perpendicular fiber cleave
combination (4% Fresnel reflection)
Cavity mirror Rare-earth Laser

for external doped fiber output
feedback Pump
Pumpdiode
diode Pump
Pumpdiode
diode
• Optically pumped by multimode laser diode sources

– pump wavelengths 910 – 980 nm for ytterbium
• Spectrally or spatially selective couplers are used to
combine / separate signal and pump beams High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Amplifiers
Lens
Dichroic mirror End-pumped
Signal in Rare-earth Signal out

doped fiber
Pump
Pumpdiode
diode Pump
Pumpdiode
diode
Splice Splice
Signal in Signal out
Side-pumped
(fiber) (fiber)
Pump
Pumpdiode
diode
Pump
Pumpdiode
diode
Surge to power
Pumping schemes
V-groove side-pumping
End-pumping Keopsys
Rare-earth-doped
Outer cladding Rare-earth-doped
core
Focusing lens core Outer cladding
V-groove
Pump
beam
Inner cladding Focusing lens

Inner cladding
Pump beam
Embedded fiber
Electrocomm.
University
Tapered fiber bundle
OFS, C. Headley
Diode bars

GTWave® Southampton Photonics Surge to power
Diodes & beam-
shaping
Diode stacks
0.2 – 1 kW, 808, 915, 940, 980 nm
Alternatively, use LOTS of single-emitters diodes!
Two-mirror beam shaper

makes beam square
Output
HR beams
Output
z
HR Beam
y shaper
Diode-stack
A
B
ident
eam
Output
Beam
y shaper
Diode-stack
Output
z
HR beams W. A. Clarkson and D. C. Hanna, “Two-mirror
HR beam-shaping technique for high-power diode bars”, High-power fiber lasers:
B Surge to power
A Opt. Lett. 21, 375-377 (1996) J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 12
Diodes are adequate
• Spatial and spectral brightness adequate
for most high-power fiber devices
• Efficiency, cost, reliability, remain
important parameters
• Yb-doped fibers capable of improving

brightness by up to 105
– Low-brightness, low-intensity pumping is
adequate
Surge to power
1.4 kW single-mode YDFL
DARPA Contract No. MDA972-02-C-0049
1.4
Measured
M2 = 1.4, λ = 1100 nm
Linear fit
1.2 -30
Pump-power limited
1.0 -- Slope efficiency 83% -40
Slope efficiency: 83%
-- No roll-over
Signal power [kW]
Power [dB]
-50
0.8
-60
0.6 -70
-80
0.4 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200
Excellent also at “low” powers Wavelength [nm]
0.2 -- 150 W output with 180 W pump
-- Very low pump brightness
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Launched pump powwer [kW]
Ytterbium-doped large-core fiber laser with 1.36 kW continuous-

wave output power, Y. Jeong, J. K. Sahu, D. N. Payne, J. Nilsson, High-power fiber lasers:
Opt. Express 12, 6088-6092 (2004) Surge to power
10 kW fiber laser?
10 kW output
thermal analysis 1 mm
s
s se
g Lo
Cladding temp T1 plin
u
Co
er
Core temp T0 Aft
k W
0.1mm 12
10 m fiber length
Core to clad temp

200 W/m heat dissipation
difference (T1-T0) = 95°C
14 kW pump
OK, but all-glass waveguide needed

to cope with high temperatures High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Calculated temperature profile in
JAC fiber operating at 10 kW
Core temperature 120C
20 µm
150 150
Ideal active cooling (T=25 degC)
Temperature /degC
• 10 kW output 120
Temperature /degC
r
• 1 mm diameter inner cladding T 90
3
• Outer cladding NA ~0.44 10
60
• 20 micron air-gap
• Uniform heat dissipation along 10 m fiber 30
0
• Outer surface at 25 C by active cooling
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0 Radial position rin fiber /mm . 3
r_410
Radial position in fibre /mm
Modest temperatures even at 10 kW
All-glass structure needed (?)
Large core certainly needed, too! High-power fiber lasers:
Æ Route to 10 kW plain sailing (??) Surge to power
17 kW, Yb, MM SM to 10 kW?
• Also other fiber 10 kW, Yb, MM
systems scalable! 2 kW, Yb, MM

