A 1014 nm linearly polarized low noise narrow-linewidth single-frequency fiber laser

Single-frequency fiber laser at 880 nm

Single-frequency fiber lasers with extremely low noise and narrow spectral linewidth have found many scientific and practical applications. There is great interest in developing single-frequency fiber lasers at new wavelengths. In this paper, we report a single-frequency Nd³⁺-doped phosphate fiber laser operating at 880 nm, which is the shortest demonstrated wavelength for a single-frequency fiber laser thus far, to the best of our knowledge. An output power of 44.5 mW and a slope efficiency of 20.4% with respect to the absorbed pump power were obtained with a 2.5-cm-long 1 wt.% Nd³⁺-doped phosphate fiber. Our simulation results show that higher single-frequency laser output can be achieved with 1.5 wt.% or 2 wt.% Nd³⁺-doped phosphate fiber with mitigated ion clustering.

Comprehensive investigations on the tandem pumping scheme employing the pump fiber laser operating at an extremely short wavelength

In this work, with the aim of improving the nonlinearity threshold in tandem-pumped fiber amplifiers for higher output power, theoretical and experimental work was carried out to enhance the pump absorption and thereby decrease the required length of ytterbium-doped fiber by employing shorter-wavelength fiber lasers as the pump sources. Systematical simulations were first carried out to optimize the cavity parameters of a short-wavelength fiber oscillator at 1007 nm, and subsequently, the performance of the 1007 nm fiber laser in tandem pumping was simulated and compared with that of the 1018 nm fiber laser pumped results. Considerable absorption increment and efficiency improvement could be realized in the 1007 nm fiber laser pumped fiber amplifier relative to the 1018 nm fiber laser pumped one. Furthermore, according to the simulation results, a fiber laser operating at 1007.7 nm with the output power of ∼170 W and a slope efficiency of ∼72.90% was experimentally demonstrated. By applying this fiber laser in tandem pumping a 1080 nm fiber amplifier with different gain fiber lengths, improved performance was acquired in comparison with the 1018.6 nm tandem pumping scheme, the experimental results of which were coherent with the simulation results. This work could provide an effective approach for improving the nonlinearity threshold of tandem-pumped fiber amplifiers and paving the way for higher output power.

Sub-kilohertz linewidth fiber laser by using Bragg grating filters

A single-frequency (SF) fiber laser is widely applied in many fields. A superior ultra-narrow-bandwidth fiber filter, which consists of an in-series commercial common fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filters with a partial overlap in their reflection spectrum, is presented in this paper. The bandwidth of the filter with a center reflection wavelength of 1549.83 nm reaches 0.024 nm at 3 dB reflection, a remarkable reduction of approximately 300% by combination usage narrower than a single FBG used bandwidth. We also demonstrate a method to further narrowing of the filter bandwidth by increasing the usage times of filters, and the bandwidth can reach 0.0025 nm at 3 dB reflection. A long linear cavity single-frequency fiber laser with an entire cavity of 30 cm is implemented with the linewidth of 941 Hz at 3 dB, which is about 210% narrower than the previous record of SF fiber laser based on FBG filters in a linear cavity. This research may open a new door toward ultra-narrow-bandwidth filters and SF fiber lasers.

Distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser directly written in a composite fiber manufactured by melting phosphate glass in a silica tube

We demonstrate a single-frequency distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) fiber laser based on the novel erbium-doped composite fiber fabricated by melting phosphate glass in a silica tube. The fabricated composite fiber was single-mode at the wavelength of 1.55 μm; the measured cutoff wavelength was 1.4 μm. The composite fiber was photosensitive to irradiation at the wavelength of 193 nm. Using the phase mask method, the DBR fiber laser cavity with the total length of 21 mm was inscribed directly into the erbium-doped composite fiber. A stable single-frequency regime of the fabricated DBR laser at the wavelength of 1565 nm is demonstrated.

