Lei Si

Tunable, multiwavelength Tm-doped fiber laser based on polarization rotation and four-wave-mixing effect

We propose and demonstrate a tunable multiwavelength fiber laser employing polarization-maintaining Tm-doped fiber based on polarization rotation and four-wave-mixing effect. Polarization-maintaining Tm-doped fiber and polarization controllers were employed to manipulate the polarization modes in the laser, and 400 m long single-mode passive fiber was used to enhance the four-wave-mixing effect and suppress the polarization mode competition. Stable fiber laser operation of 1-6 wavelengths around 1.9 μm was achieved at room temperatures. The wavelengths can be tuned through adjusting the polarization controllers. The optical signal-to-noise ratio of the laser is more than 31 dB. The wavelength shift is less than 0.05 nm and the peak fluctuation of each wavelength is analyzed. For most of the wavelengths the peak fluctuations are less than 3 dB and the peak fluctuations of wavelengths with more stability are below 1.5 dB.

Multiwavelength Brillouin-Thulium Fiber Laser

We demonstrate the first multiwavelength Brillouin-thulium fiber laser (BTFL) with wavelengths near 1.97 μm. The multiwavelength fiber laser was realized based on stimulated Brillouin scattering and nonlinear polarization rotation effects. The laser can generate five Brillouin wavelengths with spacing of about 0.105 nm, which is identical with the wavelength spacing of adjacent Brillouin Stokes lines. The peak power fluctuations of the multiwavelength BTFL were less than 0.5 dB, and the wavelength shifts were less than 0.01 nm in 20 min.

102 W monolithic single frequency Tm-doped fiber MOPA

We demonstrate a high power all-fiber single frequency Tm-doped fiber amplifier. The maximum output power reached 102 W and the central wavelength was 1.97 μm. The single frequency laser signal from a seed laser was amplified based on a monolithic master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. The slope efficiency was about 50% against the absorbed pump power. Neither parasitic lasing nor nonlinear effect was observed in the monolithic fiber amplifier. The SBS threshold of the single frequency Tm-doped fiber amplifier was analyzed and estimated. The output power is not limited by the SBS threshold and could be further improved by increasing the pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of average power exceeding 100 W from monolithic all-fiber laser near 2 μm wavelength.

Efficient linearly polarized ytterbium-doped fiber laser at 1120 nm

We report a 20 W linearly polarized, spectrally clean Yb-doped fiber laser at 1120 nm with an optical conversion efficiency of 54%. An excellent polarization extinction ratio of more than 23 dB is obtained using fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) polarization selection technique at all power levels. The results reveal that a Yb-doped fiber laser at 1120 nm could be a promising replacement compared to Raman fiber lasers.

Novel adaptive fiber-optics collimator for coherent beam combination

In this manuscript, we experimentally validate a novel design of adaptive fiber-optics collimator (AFOC), which utilizes two levers to enlarge the movable range of the fiber end cap. The enlargement of the range makes the new AFOC possible to compensate the end-cap/tilt aberration in fiber laser beam combining system. The new AFOC based on flexible hinges and levers was fabricated and the performance of the new AFOC was tested carefully, including its control range, frequency response and control accuracy. Coherent beam combination (CBC) of two 5-W fiber amplifiers array with simultaneously end-cap/tilt control and phase-locking control was implemented successfully with the novel AFOC. Experimental results show that the average normalized power in the bucket (PIB) value increases from 0.311 to 0.934 with active phasing and tilt aberration compensation simultaneously, and with both controls on, the fringe contrast improves to more than 82% from 0% for the case with both control off. This work presents a promising structure for tilt aberration control in high power CBC system.