2 kW single-mode (IPG)
• “Eye-safe” 1.5 kW (Jena)

1.4 kW single-mode (ORC)
• Pulsed (fs – ns) MM 1.3 kW, M2 < 3 (Jena)
• 1.2
Amplifiers 1.2 kW single-mode (ORC)
1.1
• 1.0
Single frequency… 1 kW, Nd, MM
1 kW, Yb, MM (ORC)
0.9
0.8 Still pump power 0.8 kW, Yb, SM
Laser power [kW]
(Dual-end output)
0.7 limited in most
0.6 kW, SM, polarized (ORC)
0.6 cases! 610W, Yb SM (ORC)
0.5 485W, Nd/Yb, SM
0.4
SF/Pulsed
352W, Yb, SM (ORC) 0.4 kW SF, SM,
366 W JAC Yb (ORC)
0.3 272W, Yb (ORC) 280 W, JAC Yb PCF SP Yb MOPA
135W, Yb, SM 8.4mJ, 120W, Yb (ORC)
0.2 150W, Nd/Yb 120W, Yb, SF 160 W Er/Yb
0.32 kW, 20 ps,
0.1 110, Yb, SM (SDL) Yb MOPA
30W, Nd 20W, Yb, SF 80 W Tm. 2 µm
10W, Yb, SF 264 W SF, SM,
0.0 87 W, Er/Yb, SFSP Yb MOPA
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 MOPA (ORC)
Year 1.2mJ, 380fs, Yb 2.8mJ, 50/100W, Yb 150High-power
W SF, SM,lasers:
fiber
Surge to power
7.7mJ, 10W, Yb (ORC) J.Er:Yb MOPA
Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 17
Recent results at Southampton
Laser configurations
1.4 kW ytterbium-doped fiber laser (M² = 1.4, 1.1 µm)
0.6 kW polarized ytterbium-doped PM fiber laser
120 W Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser (0.6 - 8.4 mJ/pulse)
160 W 1550 nm Er:Yb co-doped fiber laser
1 mJ 1550 nm pulsed Er:Yb co-doped fiber laser
75 W 2 µm thulium-doped fiber laser
4 W 980 nm YDFL
4 W 920 nm NDFL
0.4 W DFB fiber laser (1060 nm )
Cladding-pumped Raman laser (e.g., 1660 nm)
MOPA configurations
0.4 kW linearly polarized single-mode single-frequency Yb-doped PM fiber MOPA
0.32 kW 20 ps 1 GHz Yb fiber MOPA (1060 nm)
0.15 W 1563 nm tunable SM single-frequency Er:Yb fiber MOPA
70 W 4 ps 10 GHz 1550 nm Er:Yb fiber MOPA
Femtosecond lasers and MOPAs...
All-fiber frequency doubling, nonlinear wavelength conversion,

supercontinuum sources
Surge to power
High-power fiber MOPAs
Beyond raw power
RE-doped fibers offer unique combination of
high power
high efficiency
high gain
broad bandwidth
Æ MOPAs with highly controllable sophisticated high-power output
(master oscillator – power amplifiers)
• Versatile rapidly reconfigurable output
• Target high-gain, high-power high fidelity (linear) amplification
– Nonlinearities issue High-power
output with
Seed Amp Amp Amp characteristics
determined
by seed
High control High power High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
321 W average power, 1 GHz, 20 ps,
1060 nm pulsed fiber MOPA source
Pascal Dupriez, et al., OFC 2005, PDP 3
• High power
– Highest-power pulsed fiber source
• Versatility (MHz – GHz)
• Robustness

Surge to power
MOPA set-up
Electrical
Synthesizer
Lower-power
Master
components Gain-Switched Oscillator
Rapidly & Laser Diode
comprehensibly
controllable FBG pulse compressor
Pre-amplifier
Cascaded amplifiers Amplification