Stable actively Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser at 1.5 μm based on self-injecting polarization modulation

A new technique for the realization of a stable Q-switched operation in a single-frequency fiber laser based on self-injecting polarization modulation is demonstrated, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. A piezoelectric fiber stretcher was utilized to introduce periodic stress-induced polarization changes. Then the modulation of polarization state transformed into Q switching by virtue of a designed distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) resonant cavity with polarizations loss anisotropy. Finally, a stable actively Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser at 1.5 μm with Gaussian-shape pulse output was achieved. We experimentally found that, the repetition frequency (several hundred kHz) coincided with the working frequency of the polarization modulation, and the pulse width (several hundred ns) reduced with the increasing of the modulating frequency, the modulating amplitude, as well as the pump power. This stable Q-switched single-frequency fiber laser is promising for applications in optical time-domain reflectometry, coherent Doppler wind radar, and optical coherent detection. More importantly, this novel Q-switched technology may be applicable to other DBR single-frequency fiber lasers.

Compact fs ytterbium fiber laser at 1010 nm for biomedical applications

Ytterbium-doped fiber lasers (YDFLs) working in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral window and capable of high-power operation are popular in recent years. They have been broadly used in a variety of scientific and industrial research areas, including light bullet generation, optical frequency comb formation, materials fabrication, free-space laser communication, and biomedical diagnostics as well. The growing interest in YDFLs has also been cultivated for the generation of high-power femtosecond (fs) pulses. Unfortunately, the operating wavelengths of fs YDFLs have mostly been confined to two spectral bands, i.e., 970-980 nm through the three-level energy transition and 1030-1100 nm through the quasi three-level energy transition, leading to a spectral gap (990-1020 nm) in between, which is attributed to an intrinsically weak gain in this wavelength range. Here we demonstrate a high-power mode-locked fs YDFL operating at 1010 nm, which is accomplished in a compact and cost-effective package. It exhibits superior performance in terms of both short-term and long-term stability, i.e., <0.3% (peak intensity over 2.4 μs) and <4.0% (average power over 24 hours), respectively. To illustrate the practical applications, it is subsequently employed as a versatile fs laser for high-quality nonlinear imaging of biological samples, including two-photon excited fluorescence microscopy of mouse kidney and brain sections, as well as polarization-sensitive second-harmonic generation microscopy of potato starch granules and mouse tail muscle. It is anticipated that these efforts will largely extend the capability of fs YDFLs which is continuously tunable over 970-1100 nm wavelength range for wideband hyperspectral operations, serving as a promising complement to the gold-standard Ti:sapphire fs lasers.

Formation and Applications of the Secondary Fiber Bragg Grating

Being one of the most proven fiber optic devices, the fiber Bragg grating has developed continually to extend its applications, particularly in extreme environments. Accompanying the growth of Type-IIa Bragg gratings in some active fibers, a new resonance appears at the shorter wavelength. This new type of grating was named “secondary Bragg grating” (SBG). This paper describes the formation and applications of the SBGs. The formation of the SBG is attributed to the intracore Talbot-type-fringes as a result of multi-order diffractions of the inscribing beams. The SBG presents a variety of interesting characteristics, including dip merge, high-temperature resistance, distinct temperature response, and the strong higher-order harmonic reflection. These features enable its promising applications in fiber lasers and fiber sensing technology.

1120 nm kHz-linewidth single-polarization single-frequency Yb-doped phosphate fiber laser

A spectrally clean kHz-linewidth single-polarization single-frequency distributed Bragg reflector Yb-doped phosphate fiber (YPF) laser at 1120 nm (> 1100 nm) for the first time is demonstrated. By enhancing the reflectivity of output fiber Bragg grating and optimizing the length of YPF to implement the effective ASE suppression and single-longitudinal-mode long-wavelength lasing, a stable output power of over 62 mW is achieved from a 31-mm-long highly YPF with a linewidth of 5.7 kHz. The signal to noise ratio of > 67 dB, the polarization extinction ratio of > 25 dB, and the relative intensity noise of < -150 dB/Hz for the frequencies above 10.0 MHz are obtained in such single-frequency fiber laser. This narrow linewidth fiber laser is an ideal laser source to generate the coherent single-frequency 560 nm light via frequency doubling for biochemical analysis application.

