High peak power picosecond hybrid fiber and solid-state amplifier system

Abstract

We report the high peak power picosecond hybrid fiber and solid-state laser amplifier system. The passively mode-locked solid-state seed source produced an average power of 1.8 W with pulse width of 14 ps and repetition rate of 86 MHz. It was directly coupled into the first Yb-doped polarized photonic crystal fiber amplifier stage. To avoid the nonlinear effects in fiber, the output power from the first stage was merely amplified to 24 W with the narrow spectra broadening of 0.21 nm. For the improvement of the peak power, the dual-end pumped composite Nd:YVO4 amplifier system has been chosen at the second stage. To reduce the serious thermal effect, the thermally bonded composite YVO4 – Nd:YVO4 – YVO4 rod crystal was used as the gain medium. The 53 W TEM00 mode with the peak power of 40 kW, beam quality of M2 < 1.15, corresponding to the optical-optical efficiency of 42.4% was obtained at the hybrid amplifier laser system. The system allows using a low power seed source and demonstrates an increase in the peak power beyond a fiber master oscillator power amplifier's (MOPA's) limit.

Effective pulse recompression after nonlinear spectral broadening in picosecond Yb-doped fiber amplifier

“…On the other hand, diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser can provide transform limited pulse operation at moderate power levels. Successful demonstration [17] of solid state mode locked oscillator as a part of hybrid MOPA sys tem reached ~53 W average power in picoseconds regime. Recently [18] we have achieved a very stable output of passively mode locked DPSS Nd:GdVO 4 laser which can provide 12 ps duration, at ~200 MHz repetition rate with average power of ~400 mW.…”

Polarization-maintaining amplification of phase modulated pulse employing ytterbium-doped single-mode fiber amplifier

“…Ytterbium doped polarization maintaining fiber or polarizing fiber (PZF) are possi ble solutions, but they are both costly, especially for the polarizing fiber, because the manufacturing tech nology is quite complex. A single polarization fiber 1 The article is published in the original. amplifier employing erbium doped single mode fiber (SMF) is proposed in [23] to eliminate spatial hole burning and gain fiber birefringence.…”

“…Picosecond or femtosecond laser pulse output is achieved in mode locked fiber lasers with novel con figurations or novel devices [1][2][3][4][5]. To maintain the shape of the broadband pulse laser, novel gain flat tened fiber laser configurations and methods have been proposed [6][7][8].…”

Diode-Pumped High Energy and High Average Power All-Solid-State Picosecond Amplifier Systems

“…In addition, the 0.8 nm emission bandwidth of Nd:YVO4 supports sub-10 or sub-100 ps pulses [21]. In 2010, an output power of 53 W with a peak power of 40 kW from a hybrid amplifier laser system using Nd:YVO4 was reported, corresponding to an optical efficiency of 42.4% [22]. In 2012, using gratings to stretch and compress the pulses, a multi-pulse picosecond laser with 14 mJ and a pulse duration of 28 ps operating at a repetition rate of 1 kHz from a Nd:YVO4 regenerative amplifier was reported [23].…”