Stage
Large Core
High-Power Amplifier High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Master oscillator
¾ Gain switched diode, 1 GHz repetition rate (flexible)
¾ Stabilized with external CW injection to minimise timing
jitter (~2 ps)
¾ 56 ps pulses, 20 ps after compression in chirped fiber
Bragg grating (CFBG)
-- Flexible
¾ Output power 490 µW Output
1 GHz 490 µW
DC CFBG
Bias 50/50
Seed
Laser
90/10
coupler High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
MOPA details
CP: cladding-pumped 490 µW 5 mW 200 mW
CP
CFBG: chirped fiber Bragg grating Core-pumped YDFA
YDFA GTWave®
1 GHz
CFBG Yb-doped
DC
50/50 CP fiber
Bias
coupler
Seed 975 nm
Laser pump
90/10
coupler Yb-doped
CP fiber 2W
HR@975 nm
HT@1060 nm
HR@1060 nm
HT@975 nm
975 nm Unabsorbed pump
pump
HR@1060 nm
HT@975 nm
321 W Surge to power
Average output power
350
Measured
Average output power [W] 300
Linear fit
250
200 Beam quality factor:

M2 ~ 2.4
150
100
50 Slope efficiency: 78%

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
Launched pump power [W]
9 Maximum output power: 321 W (pump power limited)

9 Maximum gain: 22 dB
9 Slope efficiency: 78% wrt launched pump power
9 Conversion efficiency: 74% @max output High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Pulse quality
Traces measured with 20 GHz digital

Autocorrelation traces
analyzer
1.0 1.0 Seed

Normalized amplitude
Normalized amplitude
0.8 17.5 W 0.8 321 W
221 W 0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2 0.0
0.0 -0.2
-80 -40 0 40 80 100 200 300
Time delay [ps] Time [ps]
9 Clean and stable 20 ps pulses up to 321 W of average power

9 The corresponding peak power > 13 kW
Surge to power
Laser linewidth
321 W
Normalized intensity
1.2
0.0 Resolution = 0.01 nm
300 1.0
0.1 0.8
0.2 0.6
0.49 nm
0.3 250 0.4
0.4 0.2
Average power [W]

0.0
0.5
0.6 200 1059.0 1059.5 1060.0 1060.5 1061.0
0.7 Wavelength [nm]
0.8
0.9 150
1.0 1.2
Seed
1.0 Resolution = 0.01 nm
100
0.8
0.6
50 0.4 0.12 nm
0.2
0.0
0
1059.0 1059.5 1060.0 1060.5 1061.0
1059.0 1059.5 1060.0 1060.5 1061.0
Wavelength [nm]
Wavelength [nm]
9 Laser linewidth not severely broadened by SPM in High-power

the fiber fiber lasers:
amplifier: linewidth < 0.5 nm at maximum average
J. Nilsson,power
Surge to power
SPRC, Sept 21 2005 26
SPM induced spectral broadening
0.8
Calculated linewidth
Measured linewidth
Laser linewidth [nm] 0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Average power [W]
δω max ≈ 0.86 ⋅ ∆ω ⋅ γ ⋅ P0 ⋅ Leff

G. P. Agrawal, Nonlinear fiber optics, Second edition. Academic Press (1995)
Surge to power
Overcoming nonlinear
degradation in amplifier
• Fibers sensitive to nonlinearities because of length and confinement
• SBS very narrow bandwidth so can be suppressed by broadening
• Other processes like SPM are reversible
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
1059.0 1059.5 1060.0 1060.5 1061.0
Wavelength [nm]
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0 J. Limpert, N. Deguil-Robin, I. Manek-Hönninger, F. Salin,
T. Schreiber, A. Liem, F. Röser, H. Zellmer, A.
1059.0 1059.5 1060.0 1060.5 1061.0
Tünnermann, A. Courjaud, C. Hönninger, E. Mottay,
Wavelength [nm]
“High power picosecond fiber High-power
amplifier fiber lasers:
Surge based
to power on spectral
compression”, ASSP, Vienna, Feb. 2005, 21
J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept WE2 2005 28
Overcoming nonlinear degradation
Pulse amplitude and phase shaping
Process
• Nonlinear wavelength conversion
Pulsed Amplitude
Amplification • Materials processing
source & phase
• Chemical reaction
control
• Detection, imaging
Process
Intelligence monitoring
• Learning loop counteracts degradation through nonlinear effects

