Wavelength-interval switchable Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser through Brillouin pump manipulation

A wavelength-interval switchable Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser(BRRFL) based on Brillouin pump(BP) manipulation is proposed in this paper. The proposed wavelength-interval switchable BRRFL has a full-open cavity configuration, featuring multiwavelength output with wavelength interval of double Brillouin frequency shifts. Through simultaneously injecting the BP light and its first-order stimulated Brillouin-scattered light into the cavity, the laser output exhibits a wavelength interval of single Brillouin frequency shift. The wavelength-interval switching effect can be manipulated by controlling the power of the first-order stimulated Brillouin scattering light. The experimental results show the multiwavelength output can be switched between double Brillouin frequency shift multiwavelength emission with a broad bandwidth of approximately 60 nm and single Brillouin frequency shift multiwavelength emission of 44 nm. The flexible optically controlled random fiber laser with switchable wavelength interval makes it useful for a wide range of applications and holds significant potential in the field of wavelength-division multiplexing optical communication.

On the generation of high-quality Nyquist pulses in mode-locked fiber lasers

Nyquist pulses have wide applications in many areas,from electronics to optics.Mode-locked lasers are ideal platforms to generate such pulses.However,how to generate high-quality Nyquist pulses in mode-locked lasers remains elusive.We address this problem by managing different physical effects in mode-locked fiber lasers through extensive numerical simulations.We find that net dispersion,linear loss,gain and filter shaping can affect the quality of Nyquist pulses significantly.We also demonstrate that Nyquist pulses experience similariton shaping due to the nonlinear attractor effect in the gain medium.Our work may contribute to the design of Nyquist pulse sources and enrich the understanding of pulse shaping dynamics in mode-locked lasers.

Internal phase control of fiber laser array based on photodetector array

Coherent beam combining(CBC) of fiber laser array is a promising technique to realize high output power while maintaining near diffraction-limited beam quality. To implement CBC, an appropriate phase control feedback structure should be established to realize phase-locking. In this paper, an innovative internal active phase control CBC fiber laser array based on photodetector array is proposed. The dynamic phase noises of the laser amplifiers are compensated before being emitted into free space. And the static phase difference compensation of emitting laser array is realized by interference measurement based on photodetector array. The principle of the technique is illustrated and corresponding simulations are carried out, and a CBC system with four laser channels is built to verify the technique. When the phase controllers are turned on, the phase deviation of the laser array is less than λ/20, and ~ 95% fringe contrast of the irradiation distribution is obtained. The technique proposed in this paper could provide a reference for the system design of a massive high-power CBC system.

Numerical design of an efficient Ho^(3+)-doped InF3 fiber laser at~3.2μm

In this work,we theoretically unlock the potential of Ho^(3+)-doped InF3 fiber for efficient~3.2μm laser generation(from the ^(5)F_(4),^(5)S_(2)→^(5)F_(5) transition),by employing a novel dual-wavelength pumping scheme at 1150 nm and 980 nm,for the first time.Under clad-coupled 1150 nm pumping of 5 W,~3.2μm power of 3.6 W has been predicted with the optical-to-optical efficiency of 14.4%.Further efficient power scaling,however,is blocked by the output saturation with 980 nm pumping.To alleviate this behavior,the cascaded ^(5)I_(5)→^(5)I_(6) transition,targeting~3.9μm,has been activated simultaneously,therefore accelerating the population circulation between the laser upper level ^(5)F_(4),^(5)S_(2) and long-lived ^(5)I_(6) level under 980 nm pumping.As a result,enhanced~3.2μm power of 4.68 W has been obtained with optical-to-optical efficiency of 15.6%.Meanwhile the~3.9μm laser,yielding power of 2.76 W with optical-to-optical efficiency of 9.2%,is theoretically achievable as well with a moderate heat load,of which the performance is even better than the prior experimentally and theoretically reported Ho^(3+)-doped InF3 fiber lasers emitting at~3.9μm alone.This work demonstrates a versatile platform for laser generation at~3.2μm and~3.9μm,thus providing the new opportunities for many potential applications,e.g.,polymer processing,infrared countermeasures,and free-space communications.

