All-fiberized and narrow-linewidth 5 kW power-level fiber amplifier based on a bidirectional pumping configuration

In this paper,an all-fiberized and narrow-linewidth 5 kW power-level fiber amplifier is presented.The laser is achieved based on the master oscillator power amplification configuration,in which the phase-modulated single-frequency laser is applied as the seed laser and a bidirectional pumping configuration is applied in the power amplifier.The stimulated Brillouin scattering,stimulated Raman scattering,and transverse mode instability effects are all effectively suppressed in the experiment.Consequently,the output power is scaled up to 4.92 kW with a slope efficiency of as high as approximately 80%.The 3-dB spectral width is about 0.59 nm,and the beam quality is measured to be M^(2)~1.22 at maximum output power.Furthermore,we have also conducted a detailed spectral analysis on the spectral width of the signal laser,which reveals that the spectral wing broadening phenomenon could lead to the obvious decrease of the spectral purity at certain output power.Overall,this work could provide a reference for obtaining and optimizing high-power narrow-linewidth fiber lasers.

Development and prospect of high-power Yb^(3+) doped fibers

Ytterbium-doped fibers have become the optimum gain media of high-power fiber lasers thanks to a simple energy structure, which strongly reduces the excited state absorption, and a low quantum defect and a high optic–optic conversion efficiency, which means the low thermal load. In this paper, we take a review of the current state of the art in terms of Yb^(3+)doped fibers for high-power fiber lasers, including the development of the fabrication techniques. The research work to overcome the challenges for Yb3+doped fibers, which affect the stability of output power and beam quality, will be demonstrated. Direction of further research is presented and the goal is to look for a fiber design, to boost single fiber output power, stabilize the laser power and support robust single-mode operation.

kW-class high power fiber laser enabled by active long tapered fiber

Compared with traditional uniform fibers, tapered fiber has numerous unique advantages, such as larger mode area,higher pump absorption, suppression to nonlinear effects, and maintaining good beam quality. In this manuscript, we have constructed an all-fiberized fiber amplifier which is based on a piece of ytterbium-doped tapered double-clad fiber(T-DCF). The fiber amplifier is operated under continuous wave(CW) regime at 1080 nm wavelength. The M2 factor of the amplifier at 1.39 k W output power is ～1.8. The maximum output power of the system reached 1.47 k W, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest output power of long tapered fiber based fiber laser system. Our result successfully verifies the potential of power scalability and all-fiberized capability of long tapered fiber, and the performance of our system can be further enhanced by fiber design optimization.

302 W triple-frequency,single-mode,linearly polarized Yb-doped all-fiber amplifier

Stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) effect is currently the major limitation for the power scaling of singlefrequency/narrow linewidth fiber laser systems. A single-mode linearly polarized all-fiber amplifier system is set up to investigate SBS effect in triple-frequency high-power amplifiers. With this amplifier, up to 302 W output power with 83% slope efficiency is achieved and the SBS threshold is scaled up to 12 d B. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of multifrequency laser from a single-mode polarization maintaining fiber. Good spectral properties and high brightness make this laser source available for the application of second harmonic generation, coherent beam combining.