• The powers required to drive industrial processes are becoming
available in MOPA configurations
• Flexibility, rapid control, near-linearity of fiber MOPAs
greatly enhances scope for adaptive control
Surge to power
Large core & short length enables
truly linear amplification
• 90 µm core diameter, 2 m fiber for narrow-linewidth
amplification to 1 mJ, 6 kHz
– Nonlinearity decreased by 3 – 4 orders of magnitude compared
to EDFA for telecom
• 200 µm core diameter fiber MOPA for EUV pumping
– University of Michigan
– Highly multi-mode
• Rod fiber from Crystal Fibre / Bordeaux / Jena
– Strictly single-mode
J. Limpert et al., “High-
power rod-type
photonic crystal fiber
Length 48 cm, laser”, Opt. Express, v.
13, pp. 1055-1058,
core area 1000 µm2 2005
Surge to power
Gain-switched diode at 1550 nm
in Er:Yb co-doped fiber MOPA
(a)
Input 1.0
(b)
0.8
25 W
Intensity (au)
0.6
0.4
60 W
0.2
0.0
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30
20ps/div
Delay (ps)
Amplified gain-switched diode

4 ps 70 W 10 GHz
Rep rate variable 10 MHz – 10 GHz!!
B. C. Thomsen, Y. Jeong, C. A. Codemard, M. A.
F. Roelens, P. A. Dupriez, J. Nilsson, and D. J. High-power fiber lasers:
Richardson, CLEO 2004, CMAA4 Surge to power
High-energy narrow- 1.2 a)
Average Output Power [W]

88 ns
1.0 1.5
linewidth pulsed 0.8
Energy [mJ]
-100 0 100 200 300 400
Time [ns]
b) 1.0
0.6
Peak Power [kW]

MOPA at 1535 nm
6
0.4 3
0.5
0.2 0
5 10 15 20
Absorbed Pump Power [W]
0.0 0.0
Pulse generator 4 8 12 16 20
Absorbed Pump Power [W]
LC LC
Tunics EDFA AOM EYDFA Filter EYDFA EYDFA
Core pumped EDF CP EYDF CP EYDF CP EYDF

Core size: 8 µm Core size: 18 µm Core size: 50 µm Core size: 90 µm
Length ~ 3 m Length ~ 2.5 m Length ~ 2.5 m Length ~ 0.3 - 2 m
Large-core and short fibers enable

-- High energy (1 mJ)
-- High peak power (6 kW)
-- Narrow linewidth (< 0.05 nm, “partly single frequency”)
(Pulse duration 88 ns)
Sponsored by QinetiQ Surge to power
Fiber MOPAs are versatile!
Pulse durations from 4 ps to 80 ns and beyond to cw

Repetition rate from 1 kHz to 10 GHz
Pulse energy from 6 nJ to 1 mJ
Linewidth down to “single-frequency” (kHz – MHz)
Operation from 1535 to 1565 nm
Different MOPAs but could be same

(with different seed sources)

Surge to power
Femtosecond pulse
amplification
Chirped & parabolic pulse amplification
Most challenging MOPAs

Surge to power
Chirped vs. parabolic
femtosecond pulse amplification
• Femtosecond pulses particularly sensitive to distortions

• Chirped pulse amplification requires linear amplifier
– Stretch pulses to reduce peak power
• Parabolic amplifier makes use of fiber nonlinearity to
generate new spectral components
– Nonlinear amplifier
• Both schemes require careful optimization
• Performance comparable (?)