Broadband bidirectional Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser with ultra-narrow linewidth

We present a Brillouin–Raman random fiber laser(BRRFL)with full-open linear cavity structure to generate broadband Brillouin frequency comb(BFC)with double Brillouin-frequency-shift spacing.The incorporation of a regeneration portion consisting of an erbium-doped fiber and a single-mode fiber enables the generation of broadband BFC.The dynamics of broadband BFC generation changing with the pump power(EDF and Raman)and Brillouin pump(BP)wavelength are investigated in detail,respectively.Under suitable conditions,the bidirectional BRRFL proposed can produce a flatamplitude BFC with 40.7-nm bandwidth ranging from 1531 nm to 1571.7 nm,and built-in 242-order Brillouin Stokes lines(BSLs)with double Brillouin-frequency-shift spacing.Moreover,the linewidth of single BSL is experimentally measured to be about 2.5 kHz.The broadband bidirectional narrow-linewidth BRRFL has great potential applications in optical communication,optical sensing,spectral measurement,and so on.

Widely-wavelength-tunable brillouin fiber laser with improved optical signal-to-noise ratio based on parity-time symmetric and saturable absorption effect

A widely-wavelength-tunable Brillouin fiber laser(BFL)with improved optical signal-to-noise ratio(OSNR)based on parity-time(PT)symmetric and saturable absorption(SA)effect is present.This novel BFL realizes PT symmetry and SA effect through polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber(PM-EDF)Sagnac loop,which is composed of a PM-EDF,a coupler and two polarization controllers(PCs).By using the inherent birefringence characteristic of PM-EDF,two feedback loops in orthogonal polarization state are formed when the Strokes signal in injected.One of these loops provides gain in the clockwise direction with in the Sagnac loop,while the other loop generates loss in the counterclockwise direction.By adjusting the PCs to control the polarization state of the PM-EDF,a single-longitudinal-mode(SLM)BFL can be achieved,as the PT symmetry is broken when the SA participating stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS)gain and loss are well-matched and the gain surpasses the coupling coefficient.Compared to previous BFLs,the proposed BFL has a more streamlined structure and a wider wavelength tunable range,at the same time,it is not being limited by the bandwidth of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier while still maintaining narrow linewidth SLM output.Additionally,thanks to SA effect of the PM-EDF,the PT symmetric SBS gain contract is enhanced,resulting in a higher optical signal-to-noise(OSNR).The experimental results show that the laser has a wide tunable range of 1526.088 nm to 1565.498 nm,an improved OSNR of 77 dB,and a fine linewidth as small as 140.5 Hz.

Imaging through scattering layers using a near-infrared low-spatial-coherence fiber random laser

Optical memory effect-based speckle-correlated technology has been developed for reconstructing hidden objectsfrom disordered speckle patterns,achieving imaging through scattering layers.However,the lighting efficiency and fieldof view of existing speckle-correlated imaging systems are limited.Here,a near-infrared low spatial coherence fiberrandom laser illumination method is proposed to address the above limitations.Through the utilization of random Rayleighscattering within dispersion-shifted fibers to provide feedback,coupled with stimulated Raman scattering for amplification,a near-infrared fiber random laser exhibiting a high spectral density and extremely low spatial coherence is generated.Based on the designed fiber random laser,speckle-correlated imaging through scattering layers is achieved,with highlighting efficiency and a large imaging field of view.This work improves the performance of speckle-correlated imagingand enriches the research on imaging through scattering medium.

