W.A. Clarkson

High power fiber lasers: current status and future perspectives

The rise in output power from rare-earth-doped fiber sources over the past decade, via the use of cladding-pumped fiber architectures, has been dramatic, leading to a range of fiber-based devices with outstanding performance in terms of output power, beam quality, overall efficiency, and flexibility with regard to operating wavelength and radiation format. This success in the high-power arena is largely due to the fiber’s geometry, which provides considerable resilience to the effects of heat generation in the core, and facilitates efficient conversion from relatively low-brightness diode pump radiation to high-brightness laser output. In this paper we review the current state of the art in terms of continuous-wave and pulsed performance of ytterbium-doped fiber lasers, the current fiber gain medium of choice, and by far the most developed in terms of high-power performance. We then review the current status and challenges of extending the technology to other rare-earth dopants and associated wavelengths of operation. Throughout we identify the key factors currently limiting fiber laser performance in different operating regimes—in particular thermal management, optical nonlinearity, and damage. Finally, we speculate as to the likely developments in pump laser technology, fiber design and fabrication, architectural approaches, and functionality that lie ahead in the coming decade and the implications they have on fiber laser performance and industrial/scientific adoption.

Two-mirror beam-shaping technique for high-power diode bars

A simple beam-shaping technique is described whereby the output from a highly asymmetric non-diffractionlimited laser source, such as a high-power diode bar, can be reconfigured with nearly equal beam-quality factors in orthogonal planes and without a significant reduction in brightness. Using this technique, in conjunction with conventional lenses, we have focused the output from a 20-W cw diode bar to a very intense, nearly circular spot with a 1/e(2) beam diameter of ~100 microm and a far-field beam divergence (half-angle) of ~0.2 rad.

Thermal effects and their mitigation in end-pumped solid-state lasers

Degradation in beam quality due to aberrated thermal lensing and depolarization loss due to stress induced birefringence in end-pumped edge-cooled solid-state lasers are investigated. A simple model for the dependence of thermal lensing and degradation in beam quality on the transverse intensity profile of the pump beam is presented. Experimental measurements of thermal lensing, degradation in beam quality and depolarization loss in a diode-bar-end-pumped Nd:YAG rod support the main predictions of the model and, in addition, show that there can be significant extra heating under non-lasing conditions compared to lasing conditions. The role of energy transfer upconversion as a mechanism for additional heat loading under non-lasing conditions is considered. Finally, various strategies for limiting the impact of thermal lensing and thermally induced birefringence on laser performance in simple end-pumped cavity configurations are reviewed.

High-energy, high-power ytterbium-doped Q-switched fiber laser

We report on a Q -switched, cladding-pumped, ytterbium-doped large-mode-area fiber laser operating at 1090 nm that is capable of generating 2.3 mJ of output pulse energy at a 500-Hz repetition rate and more than 5 W of average output power at higher repetition rates in a high-brightness beam (M(2) = 3) . Using a similar fiber with a smaller core, we generated >0.5-mJ pulses in a diffraction-limited beam. Our results represent a threefold increase in pulse energy over previously published values for Q-switched fiber lasers and firmly establish fiber lasers as compact, multiwatt, multimillijoule pulse sources with large scope for both industrial and scientific applications.

High-power cladding pumped Tm-doped silica fiber laser with wavelength tuning from 1860 to 2090 nm

A high-power double-clad Tm-doped silica fiber laser, pumped by two beam-shaped and polarization-coupled diode bars at 787 nm, was wavelength tuned by use of an external cavity containing a diffraction grating. The Tm fiber laser produced a maximum output power of 7 W at 1940 nm for 40 W of incident diode power and was tuned over a wavelength range of 230 nm from 1860 to 2090 nm, with >5-W output power over the range 1870-2040 nm. The prospects for further improvement in performance and extension of the tuning range are discussed.