1-μm-wavelength ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on the third harmonic reflection in secondary-type-In Bragg gratings

In this Letter, a 1-μm-wavelength fiber laser is proposed through the use of the ytterbium-doped active fiber and the third harmonic Bragg reflectors. Benefiting from the ratio below 0.5 between the core diameter of the fiber and the Talbot length of the UV fringes, enabling the formation of the secondary-type-In grating, the reflector with reflectivity higher than 95% at two-thirds of the designing Bragg wavelength can be fabricated within 2 min. Inherited by the lower temperature and strain sensitivity of the third harmonic grating, the laser has good wavelength stability and could be used as a reliable laser resource. In addition, this Letter can also be expected to provide great flexibility in fiber laser wavelength design.

High-power 1018 nm ytterbium-doped fiber laser and its application in tandem pump

In this paper, we present our experimental results of a high-power 1018 nm fiber laser and its usage in tandem pump. A record output power of 476 W 1018 nm fiber laser is obtained with an efficiency of 78.2%. Utilizing a specially designed gain fiber, a one-stage high-power monolithic fiber amplifier tandem pumped by six 1018 nm fiber lasers is assembled. A 110 W 1090 nm seed is amplified to 2140 W, and the efficiency is as high as 86.9%. The beam quality factor M2 is measured to be 1.9. Limitations and possible solutions for purchasing higher output power are discussed.

560 W all fiber and polarization-maintaining amplifier with narrow linewidth and near-diffraction-limited beam quality

We present a narrow linewidth, all-fiber polarization-maintained amplifier chain seeded by a phase-modulated single-frequency laser, which is a narrow linewidth. Different from previous phase-modulation techniques, the phase-modulation signal is generated by simply imposing an excited signal to an acoustic-optical driven source. Theoretical simulation results show that this method can suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) to a better degree, and the output power can be boosted to about 1.2 kW in terms of the SBS threshold. By amplifying the phase-modulated seed based on master-oscillator power-amplification configuration in experiments, a 560 W output laser is achieved with slope efficiency of 87.2% and linewidth of <5  GHz. Further power scaling is limited by mode instability instead of an SBS effect. At maximal output power, the beam quality (M² factor) and polarization extinction ratio is measured to be within 1.3 and 14 dB, respectively.

Pulsed Yb³⁺-doped fiber laser operating at 1011 nm by intra-cavity phase modulation

A 1011 nm pulsed Yb³⁺-doped fiber laser is experimentally demonstrated by employing a commercially available LiNbO₃ phase modulator (PM) in the linear cavity. The resonator is built up with a section of normal single-cladding Yb³⁺-doped fiber, a PM, and a pair of fiber Bragg gratings. Active mode-locked stable trains of pulses with 2 and 1.4 ns are generated at repetition rates of 30.2478 and 60.4956 MHz, respectively. The maximum average output power is 10.6 mW at pump power of 200 mW, with the slope efficiency of 13.3%. Relaxation-oscillation-modulated pulses with width of 2 μs are obtained at a repetition rate of 27.778 kHz.

High OSNR watt-level single-frequency one-stage PM-MOPA fiber laser at 1083 nm

A 1.03 W optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of > 70 dB single-frequency polarization-maintained master-oscillator power amplifier (PM-MOPA) laser at 1083 nm was demonstrated. The seed laser of this laser system was a distributed Bragg reflector short cavity Yb-doped phosphate fiber oscillator. A one-stage core-pumped amplification configuration was employed, in which the typical gain is 9.7 dB and the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 68.7%. The estimated laser linewidth is less than 3.5 kHz, the measured polarization-extinction ratio is greater than 25 dB, and the obtained relative intensity noise of fiber laser for frequencies of over 2 MHz is less than -130 dB/Hz.