Surge to power
Chirped pulse amplification
20 µm core 40 µm core
Diode Yb fiber Yb fiber Diode
Yb fiber Diode Pump Pump Pump
oscillator
grating
WDM
compressor
EOM
Amplifier 2
dichroic
single mode Yb fiber
dichroic
AOM
AOM
Fiber
grating
Stretched pulses: Autocorrelation of compressed pulses:

-30 0.20
18 nm grating 18 nm grating
1.0
7 nm grating
-40 30 nm grating,
0.15 0.8 no 3rd order
Intensity (dB)
-50
0.6
signal
signal
0.10
-60 0.4
0.05
-70 18 nm grating 0.2
reflection
oscillator
-80 0.00 0.0
1000 1020 1040 1060 1080 1100 0 500 1000 1500 2000 -6000 -4000 -2000 0 2000 4000 6000
W avelength (nm ) delay (ps) delay (fs)
• Chirped FBG with 2nd and 3rd order chirp to compensate bulk
grating compressor (10µJ pulses):
– 30 nm grating (no 3rd order): 2000 fs pulses
– 7 nm with 3rd order compensation: 530 fs pulses
– 18 nm with 3rd order compensation: 310 fs pulses High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
All fiber CPA
• All fibre spliced configuration

(MW powers possible in fs regime)
• Pulse compression quality currently limited by relatively
high TOD of PBG fibers
De Matos et. al., Opt. Expr. Nov 2003
Limpert et al., Opt. High-power
Expr. Surge Dec
to power 2003
fiber lasers:

Parabolic pulse amplification (fs)
A. Malinowski, A. Piper, J. H. V. Price, K. Furusawa, Y. Jeong, J. Nilsson, and D. J. Richardson, “Ultra-short pulse
Yb3+ fiber based laser and amplifier system producing > 25 W average power,” Opt. Lett. 17, 2073-2075 (2004)
New frequency components with linear chirp generated in fiber
1.0
5 nJ
410 nJ
0.8 T=110 fs
0.6 P=5MW
signal
0.4
0.2
0.0
-1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
delay (fs)
> 5 MW peak power ~100 fs pulses at -20
25 W average power levels 5 nJ
-30 410 nJ
131 W average power demonstrated
signal (dB)
-40
by the Jena group with CPA system -50
Femtosecond fiber MOPA systems -60
power scalable! -70

1000 1020 1040 1060 1080 1100 1120 1140
Surge to power
wavelength
J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005(nm) 38
Single-frequency MOPAs
• Seed source operates on single longitudinal mode

– kHz – MHz linewidth, typically
• For coherent beam combination
• Stimulated Brillouin scattering limitation
– Nonlinear scattering effect
– Threshold typically 1 – 10 W, and not more than ~ 100 W

Surge to power
150 W ‘eye-safe’ single frequency
Er:Yb fiber MOPA Y. Jeong, et al., OFC 2005, PDP 1 .
Energy .
.
Fiber
Fiber details:
details: transfer
4I
Er/Yb/P/Al
Er/Yb/P/Al silicate,
silicate, core
core 30
30 µm,
µm, NA
NA 0.2,
0.2, OD
OD 650
650 µm,
µm, LL == 10
10 m
m
2F
5/2
11/2
Core absorption: 67 dB/m at ~ 1535 nm (from Er-doping),

