M.E. Fermann

Fabrication and characterization of low-loss optical fibers containing rare-earth ions

Low-loss fibers containing rare-earths have been produced with high absorption levels in the visible and near infrared regions. Although containing relatively large quantities of rare-earth impurity dopants, the fibers possess low-loss windows where the attenuation is similar to that observed in undoped fibers. This attribute makes the fibers attractive for use in long distributed sensors, as well as low-threshold fiber lasers. Fiber characteristics relevant to these two applications are uniformity of dopant incorporation, absorption and fluorescence spectra, and fluorescence lifetime. These measurements are presented, together with their respective temperature dependences. The fiber fabrication method is described and results given for Nd3+-, Er3+-, and Tb3+-doped fibers.

Frequency doubling of femtosecond erbium-fiber soliton lasers in periodically poled lithium niobate

We report efficient frequency doubling of passively mode-locked femtosecond erbium-fiber lasers. Quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation in periodically poled lithium niobate is used to generate 8.1 mW of 190-fs (FWHM), 90-pJ pulses at 777 nm with a conversion efficiency greater than can be obtained with existing birefringently phase-matched nonlinear materials. A dispersion-compensation-free soliton oscillator generating transform-limited 230-fs (FWHM) pulses at 1554 nm is used as a pump laser.

All‐fiber femtosecond pulse amplification circuit using chirped Bragg gratings

In‐fiber chirped Bragg gratings are used as stretchers and compressors for distortionless amplification of femtosecond pulses in chirped pulse amplification system. It is shown that using opposite directions of pulse propagation the effects of higher order dispersion and grating irregularities can be eliminated and the original pulse shape and duration can be recovered. Using these gratings a compact all‐fiber system consisting of a mode‐locked fiber oscillator and an erbium‐doped fiber amplifier was built. 330 fs bandwidth‐limited pulses from a fiber oscillator were stretched to 30 ps, amplified and recompressed back to 408 fs. The maximum energy of the pulses after the amplifier was 6 nJ and was at the threshold of nonlinear effects for a 30 ps stretched pulse.

Ultrawide tunable Er soliton fiber laser amplified in Yb-doped fiber.

A Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled high-power Er-fiber soliton laser for seeding an efficient high-power Yb fiber femtosecond amplifier is demonstrated. The Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled Er-soliton laser is tunable from 1.00 to 1.070microm and produces bandwidth-limited 24-pJ pulses at a repetition rate of 50 MHz with a FWHM pulse width of 170 fs at 1.040microm . The Yb(3+) amplifier has a slope efficiency of 52% and generates 3-ps linearly chirped pulses with an average power of 0.8 W at 1.05microm . After pulse compression, 74-fs bandwidth-limited pulses with an average power of 0.4 W and a pulse energy of 8 nJ are generated.

Fiber-laser-based femtosecond parametric generator in bulk periodically poled LiNbO3

A diode-pumped system for optical parametric generation of wavelength-tunable femtosecond pulses is demonstrated. It comprises an Er-doped fiber mode-locked laser, a fiber chirped-pulse amplifier, and a bulk periodically poled LiNbO(3) (PPLN) optical parametric generator. The parametric generator is pumped at 777 nm with frequency-doubled microjoule pulses from the fiber amplifier and produces 300-fs pulses tunable from 1 to 3microm with output energies up to ~200 nJ. Use of a PPLN nonlinear crystal substantially reduces the pump energies required for efficient parametric generation. Saturated single-pass parametric energy conversion of 38% (internal) has been achieved with only 220 nJ of pump inside the crystal. A parametric generation threshold of 54 nJ is observed, and efficient parametric conversion is obtained with repetition rates up to 200 kHz.

Femtosecond pulse amplification in cladding-pumped fibers

Femtosecond pulse amplification in a cladding-pumped fiber amplifier is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. Using a cladding-pumped erbium-doped fiber power amplifier and a passively mode-locked fiber seed oscillator in conjunction with an all-fiber chirped-pulse amplification system, we obtain 380-fs near-bandwidth-limited pulses with an average power of 260 mW. The pulse repetition rate is varied between 5 and 50 MHz, and pulse energies as high as 20 nJ are generated.

High-power soliton fiber laser based on pulse width control with chirped fiber Bragg gratings.

Chirped fiber Bragg gratings control the pulse width and energy in Kerr mode-locked erbium fiber soliton lasers. We create high-energy pulses by providing large amounts of excessive negative dispersion, which increases the pulse width while keeping the nonlinearity of the cavity constant. With a chirped fiber grating of 3.4-ps(2) dispersion, 3-ps pulses with an energy content higher than 1 nJ are generated at a repetition rate of 27 MHz. By controlling the polarization state in the cavity, we obtain a tuning range from 1.550 to 1.562 mu;m.

ALL-FIBER SOURCE OF 100-NJ SUBPICOSECOND PULSES

Chirped pulse amplification of a stretched pulse passively mode‐locked erbium fiber laser is demonstrated. The two‐stage all‐fiber amplifier system delivers 800‐fs pulses with pulse energies up to 100 nJ at a repetition rate of 200 kHz.

Cladding-pumped passively mode-locked fiber laser generating femtosecond and picosecond pulses

Passively mode-locked fiber lasers cladding pumped by broad-area diode-laser arrays are described. With a dispersion-compenstated erbium-ytterbium fiber oscillator, 200-fs pulses with pulse energies up to 100 pJ are generated at a wavelength of 1560 nm. In a highly dispersive cavity, pulse widths of 3 ps with pulse energies up to 1 nJ are obtained. A saturable absorber is used for pulse startup, whereas nonlinear polarization evolution is exploited for steady-state pulse shaping. An environmentally stable design is ensured by use of a compensation scheme for linear polarization drifts in the cavity.

Characterization of special fibers and fiber devices

Methods for characterizing birefringent fibers (both those with high circular or linear birefringence and those with negligible intrinsic birefringence) are presented, and their relative merits are discussed. Fibers with high nonlinear coefficients exhibit interesting optical phenomena, and methods are developed to determine second harmonic, Pockels and Kerr effects, parametric phenomena, and the Verdet constant of silica and higher-loss, nonsilica fibers. Fibers containing rare-earth ions are of interest both as active (laser and amplifiers) and passive systems. Techniques are developed to characterize these devices, and conventional methods are modified to quantify dopant parameters within the fiber. Techniques for the measurement of the diverse properties of all these different fibers are presented with results, and, where appropriate, the problems with their characterization are discussed. >