Harmonic splitting phenomenon of bright-dark pulse pairs in a passive mode-locked Thulium-Holmium co-doped fiber laser

This study reports a passive mode-locked Thulium-Holmium co-doped fiber laser featuring a figure-9 shaped resonator structure.The laser utilizes a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror(NALM)as the mode-locking device.By increasing pump power,the laser’s output evolution was experimentally observed,showing that bright-dark pulse pairs first split into double pulses and then into a second harmonic state.Additionally,the time intervals between bright and dark pulses and between double pulses increased with higher pump power.The RF spectrum of the bright-dark pulse pairs exhibited envelope modulation,with a modulation frequency approximately equal to the reciprocal of the time interval between bright and dark pulses.When the pump power increased from 0.46 W to 0.72 W,the reciprocal of the modulation frequency showed a linear growth trend.These findings contribute to understanding the evolution patterns of bright-dark pulse pairs in passive mode-locked fiber lasers.

High-resolution tumor marker detection based on microwave photonics demodulated dual wavelength fiber laser sensor

The specific detection of tumor markers is crucial in early tumor screening and subsequent treatment processes.To ac-curately distinguish the signal response caused by trace markers,the high demodulation resolution of the sensor is nec-essary.In this paper,we propose a dual-wavelength fiber laser sensing system enhanced with microwave photonics de-modulation technology to achieve high-resolution tumor marker detection.This sensing system can simultaneously per-form spectral wavelength-domain and frequency-domain analyses.Experimental results demonstrate that this system's refractive index(RI)sensitivity reaches 1083 nm/RIU by wavelength analysis and-1902 GHz/RIU by frequency analysis,with ideal detection resolutions of 1.85×10^(-5)RIU and 5.26×10^(-8)RIU,respectively.Compared with traditional wavelength domain analysis,the demodulation resolution is improved by three orders of magnitude,based on the same sensing structure.To validate its biosensing performance,carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 5(CEACAM5)is selected as the detection target.Experimental results show that the improved sensing system has a limit of detection(LOD)of 0.076 ng/mL and a detection resolution of 0.008 ng/mL.Experimental results obtained from human serum samples are consistent with clinical data,highlighting the strong clinical application potential of the proposed sens-ing system and analysis method.

635 nm femtosecond fiber laser oscillator and amplifier

Although visible femtosecond lasers based on nonlinear frequency conversion of Ti:sapphire femtosecond oscillators or near-infrared ultrafast lasers have been well developed,limitations in terms of footprint,cost,and efficiency have called for alternative laser solutions.The fiber femtosecond mode-locked oscillator as an ideal solution has achieved great success in the 0.9 to 3.5μm infrared wavelengths,but remains an outstanding challenge in the visible spectrum(390 to 780 nm).Here,we tackle this challenge by introducing a visible-wavelength mode-locked femtosecond fiber oscillator along with an amplifier.This fiber femtosecond oscillator emits red light at 635 nm,employs a figure-nine cavity configuration,applies a double-clad Pr3þ-doped fluoride fiber as the visible gain medium,incorporates a visible-wavelength phase-biased nonlinear amplifying loop mirror(PB-NALM)for mode locking,and utilizes a pair of customized high-efficiency and high-groove-density diffraction gratings for dispersion management.Visible self-starting mode locking established by the PB-NALM directly yields red laser pulses with a minimum pulse duration of 196 fs and a repetition rate of 53.957 MHz from the oscillator.Precise control of the grating pair spacing can switch the pulse state from a dissipative soliton or a stretched-pulse soliton to a conventional soliton.In addition,a chirped-pulse amplification system built alongside the oscillator immensely boosts the laser performance,resulting in an average output power over 1W,a pulse energy of 19.55 nJ,and a dechirped pulse duration of 230 fs.Our result represents a concrete step toward high-power femtosecond fiber lasers covering the visible spectral region and could have important applications in industrial processing,biomedicine,and scientific research.

