Brillouin gain spectrum characterization in Ge-doped large-mode-area fibers

The dependence of Brillouin gain spectrum(BGS)characteristics,including the Brillouin frequency shift(BFS)and the BGS bandwidth,on germanium concentration in large-mode-area Ge-doped passive fibers is investigated theoretically and experimentally.The simulation results show that the BFS is inversely proportional to GeO_(2)concentration,and the BGS bandwidth initially increases with the augment of GeO_(2)concentration,and then decreases.The BGSs of four fibers with core diameters of 10μm and 20μm for different GeO_(2)concentrations are compared experimentally.Experimental results demonstrate that with the same core diameter,the variations of BFS and BGS bandwidths with GeO_(2)concentration accord with the simulation results.Additionally,the BGS characteristics of three large-mode-area passive fibers with diameters of 10μm,25μm,and 30μm are measured,which confirm that the increasing of the fiber diameters will cause the BGS bandwidth to broaden.We believe that these results can provide valuable references for modulating the high-power narrowlinewidth fiber lasers and Brillouin fiber amplifiers.

Design of a Solid-Core Large-Mode-Area Bragg Fiber

We report the design and simulation results of a solid-core Bragg fiber with 3-bilayer periodic cladding. The simulation results present single mode bandgap guidance, a large effective area of -400 μm2 around 1.08 μm, a very low bend loss of 0.038dB/m at 1.08μm even under tight bend radius （R = 4cm）, and excellent beam quality. The results indicate that the proposed fiber could be a competitive solution for high-power fiber laser applications.

272 W quasi-single-mode picosecond pulse laser of ytterbium-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber

A large-mode-area（LMA） ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber（PCF） with core NA of 0.034 and core diameter of 50 μm was made by the stack-and-draw technique. The core is formed by Yb3+/Al3+/F-/P5+ co-doped silica glass containing 0.09 mol% Yb2O3 with an absorption coefficient at 976 nm up to 3.2 d B/m. The core glass with homogeneous distribution of Yb3+ ions and refractive index difference of 4 × 10-4 compared with pure silica was prepared by the sol-gel method and heat homogenization at 2000°C. Laser power amplification of this LMA PCF was studied using a seed source of 21 ps pulse duration and 48.7 MHz repetition rate at 1030 nm wavelength. With pump power of 520 W, a maximum 272 W（266 k W peak power） quasi-single-mode laser output with M2 of 2.2 was achieved in a 4.7 m fiber length bent at a diameter of 47 cm with slope efficiency of 52%, and no obvious mode instability, stimulated Raman scattering, or thermal damage on the end facet of the fiber were observed.

Large-mode-area neodymium-doped all-solid double-cladding silicate photonic bandgap fiber with an index step of ～0.5%

A large-mode-area neodymium-doped silicate photonic bandgap fiber was theoretically designed and experimen- tMly demonstrated. The relative index step between the high-index rods and the background glass was -0.5%, which is the lowest cladding index difference reported on rare-earth-doped all-solid photonic bandgap fibers to our knowledge. An output power of 3.6 W with a slope efficiency of 31- was obtained for a 100-cm-long fiber.

Mechanism and elimination of spectrum filtering in a high power mode-locked fibre laser with a free output coupler

The filtering mechanism of a free output coupler mode-locked laser based on large-mode-area photonic-crystal fibre is analysed. A filtering-soliton mode-locked laser with 495 fs pulse width and 21 nJ pulse energy is achieved. Another novel cavity configuration is established to eliminate the filtering effect. Pulses, each 457 fs in width and 16.5 nJ in energy, are obtained in a soliton-like regime. Pulses, each 387 fs in width and 15.8 nJ in energy, are also generated in a stretched pulse regime and could be dechirped to 119 fs externally to the cavity.