Average spreading and beam quality evolution of Gaussian array beams propagating through oceanic turbulence

The propagation properties of a radial Gaussian beam array through oceanic turbulence are studied analytically. The analytical expressions for the average intensity and the beam quality (power-in-the-bucket (PIB) and M 2-factor) of a radial beam array in a turbulent ocean are derived based on an account of statistical optics methods, the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle, and the second order moments of the Wigner distribution function. The influences of w, e, and χ T on the average intensity are investigated. The array divergence increases and the laser beam spreads as the salinity-induced dominant, e decreased, and χ T increased. Further, the analytical expression of PIB and the M 2-factor in the target plane is obtained. The changes of PIB and the M 2-factor with three oceanic turbulence parameters indicate that the stronger turbulence with a larger w, smaller e, and larger χ T results in the value of PIB decreasing, the value of the M 2-factor increasing, and the beam quality degrading.

Tm-Ho co-doped all-fiber brand-range self-sweeping laser around 1.9 μm.

We present a brand-range self-sweeping Tm-Ho co-doped fiber laser experimentally. The lasers center wavelength sweeps periodically around 1.9 μm with self-sweeping range of 4 nm ~17 nm, and the sweep rate can be changed in the range of 0.4 nm/s ~1.5 nm/s. The sweep range increases and the sweep rate declines when the pump power rises.

RELAY PROPAGATION OF PARTIALLY COHERENT COSH-GAUSSIAN BEAMS IN NON-KOLMOGOROV TURBULENCE

The analytical formulas for the average intensity and power in the bucket of the relay propagation of partially coherent cosh-Gaussian (ChG) beams in non-Kolmogorov turbulence have been derived based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. The in∞uences of the beam parameters, relay system parameters and the non-Kolmogorov turbulence parameters on relay propagation are investigated by numerical examples. Numerical results reveal that the relay propagation of the beam is difierent from that in the case of Kolmogorov turbulence. It is shown that the relay propagation has advantages over direct propagation, and the relay propagation of partially coherent ChG beams depends greatly on the beam parameters, relay system and the generalized exponent fi. The focusability of the beam at the target in non-Kolmogorov turbulence increases with larger inner scale, larger relay system radius, smaller outer scale, and smaller generalized structure constant. The results are useful for the practical applications of relay propagation, i.e., free- space communication.

Large deflection angle, high-power adaptive fiber optics collimator with preserved near-diffraction-limited beam quality.

We report on the development of a monolithic adaptive fiber optics collimator, with a large deflection angle and preserved near-diffraction-limited beam quality, that has been tested at a maximal output power at the 300 W level. Additionally, a new measurement method of beam quality (M2 factor) is developed. Experimental results show that the deflection angle of the collimated beam is in the range of 0-0.27 mrad in the X direction and 0-0.19 mrad in the Y direction. The effective working frequency of the device is about 710 Hz. By employing the new measurement method of the M2 factor, we calculate that the beam quality is Mx2=1.35 and My2=1.24, which is in agreement with the result from the beam propagation analyzer and is preserved well with the increasing output power.

293 W, GHz narrow-linewidth, polarization maintaining nanosecond fiber amplifier with SBS suppression employing simultaneous phase and intensity modulation

We present a new method of SBS suppression in fiber amplifier system by employing simultaneously phase and intensity modulation. In this way, a GHz narrow-linewidth polarization-maintaining (PM) all-fiber pulsed laser is obtained based on a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration. The pulsed seed is generated from a single-frequency continuous wave (CW) laser at 1064 nm by simultaneous modulation using an electro-optic intensity modulator (EOIM) and an electro-optic phase modulator (EOPM). Theoretical model is built and simulation framework has been established to estimate the SBS threshold of the pulsed amplifier system before and after modulation. In experiment, in order to suppress SBS effectively, the pulse width is set to be 4 ns and the phase modulation voltage is set to be 5 V. After amplifying by the amplifier chain, a ~3.5 ns pulsed laser with average/peak power of 293 W/3.9 kW is obtained at intensity repetition rate of 20 MHz and phase repetition rate of 100MHz, showing good agreement with simulation results. The linewidth of the output laser is ~4.5 GHz, the M(2) factor at maximal output power is measured to be ~1.1 and the slope efficiency is ~86%.This method provides some references to suppress the SBS in narrow linewidth pulsed amplifier systems.