Random fiber laser using a cascaded fiber loop mirror

Random fiber lasers(RFLs)have attracted extensive attention due to their rich physical properties and wide applications.Here,a RFL using a cascaded fiber loop mirror(CFLM)is proposed and presented.A CFLM with 10 fiber loop mirrors(FLMs)is simulated by the transfer matrix method and used to provide random feedback.Multiple spikes are observed in both the simulated and measured reflection spectra.The RFL operates in a single longitudinal mode near the threshold and a time-varying multilongitudinal mode at higher pump powers.The RFL exhibits a time-varying radio-frequency spectrum.The Lévy–Gaussian distribution transition is observed,as in many RFLs.The operation mechanism of the lasing longitudinal modes and the impact of complex mode competition and mode hopping on the output characteristics are discussed through experimental and theoretical results.In this study,we unveil an artificial random feedback structure and pave another way for the realization of RFLs,which should be a platform for multidisciplinary studies in complex systems.

Unveiling optical rogue wave behavior with temporally localized structures in Brillouin random fiber laser comb

The optical rogue wave(RW),known as a short-lived extraordinarily high amplitude dynamics phenomenon with small appearing probabilities,plays an important role in revealing and understanding the fundamental physics of nonlinear wave propagations in optical systems.The random fiber laser(RFL),featured with cavity-free and“modeless”structure,has opened up new avenues for fundamental physics research and potential practical applications combining nonlinear optics and laser physics.Here,the extreme event of optical RW induced by noise-driven modulation instability that interacts with the cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering,the quasi-phase-matched four-wave mixing as well as the random mode resonance process is observed in a Brillouin random fiber laser comb(BRFLC).Temporal and statistical characteristics of the RWs concerning their emergence and evolution are experimentally explored and analyzed.Specifically,temporally localized structures with high intensities including chair-like pulses with a sharp leading edge followed by a trailing plateau appear frequently in the BRFLC output,which can evolve to chair-like RW pulses with adjustable pulse duration and amplitude under controlled conditions.This investigation provides a deep insight into the extreme event of RWs and paves the way for RW manipulation for its generation and elimination in RFLs through adapted laser configuration.

Fiber Coupling of Laser Diode Bar to M ultimode Fiber Array

A piece of multimode optical fiber with a low num er ical aperture (NA) is used as an inexpensive microlens to collimate the output r adiation of a laser diode bar in the high numerical aperture (NA) direction.The emissions of the laser diode bar are coupled into multimode fiber array.The radi ation from individual ones of emitter regions is optically coupled into individu al ones of fiber array.Total coupling efficiency and fiber output power are 75% and 15W,respectively.

Porosity sensitivity of A356 Al alloy during fiber laser welding

In order to decrease the metallurgical porosity and keyhole-induced porosity during deep penetration laser welding of Al and its alloys, and increase the mechanical properties of work-piece, the effects of welding parameters such as laser power, welding speed and defocusing value on both kinds of porosities were systemically analyzed respectively, and the shape and fluctuation of plume of the keyhole were observed to reflect the stability of the keyhole. The results show that increasing laser power or decreasing laser spot size can lead to the rising of both number and occupied area of pores in the weld; meanwhile, the plume fluctuates violently over the keyhole, which is always companied with the intense metallic vapor, liquid metal spatter and collapsing in the keyhole, thus more pores are generated in the weld. The porosity in the weld reaches the minimum at welding velocity of 2.0 m/min when laser power is 5 kW and defocusing value is 0.

Stitch welding of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy by fiber laser

Stitch welding of plate covered skeleton structure of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloys has a variety of applications in aerospace vehicle manufacture. The laser stitch welding of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloys was carried out by a 4 kW ROFIN fiber laser. Influences of laser welding parameters on the macroscopic geometry, porosity, microstructure and mechanical properties of the stitch welded seams were investigated by digital microscope, optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and universal tensile testing machine. The results showed that the three-pipe nozzle with gas flow rate larger than 5 L/min could avoid oxidization, presenting better shielding effect in comparison with the single-pipe nozzle. Porosity formation could be suppressed with the gap between plate and skeleton less than 0.1 mm, while the existing porosity can be reduced with remelting. The maximum shear strength of stitch welding joint with minimal porosity was obtained by employing laser power of 1700 W, welding speed of 1.5 m/min and defocusing distance of ＋8 ram.