Core absorption: 67 dB/m at ~ 1535 nm (from Er-doping), 4I
13/2
Cladding
Cladding absorption:
absorption: 1.41.4 dB/m
dB/m atat 975
975 nm
nm (from
(from Yb-doping)
Yb-doping) Pump
at ~975 nm Radiative transitions
Large-core EYDF at ~1.5 µm
2F 4I
1.8 W 7/2 15/2
Yb3+ Er3+
10 mW Lens Signal output
PC EDFA DM
BS DM @1546 − 1566 nm
Tunable
SF source 23dB
ISO ISO DM
Lens Lens
1546 −1566 nm SBS Angled Yb3+ emission
Pre-amplifier
monitoring ends Diffraction limited output:
Proper mode excitation
Pump thru Diode pump
& Yb3+ emission source, 975 nm Suppression of mode coupling
Mode-selective gain (?)
Output:
Seed:
Seed: 10
10 mW (1546 −− 1566
mW (1546 1566 nm),
nm), Max output: 151 W (reduced by onset of
linewidth
linewidth << 11 MHz
MHz Yb emission at ~1 µm)
Pre-amp:
Pre-amp: 1.8
1.8 W
W (EDFA)
(EDFA) Beam quality: M2 = 1.1 (V = 12)
Pump:
Pump: 975
975 nm
nm (Diode
(Diode stacks)
stacks) Tunablity: 1546 − 1566 nm at > 125 W
Surge to power
Practical
Practical useable
useable source!
source! J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 40
1060 nm 0.4 kW polarized MOPA
with 60 kHz linewidth
Fiber
Fiberdetails:
details:hi-bi
hi-biYb-doped
Yb-dopedfiber
fiberwith
with
borosilicate stress rods, core 25 µm,
borosilicate stress rods, core 25 µm,
NA
NA~~0.06,
0.06,OD
OD380380µm,
µm, LL==77m,
m,
birefringence ~ 2x10 -4
birefringence ~ 2x10 -4 Large-core
double-clad
hi-bi
λ/2 WP Yb-doped
250 mW 2W 7W 3W
DFB fiber
laser, 80 mW, Isolator
fiber
0.4 kW
BS DM
1060 nm
(single- YDFA,
non-
YDFA,
non-
YDFA,
non-
FR Single-mode
frequency,
single-
PM PM PM
DM Single-frequency
Lens Lens Pump Angled Lens
polarization)
Polarizers thru ends Linearly polarized
SBS Diode pump
monitoring source, 975 nm
Output
Outputsignal
signal
Max
Maxoutput:
output:0.4
0.4kW
kW(limited
(limitedby
byavailable
available
Final-stage
Final-stageseed:
seed:33WW@ @1060
1060nm pump
nm pumppower)
power)
linewidth < 60 kHz
linewidth < 60 kHz Linewidth:
Pump: Linewidth:<<60
60kHz
kHz(resolution
(resolutionlimited)
limited)
Pump:975
975nmnm Beam 2
Beamquality:
quality:MM2==1.1
1.1
Polarization
Polarizationextinction
extinctionratio:
ratio:16
16dB
dB
DARPA Contract No. MDA972-02-C-0049 Surge to power
0.4 kW single-frequency fiber MOPA
Output characteristics
500
M easured Output power Backward signal power
Linear fit
400
Slope efficiency: 72% Expected Brillouin power
Signal power [W ]
M ax. power: >400W 0.30

300 Linewidth
Backward signal power [a.u.]

-40
80 mW (seed)
-45
264 W 0.25
-50
0.20
200 -55
Power [dB]
-60
0.15
-65
100 -70
0.10
-75
-120-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Frequency [kHz] 0.05
0 0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400
S ignal pow er [W ]
Launched pump power [W ]
Where is the SBS?
Y. Jeong, J. Nilsson, J. K. Sahu, D. B. S. Soh, C. Alegria, P. Dupriez, C. A. Codemard, D. N. Payne,

R. Horley, L. M. B. Hickey, L. Wanzcyk, C. E. Chryssou, J. A. Alvarez-Chavez, and P. W. Turner,
“Single-frequency, polarized ytterbium-doped fiber MOPA source with 264 W output power”, High-power fiber lasers:
CLEO 2004 CPDD1 Surge to power
Suppressing Brillouin scattering
500
No SBS
450
400
350
Output signal [W]
300
250 With
∆T=100°C
200
150
100
With no Brillouin
50
thermal broadening
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Pump power [W]
Longitudinally varying temperature distribution from

laser cycle heating suppresses SBS
-- SBS frequency shift is temperature-dependent
Y. Jeong, et al., Opt. Lett. (2004)
V. I. Kovalev, et al., Proc. SPIE vol. 5709, pp. 142 – 146 (2005) High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Spectral beam combination enabled by broad gain
bandwidth and high spectral control of fibers
16 7
14 6
R=20%
Output power (W)

