Hongxing Shi

High power mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a single-mode ZBLAN fiber with up to 21.8 W average output power

We report high power mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum (SC) generation in a single-mode ZBLAN (ZrF₄-BaF₂-LaF₃-AlF₃-NaF) fiber with up to 21.8 W average output power from 1.9 to beyond 3.8 μm pumped by amplified picosecond pulses from a single-mode thulium-doped fiber (TDF) master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA). The optical-optical conversion efficiency from the 793 nm pump laser of the last stage thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) to mid-IR SC output is 17%. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest average power mid-IR SC generation from a ZBLAN fiber to date.

210 W single-frequency, single-polarization, thulium-doped all-fiber MOPA

A high-power single-frequency, single-polarization, thulium-doped all-fiber master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) is demonstrated by using all-polarization-maintaining (all-PM) thulium-doped fiber and all-PM-fiber components. The MOPA yielded 210 W of single-frequency, linear-polarized laser output at central wavelength of 2000.9 nm with a polarization extinction ratio (PER) of >17 dB. No indication of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) could be observed at the highest output power level, and the output power was only currently limited by available pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of average output power exceeding 200 W from a single-frequency, single-polarization, thulium-doped all-fiber laser at 2 µm wavelength region.

Dissipative soliton resonance and reverse saturable absorption in graphene oxide mode-locked all-normal-dispersion Yb-doped fiber laser

We observed dissipative soliton resonance phenomenon in a graphene oxide mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser, which delivered square-shaped pulse of 0.52 ns~60.8 ns and single pulse energy of 159.4 nJ at 1064.9 nm. The 3 dB-bandwidth of Lorentz-shaped spectrum was 0.19 nm. We pointed out that the reverse saturable absorption played a big role in generating square-shaped or flat-top pulses, which verified by additional simulation work.

Stable passively Q-switched and gain-switched Yb-doped all-fiber laser based on a dual-cavity with fiber Bragg gratings.

We demonstrate a stable passively Q-switched and gain-switched Yb-doped all-fiber laser cladding-pumped by a continuous fiber-coupled 976 nm laser diode. By use of an all-fiber dual-cavity, the efficient elements of the laser mainly include the fiber Bragg gratings and rare-earth doped fiber, allowing the oscillator to be integrated in a compact size with reliable and stable output. In this scheme, an efficient laser output with 45 ns pulse width, 62 μJ pulse energy, and 1.4 kW peak power operating at 1081 nm was obtained. To the best of our knowledge, this is the minimum pulse width in this similar kind of all-fiber configuration at present. Sequential nanosecond pulses were obtained at the repetition rate of several to tens of kHz with the variation of the diode pumping power. Effects of laser parameters such as pump power, cavity length, external-cavity wavelength, and FBG reflectivity on laser performance were also presented and discussed.

High-power operation of silica-based Raman fiber amplifier at 2147 nm.

We demonstrated a 2147 nm silica-based Raman fiber amplifier with output power of 14.3 W directly pumped with a 1963 nm CW thulium-doped all-fiber MOPA. The 1963 nm thulium-doped all-fiber MOPA is seeded with a 2147 nm thulium-doped all-fiber laser at the same time. The Raman Stokes power shift from 1963 nm to 2147 nm is accomplished in a piece of 50 m silica-based highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). The conversion efficiency was 38.5% from 1963 nm to 2147 nm in the HNLF. The output power achieved was only currently limited by available 1963 nm input power and the architecture has significant scaling potential. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest power operation of a Raman fiber amplifier at >2 µm wavelength region.

High-power linearly-polarized picosecond thulium-doped all-fiber master-oscillator power-amplifier

We demonstrated a linearly-polarized picosecond thulium-doped all-fiber-integrated master-oscillator power-amplifier system, which yielded 240 W of average output power at 127 MHz repetition rate. The seed source is a passively mode-locked polarization-maintaining thulium-doped all-fiber oscillator with a nearly transform-limited pulse duration of 10 ps. In combination with a pre-chirp fiber having a positive group velocity dispersion and a three stage polarization-maintaining thulium-doped all-fiber amplifier, output pulse energies up to 1.89 µJ with 42 kW pulse peak power are obtained without the need of complex free-space stretcher or compressor setups. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average output power ever reported for a picosecond all-fiber-integrated laser at 2 µm wavelength region.

Dissipative soliton resonance in an all-normal-dispersion graphene oxide mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser

We observed dissipative soliton resonance in graphene oxide mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser, which delivered square-shaped nanosecond pulses of 0.52ns~60.8ns and single pulse energy of 137.1nJ at 1064.9nm. The 3dB-bandwidth of Lorentz-shaped spectrum was 0.19nm.

1 μJ, sub-300 fs pulse generation from a compact thulium-doped chirped pulse amplifier seeded by Raman shifted erbium-doped fiber laser

We present a compact thulium-doped chirped pulse amplifier producing 241 fs pulses with 1 μJ energy. The system is seeded with the Raman shifted soliton generated by the combination of an erbium-doped femtosecond laser and a nonlinear fiber. The Tm-doped large mode area fiber yields output power of 71 W, corresponding to pulse energy of 2.04 μJ, with a slope efficiency of 52.2%. The amplified pulses have been compressed to a duration time of 241 fs, using a folded Treacy grating setup. The pulse energy is measured to be 1.02 μJ, corresponding to a peak power of ~3 MW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power and pulse energy generated from an all-fiber, Raman shifted soliton seeded thulium-doped chirped pulse amplifier system.

Enhanced tunable Raman soliton source between 19 and 236 μm in a Tm-doped fiber amplifier

We demonstrate generation of widely tunable femtosecond pulses by utilizing the soliton self-frequency shift effect in a Tm-doped fiber amplifier, seeded by dispersion managed mode-locked Tm oscillator. The monochromatic soliton pulses with a duration of the order of 100 fs have been obtained and its wavelength can be adjusted continuously in the range of 1.9-2.36 μm by varying the pump power. The efficiency of Raman conversion is as high as 97% with output power up to 1.16 W. The experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations of pulse propagation in Tm-doped fiber amplifier.

Multi-watt mid-infrared supercontinuum generated from a dehydrated large-core tellurite glass fiber

We report for the first time multi-watt mid-infrared supercontinuum (SC) output from a dehydrated tellurite step-index fiber. The tellurite glass preform is melted in a dry-atmosphere filled glovebox and the water impurity in the glass has been reduced to 1ppm level. The fiber has a large core diameter of 12 µm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.21. Using the amplified Raman-shifted soliton pulses from a 1.55 µm erbium-doped fiber laser as the pump, a broadband 2-3 µm supercontinuum with a 3dB bandwidth of 985 nm has been generated from an 80cm-long dehydrated tellurite glass fiber. The power spectral density of the SC is above 3.5 dBm/nm in the whole range of 2-3 µm. The net output power of the supercontinuum from the tellurite fiber is measured to be 2.1 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power of mid-IR SC generated from a tellurite fiber. The spectral density of above 3 dBm/nm is also one of the highest spectral densities of a SC achieved in 2.5-3 μm range from an oxide glass fiber.