Effect of suction on macular thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness during LASIK used femtosecond laser and Moria M2 microkeratome

·AIM: To compare the effect of suction on the macular thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer(RNFL) thickness during laser in situ keratomileusis(LASIK) used Ziemer FEMTO LDV femtosecond laser(Ziemer group) and Moria M2 automated microkeratome(Moria group) for flap creation.· METHODS: Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography(FD-OCT) was used to measure macular thickness, ganglion cell complex thickness and RNFL thickness of 204 eyes of 102 patients with the Ziemer femtosecond laser(102 eyes) and the Moria M2microkeratome(102 eyes) before surgery and 30min; 1,3d; 1wk; 1, 3mo; 1y after surgery.· RESULTS: The average foveal thickness and parafoveal retinal thickness 30 min after the surgery were statistically more than that before surgery(Ziemer P 【0.001,P =0.003 and Moria P=0.001, P=0.006) and the effect was less in the Ziemer group than that in the Moria group(P all 【0.05). The ganglion cell complex thickness was not significantly changed in both groups(P all 】0.05). The RNFL thickness was statistically less 30 min after surgery in both groups(P=0.014, P 【0.001), but the influence was less in Ziemer group than that in Moria group(P =0.038).However, the RNFL thickness had recovered to the preoperative level only 1d after surgery.·CONCLUSION: The suction of femtosecond laser and mechanical microkeratome led to the increase in macular central fovea thickness and the decrease in RNFL thickness values at the early stage after LASIK. The effect of suction on macular and the RNFL thicknesses in Ziemer group is smaller than that in Moria group.

227-W output all-fiberized Tm-doped fiber laser at 1908 nm

In this paper, we report that a diode-pumped thulium-doped double clad silica fiber laser can provide powers of up to 227 W at 1908 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 54.3%, and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 51.2%. The output power, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest output at 1908 nm. The beam quality M2 factor is about 1.56. Also discussed in this paper is the dependence of the laser performance on fiber length.

A long-term frequency-stabilized erbium-fiber-laser-based optical frequency comb with an intra-cavity electro-optic modulator

We demonstrate an optical frequency comb based on an erbium-doped-fiber femtosecond laser with the nonlinear polarization evolution scheme. The repetition rate of the laser is about 209 MHz. By controlling an intra-cavity electro- optic modulator and a piezo-transducer, the repetition rate can be stabilized with a high-bandwidth servo in a frequency range of 3 kHz, enabling long-term repetition rate phase-locking. The in-loop frequency stability of repetition rate is about 1.6× 10-13 in an integration time of 1 s, limited by the measurement system; and it is inversely proportional to integration time in the short term. Furthermore, using a common path f-2f interferometer, the carrier envelope offset frequency of the comb is obtained with a signal-to-noise ratio of 40 dB in a 3-MHz resolution bandwidth. Stabilized cartier envelope offset frequency exhibits a deviation of 0.6 mHz in an integration time of 1 s.

Supervised descent method for weld pool boundary extraction during fiber laser welding process

In order to obtain a high-quality weld during the laser welding process, extracting the characteristic parameters of weld pool is an important issue for automated welding. In this paper, the type 304 austenitic stainless steel is welded by a 5 kW high-power fiber laser and a high-speed camera is employed to capture the topside images of weld pools. Then we propose a robust visual-detection approach for the molten pool based on the supervised descent method. It provides an elegant framework for representing the outline of a weld pool and is especially efficient for weld pool detection in the presence of strong uncertainties and disturbances. Finally, welding experimental results verified that the proposed approach can extract the weld pool boundary accurately, which will lay a solid foundation for controlling the weld quality of fiber laser welding process.

Pulse-train nonuniformity in an all-fiber ring laser passively mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation

This paper reports the periodic power variation of the pulse-train in a passively mode-locked soliton fiber ring laser. It can obtain either the uniform or nonuniform pulse-train output by simply rotating the polarization controllers. The experimental results show that the pulse-train nonuniformity is caused by the interaction between the nonuniform polarization states of the soliton pulses and the passive polarizer in the cavity.