12 5
Power (a.u.)
10
4
8
3
6
R=45% 2
Diode 4
Diode pump 2 1
pump 0
0 20 40 60 80
0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Launched pump power (W) Wavelength (nm)
Tm-doped
f=25mm Grating
fibre • Incoherent
• Spatial brightness retained
– diffraction-limited output possible
W. A. Clarkson, V. Matera, T. M. J. Kendall, D. C. Hanna,
J. Nilsson, and P. W. Turner, CLEO 2001
Diode
Y. W. Lee and J. Nilsson, High power pumping device for
pump Diode optical fiber amplification”, US patent 6052394 (2000)
pump
MIT, Aculight...
Laser R=45%
output
20 fibers x 5 kW / fiber High-power
= 100 kW
fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Amplifier-based coherent
beam combination
Need:
•Narrow-linewidth source
– Single-frequency
will do
•High-gain amplification to
high powers
– Preferably efficient
•Single spatial mode,
single polarization
Fibers good for coherent

T. Y. Fan:
beam combination
CLEO 2004
Tutorial Surge to power
Fiber lasers make
excellent pump sources!
TDFL
40 mJ, 0.4 kHz, 2050 nm

CW slope efficiency 42%
• Thulium-doped fiber laser tuned to absorption line

A. Dergachev, P. F.
-- Tunability offered by fiber lasers important Moulton, T. E. Drake,
(glass hosts have broad bandwidth) “High-power, high-energy
Ho:YLF laser pumped with
• In-band pumping reduces thermal load Tm:fiber laser”, ASSP,
-- Improves beam quality Vienna, Feb 2005, PDP 2
• Fiber-pumped lasers a major trend

• 80% slope efficiency in Er:YAG in-band pumped by EYDFL
(D. Y. Shen, P. J. Jander, J. K. Sahu and W. A. Clarkson, ASSP, Vienna, Feb. Surge to power
2005, PDP 3) J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 46
Fiber-pumped fiber lasers?
• Great idea, but very limited choice of

matching efficient RE-doped systems
• Try Raman fiber lasers!

• Try cladding-pumping to enable power-
scaling and brightness enhancement

Surge to power
Cladding-pumped Raman laser
Perpendicular to OSA,
Cleave Monochrometer,
Dichroic Power Meter
Mirror
SMF
HR@1560nm HR
DCRF Monitor WDM
35%T@1680nm Mirror
Coupler
x x x x
1680nm 1.42km 10km
Output Variable
1680 nm Lens Attenuator
Pulsed 60
Angle
pump 50
Output Power (mW)

1570 nm 40 1420 m DCRF
• Pump and signal at arbitrary wavelength 940 m DCRF
30
-- Within transparency range of material
-- Offset by Stokes shift (or multiple thereof) 20
-- Fiber-pumped fiber (tandem pumping) 10
• Enables brightness enhancement of pulses 0
• High gain 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Launched Pump Power (mW)
Power scaling and brightness enhancement at arbitrary wavelength
J. Nilsson, J. K. Sahu, J. N. Jang, R. Selvas, D. C. Hanna, and A. B. Grudinin, “Cladding- High-power fiber lasers:
pumped Raman fiber amplifier”, OAA, Vancouver, July 2002, PDP2 Surge to power
Simple is beautiful, but...
Fibers enable complex

high-power systems with
high functionality
Standardized high-power building

blocks move innovation to the
system level
Surge to power
Example of complex system
(bi-directional 10 Gbit/s WDM system)
TP RX
TP RX
...
...
TP TP RX
TP RX
TP RX RX
TP
1 x 32
RX
1 x 32
...
DCF
...
1 x 32
1 x 32
TP DCF
TP RX
...
TP RX
EDFA RX
EDFA
optical optical optical optical

circulator circulator circulator circulator
80km 80km
1 x 32
1 x 32
...
RX TP
RX DCF
TP
RX
1 x 32
TP
1 x 32
DCF
...
RX TP
...
RX TP
RX TP
...
RX TP
TP
...
RX RX TP
RX TP

