Pair induced quenching in high concentration Holmium-doped fiber amplifiers

Abstract

Holmium doped fiber amplifiers (HDFAs) have become a focus of researchers since they provide amplification in the very important spectral region around 2 μm wavelength. A major factor resulting in the performance degradation of HDFAs is the inhomogeneous energy transfer within Ho3+ ion-pairs in high-concentration Holmium doped fibers (HDFs), an effect generally known as pair-induced quenching (PIQ). In this paper, we study the luminal and temporal dynamics of pulses of different repetition rates at 2.05 μm in high-concentration HDFs considering the effects of ion-pairs. Input pulses having repetition rates of 25 GHz and 500 kHz are generated using wavelength tunable actively mode-locked Holmium-doped fiber laser (AML-HDFL) based on a single ring cavity and bidirectional pumping. The characteristics of the pulses propagating through high concentration HDF are analyzed based on different metrics such as average power, peak power, pulse energy, full width at half maximum, and time delay without and with ion-pairs for values of fraction of ion-pairs k = 0 and k = 10%, respectively. The results obtained at optimized length of HDF show that ion-pairs significantly degrade the average power, peak power, and energy of the output pulses for both of the repetition rates. For both k = 0 and k = 10%, the FWHM and shape of the output pulses remain same in the presence of the ion-pairs while, time delay of 4 ps and 19 ns is observed in the output pulses at repetition rates of 25 GHz and 500 kHz, respectively. The effects of increasing the pump and signal power on the average power and energy of the output pulses for k = 0 and k = 10% are also discussed for both repetition rates. This analysis provides important guidelines for designers of 2 μm fiber lasers and amplifiers based on high-concentration HDFs.

Modeling and analysis of single-mode widely tunable all-fiber Ho-doped CW master oscillator power amplifier system

“…A group of important equations, known as rate and propagation equations alongwith absorption and emission cross section are used to explain lasing in a Ho-doped active fiber [11,12]. These equations normally rely upon particular kind of laser and its settings.…”

“…These equations normally rely upon particular kind of laser and its settings. The time evolution of densities of photons and carriers in cavity is described by using the rate equations while the propagation equations outline the performance of the laser light because it propagates via active fiber and cavity [11,12]. These equations are employed for modeling the performance of several laser structures, that include semiconductor, gas, and solid state lasers.…”

“…Figure 1(b) illustrates the energy diagram of an in-band pumped Ho-doped active fiber. It is clear that GSA and laser's emission occur between 5 I 8 and 5 I 7 levels whereas upconversion (UC) occurs between high energy manifolds, which are 5 I 5 and 5 I 6 [11,12].…”