Characteristics of Q-switched cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber lasers with different high-energy fiber designs

We theoretically and experimentally analyze Q-switched cladding pumped ytterbium-doped fiber lasers designed for high pulse energies. We compare the extractable energy from two high-energy fiber designs: (1) single- or few-moded low-NA large mode area (LMA) fibers and (2) large-core multimode fibers, which may incorporate a fiber taper for brightness enhancement. Our results show that the pulse energy is proportional to the effective core area and, therefore, LMA fibers and multimode fibers of comparable core size give comparable results. However, the energy storage in multimode fibers is mostly limited by strong losses due to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) or even spurious lasing between pulses. The ASE power increases with the number of modes in a fiber. Furthermore, spurious feedback is more difficult to suppress with a higher NA, and Rayleigh back-scattering increases with higher NA, too. These effects are smaller in low-NA LMA fibers, allowing for somewhat higher energy storage. For the LMA fibers, we found that facet damage was a more severe restriction than ASE losses or spurious lasing. With a modified laser cavity, we could avoid facet damage in the LMA fiber, and reached output pulse energies as high as 2.3 mJ, limited by ASE. Theoretical estimates suggest that output pulse energies around 10 mJ are feasible with a larger core fiber, while maintaining a good beam quality.

Energy-transfer upconversion and thermal lensing in high-power end-pumped Nd:YLF laser crystals

Thermal lensing in an end-pumped Nd:LiYF/sub 4/ rod, under lasing and nonlasing conditions, has been investigated. Under lasing conditions, a weak thermal lens, with dioptric power varying linearly with pump power, was observed. Under nonlasing conditions, where higher inversion densities were involved, hence relevant to Q-switched operation or operation as an amplifier, a much stronger thermal lens was measured, whose power increased nonlinearly with pump power. This difference has been attributed to the increased heat deposition due to the subsequent multiphonon decay following various interionic upconversion processes, which increase strongly under nonlasing conditions, and is further exacerbated by the unfavorable temperature dependencies of heat conductivity and the rate of change of the refractive index with temperature. A strategy for reducing upconversion and its associated thermal loading, without degrading laser performance, is discussed.

Highly efficient in-band pumped Er:YAG laser with 60 W of output at 1645 nm

A high-power Er:YAG laser that is in-band pumped by a high-power cladding-pumped erbium-ytterbium codoped fiber laser operating at 1532 nm is reported. The Er:YAG laser produced 60.3 W of continuous-wave output at 1645.3 nm in a beam with M2 approximately equal to 3 for 82 W of incident pump power and 20 W of TEM00 output with M2 < 1.2 for 32.4 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power at pump powers of >20 W was approximately 81%. In the Q-switched mode of operation, a slightly modified resonator configuration incorporating an electro-optic Q switch produced pulses of approximately 4 mJ energy and approximately 100 ns (FWHM) duration, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 42 kW at a repetition rate of 1 kHz for an incident pump power of 16.8 W. The prospects for further improvement in continuous-wave and Q-switched performance are discussed.

Compact diode-pumped passively Q-switched tunable Er-Yb double-clad fiber laser

Efficient repetitive passive Q switching of a cladding-pumped Er-Yb fiber laser has been demonstrated by use of an external-cavity configuration containing a Co(2+): ZnS crystal as a saturable absorber. Energies of as much as 60muJ in pulses of durations as short as 3.5 ns (FWHM), corresponding to a peak power of >10kW, have been generated, and the maximum slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 13%. Using a bulk diffraction grating in the Littrow configuration to provide wavelength-selective feedback, we tuned the passively Q -switched fiber laser over 31 nm from 1532 to 1563 nm. The prospects for further improvement in performance are discussed.

Generation of high-power blue light in periodically poled LiNbO3

We report the generation of 450-mW average blue (473-nm) power by frequency doubling of a diode-pumped 946-nm Nd:YAG laser. We achieved pulsed operation at a high repetition rate (~160kHz) by driving the relaxation oscillations of the laser. A 40% conversion efficiency to the second harmonic was obtained in a single-pass, extracavity, first-order, quasi-phase-matched process in which periodically poled lithium niobate (period 4.5microm , thickness 0.5mm , and length 15mm) at 140 degrees C was used. The resulting high-power blue beam was circular in profile and nearly diffraction limited, indicating that photorefractive effects do not appear to limit device performance.