Surge to power
Fiber Raman based 589 nm source
1.0
P. Dupriez et al., Photonics West 2006 1.01 W
0.50 W
0.8 0.10 W
Normalized Intensity
0.6
0.4
8.8 W 0.2
915 nm
SMF
YDF
2 km OC@1178 0.0
OC@1070 HR@1070 540 560 580 600 620 640
Wavelength [nm]
HR@1119
0.9-1.3 µm
YDF
23 m 975 nm 1W
λ/2 λ/2
Pulsed laser @589 nm
diode LBO
1060 nm WDM
DM DM
coupler
975 nm
pump
HR@1060 nm
HT@975 nm
Sponsored byHigh-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
EOARD J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 51
Fibers are key
Flexibility through
to high powers SPI’s GTWave
Size
multi-port fiber
matters!
single-mode multi-mode
signal fiber pump fiber
9/125 mm
100W 40/650 mm
> 1kW
multi-mode
pump fiber
GTWave fiber
Air core Multi core
Hi-bi
Air clad
Ribbon High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
Nd-doped hollow optical fiber laser at
930 nm with distributed waveguide filter
Nd:Al-doped
core • Depressed core regions leads to
Depressed clad finite cut-off wavelength for
fundamental mode
• Waveguide filter rejects dominating
1060 nm
• Up to 4 W of output power
10 µm
Air hole -20
-55
Laser ouput (a.u. dB scale)

Transmission (dB scale, dBm)
not bent
-60 10cm diameter bent
20cm diameter bent
-40
-65
-70
-60
-75
-80
-85 -80
-90
900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 900 910 920 930 940
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
J. Kim, P. Dupriez, D. B. S. Soh, J. Nilsson, and J. K. Sahu, “Nd:Al-doped High-power fiber lasers:
Surge to power
depressed clad hollow fiber laser at 930 nm”, ASSP, Vienna, Feb. 2005, MC5 J. Nilsson, SPRC, Sept 21 2005 53
400 mW 1060 nm DFB fiber laser
pumped by 1.8 W 980 nm YDFL
DFB Fiber Laser Output Power (W)
0.5
0.4
0.3
Up to 4 W at 980 nm
0.2
1030nm filter HR
mirror
0.1
JAC
915 nm
0 pump
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 diode 980nm SM
Pump Power (W) HT @ 980nm
HR @ 915nm
Port 1 Port 2 Total Power
Port 1
C. A. Codemard, et al., “A 400 mW, 1060 nm, ytterbium doped Port 2 DFB WDM
fiber DFB laser”, Proc. SPIE vol. 5335, pp 56 – 63 (2004) 980/1060
Wavelength-agile single-frequency laser technology High-power fiber lasers:

Surge to power
Conclusions
• Fibers power-scalable to multi-kW
• Fiber MOPAs offer control & versatility at high powers
• Fibers are engineerable
– Wavelength filter
– Dispersion control
– Mode control
• Beam combination to > 100 kW?
• Fibers make excellent pump sources
– Watch out for fiber-pumped solid-state lasers
• Nonlinear wavelength conversion within and outside of fiber
obvious next step
• Sophisticated complex high-power fiber systems on the horizon

Surge to power

High Power Fiber Lasers SPRC

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Исходное описание:

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

High Power Fiber Lasers SPRC

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

High-power fiber lasers:

Also with Southampton Photonics, Southampton, England

Soft glass and micro-structured fiber fabricators

• Preform & fiber

• Post-fabrication Drawing tower

Rare-earth doped (single mode)

Dichroic mirror for Cavity feedback from

Cavity mirror Rare-earth Laser

• Optically pumped by multimode laser diode sources

Signal in Rare-earth Signal out

Inner cladding Focusing lens