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Fiber design for high power fiber lasers

Fiber design for high power fiber lasers
Fiber design for high power fiber lasers
The development of low loss, rare-earth doped, silica fibers in the mid-1980s revolutionized optical communications through the discovery of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Following the successful implementation of EDFAs in communications, high-power cladding pumped fiber lasers and amplifiers have, over the last decade, become a major field of operation of rare-earth doped fibers that now significantly opens up the use of fiber lasers in non-telecommunications markets. Fiber lasers benefit from a waveguide geometry that facilitates tight confinement of pump and signal beams over arbitrary length, providing characteristics such as low threshold, an output that can be easily tailored to produce single-spatial mode operation, a feasible three-level system, a broad gain bandwidth, and a high overall gain compared to bulk lasers. In recent years, the output power of fiber laser sources has been significantly increased to the point where the fiber based technology is now competing with conventional bulk solid-state lasers in applications such as micro-machining, welding and other material processing. In particular, ytterbium-doped fiber lasers have been power-scaled to several kilowatts at ~1.1 µm, with a nearly diffraction-limited output beam. In the power scaling process, nonlinear scattering such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) are viewed as the main challenges to overcome. Novel fiber devices, including those at other wavelengths and with different spectral properties have seen rapid progress. This presentation will review the progress in active fibers suitable for power scaling, highlighting the advances in fiber design and fabrication that will enable the control of nonlinearities in high power fiber lasers, as well as make feasible of a practical high power three-level system.
Sahu, J.K.
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Yoo, S.
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Boyland, A.J.
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Webb, A.S.
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Kalita, M.P.
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Maran, J.-N.
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Jeong, Y.
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Nilsson, J.
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Clarkson, W.A.
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Payne, D.N.
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Sahu, J.K.
009f5fb3-6555-411a-9a0c-9a1b5a29ceb2
Yoo, S.
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Boyland, A.J.
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Webb, A.S.
340dabef-1825-423a-98b1-5dfd067fe181
Kalita, M.P.
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Maran, J.-N.
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Jeong, Y.
85777b88-d35d-4e46-addb-1894fde2385d
Nilsson, J.
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Clarkson, W.A.
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Payne, D.N.
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Sahu, J.K., Yoo, S., Boyland, A.J., Webb, A.S., Kalita, M.P., Maran, J.-N., Jeong, Y., Nilsson, J., Clarkson, W.A. and Payne, D.N. (2009) Fiber design for high power fiber lasers. Photonics West, , San Jose, United States. 24 - 29 Jan 2009. (doi:10.1117/12.809210).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The development of low loss, rare-earth doped, silica fibers in the mid-1980s revolutionized optical communications through the discovery of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Following the successful implementation of EDFAs in communications, high-power cladding pumped fiber lasers and amplifiers have, over the last decade, become a major field of operation of rare-earth doped fibers that now significantly opens up the use of fiber lasers in non-telecommunications markets. Fiber lasers benefit from a waveguide geometry that facilitates tight confinement of pump and signal beams over arbitrary length, providing characteristics such as low threshold, an output that can be easily tailored to produce single-spatial mode operation, a feasible three-level system, a broad gain bandwidth, and a high overall gain compared to bulk lasers. In recent years, the output power of fiber laser sources has been significantly increased to the point where the fiber based technology is now competing with conventional bulk solid-state lasers in applications such as micro-machining, welding and other material processing. In particular, ytterbium-doped fiber lasers have been power-scaled to several kilowatts at ~1.1 µm, with a nearly diffraction-limited output beam. In the power scaling process, nonlinear scattering such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) are viewed as the main challenges to overcome. Novel fiber devices, including those at other wavelengths and with different spectral properties have seen rapid progress. This presentation will review the progress in active fibers suitable for power scaling, highlighting the advances in fiber design and fabrication that will enable the control of nonlinearities in high power fiber lasers, as well as make feasible of a practical high power three-level system.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 2009
Venue - Dates: Photonics West, , San Jose, United States, 2009-01-24 - 2009-01-29

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 65511
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/65511
PURE UUID: cdfbc725-d069-485e-9309-8b3f976f5c01
ORCID for J.K. Sahu: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3560-6152
ORCID for J. Nilsson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1691-7959

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 24 Feb 2009
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: J.K. Sahu ORCID iD
Author: S. Yoo
Author: A.J. Boyland
Author: A.S. Webb
Author: M.P. Kalita
Author: J.-N. Maran
Author: Y. Jeong
Author: J. Nilsson ORCID iD
Author: W.A. Clarkson
Author: D.N. Payne

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