Xiaocheng Tian

Comprehensive Investigations on 1053 nm Random Distributed Feedback Fiber Laser

We design a 1053 nm Yb3+-doped random fiber laser (YRFL) based on the combination of Yb3+ -doped fiber (YDF) and single mode fiber (SMF), in which the YDF provides active gain, while SMF offers random distributed feedback. The numerical model is established based on the rate equation of Yb3+-doped laser, and it is modified and developed to calculate the power performance of YRFL. The numerical results show that the YDFs length and the pumping scheme could influence the laser power performance. Then, the forward and backward pumped YRFL both with 9.5 m YDF and 2 km SMF are experimentally demonstrated whose threshold powers are 1 and 1.1 W, respectively. The obtained optical slope efficiencies are 45.2% and 40.9% for these two cases. The experimental results agree with the calculated results well. This work gives a general study on active gain based random fiber lasers, which can enrich the operation wavelength range of random fiber laser and may broaden its application fields to high energy large-scale laser facilities.

A fiber-based polarization–rotation filter utilized to suppress the FM-to-AM effect in a large-scale laser facility

The frequency modulation to amplitude modulation (FM-to-AM) effect is one of the few remaining scientific issues in a large-scale laser facility which could prevent fusion ignition. A fiber-based polarization?rotation filter which consists of a fiber polarizer, a section of polarization-maintaining fiber, a half-wave plate and a polarization beam splitter is proposed to suppress the FM-to-AM effect. Theoretical analysis and experimental demonstration in the preamplifier module of the SG-III laser facility prove the effectiveness of this filter.

Research of beam smoothing technologies using CPP, SSD, and PS

Precise physical experiments place strict requirements on target illumination uniformity in Inertial Confinement Fusion. To obtain a smoother focal spot and suppress transverse SBS in large aperture optics, Multi-FM smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) was studied combined with continuous phase plate (CPP) and polarization smoothing (PS). New ways of PS are being developed to improve the laser irradiation uniformity and solve LPI problems in indirect-drive laser fusion. The near field and far field properties of beams using polarization smoothing were studied and compared, including birefringent wedge and polarization control array. As more parameters can be manipulated in a combined beam smoothing scheme, quad beam smoothing was also studies. Simulation results indicate through adjusting dispersion directions of one-dimensional (1-D) SSD beams in a quad, two-dimensional SSD can be obtained. Experiments have been done on SG-III laser facility using CPP and Multi-FM SSD. The research provides some theoretical and experimental basis for the application of CPP, SSD and PS on high-power laser facilities.

Parameter space for the collective laser coupling in the laser fusion driver based on the concept of fiber amplification network.

Collective laser coupling of the fiber array in the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) laser driver based on the concept of fiber amplification network (FAN) is researched. The feasible parameter space is given for laser coupling of the fundamental, second and third harmonic waves by neglecting the influence of the frequency conversion on the beam quality under the assumption of beam quality factor conservation. Third harmonic laser coupling is preferred due to its lower output energy requirement from a single fiber amplifier. For coplanar fiber array, the energy requirement is around 0.4 J with an effective mode field diameter of around 500 μm while maintaining the fundamental mode operation which is more than one order of magnitude higher than what can be achieved with state-of-the-art technology. Novel waveguide structure needs to be developed to enlarge the fundamental mode size while mitigating the catastrophic self-focusing effect.

Polarized millijoule fiber laser system with high beam quality and pulse shaping ability

The coherent amplification network (CAN) aims at developing a laser system based on the coherent combination of multiple laser beams, which are produced through a network of high beam quality optical fiber amplifiers. The scalability of the CAN laser facilitates the development of many novel applications, such as fiber-based acceleration, orbital debris removal and inertial confinement fusion energy. According to the requirements of CAN and the front end of high-power laser facilities, a millijoule polarized fiber laser system was studied in this paper. Using polarization maintaining Ytterbium-fiber laser system as the seed, and 10-μm core Yb-doped fiber amplifier as the first power amplifier and 40-μm core polarizing (PZ) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as the second power amplifier, the all-fiber laser system outputs 1.06-mJ energy at 10 ns and diffraction limited mode quality. Using 85-μm rod-type PCF as the third power amplifiers, 2.5-mJ energy at 10-ns pulse width was obtained with better than 500:1 peak-to-foot pulse shaping ability and fundamental mode beam quality. The energy fluctuation of the system is 1.3% rms with 1-mJ output in one hour. When using phase-modulated pulse as the seed, the frequency modulation to amplitude modulation (FM-to-AM) conversion ratio of the system is better than 5%. This fiber laser system has the advantages of high beam quality, high beam shaping ability, good stability, small volume and free of maintenance, which can be used in many applications.

Research of target uniform illumination on SG-III laser facility

In the research of inertial confinement fusion, laser plasma interaction (LPI) is becoming a key problem that affects ignition. Here, multi-frequency modulation (Multi-FM) smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD), continuous phase plate (CPP) and polarization smoothing (PS) were experimentally studied and equipped on SG-III laser facility. After using these technologies, the focal spots of SG-III laser facility can be adjusted, controlled and repeated accurately. Experiments on SG-III laser facility indicate when the number of color cycles adopts 1, imposing SSD with 3.3 times diffraction limit (TDL) did not lead to pinhole closure in the spatial filters of the preamplifier and the main amplifier with 30-TDL pinhole size. The nonuniformity of the focal spots using Multi-FM SSD, CPP and PS drops to 0.18, comparing to 0.26 with CPP+SSD, and 0.84 with CPP and wedged lens. Polarization smoothing using flat birefringent plate in the convergent beam of final optics assembly (FOA) was studied.

Research of time fiducial and imaging VISAR laser for Shenguang-III laser facility

Time fiducial laser is an important tool for the precise measurement in high energy density physics experiments. The VISAR probe laser is also vital for shock wave diagnostics in ICF experiments. Here, time fiducial laser and VISAR light were generated from one source on SG-III laser facility. After generated from a 1064-nm DFB laser, the laser is modulated by an amplitude modulator driven by 10 GS/s arbitrary waveform generator. Using time division multiplexing technology, the ten-pulse time fiducial laser and the 20-ns VISAR pulse were split by a 1×2 multiplexer and then chosen by two acoustic optic modulators. Using the technique, cost of the system was reduced. The technologies adopted in the system also include pulse polarization stabilization, high precision fiber coupling and energy transmission. The time fiducial laser generated synchronized 12-beam 2ω and 4-beam 3ω laser, providing important reference marks for different detectors and making it convenient for the analysis of diagnostic data. After being amplified by fiber amplifiers and Nd:YAG rod amplifiers, the VISAR laser pulse was frequency-converted to 532-nm pulse by a thermally controlled LBO crystal with final output energy larger than 20 mJ. Finally, the green light was coupled into a 1-mm core diameter, multimode fused silica optical fiber and propagated to the imaging VISAR. The VISAR laser has been used in the VISAR diagnostic physics experiments. Shock wave loading and slowdown processes were measured. Function to measure velocity history of shock wave front movement in different kinds of materials was added to the SG-III laser facility.

Research of beam conditioning technologies on SG-III laser facility

Multi-FM SSD and CPP was experimentally studied in high fluence and will be equipped on all the beams of SG-III laser facility. The output spectrum of the cascade phase modulators are stable and the residual amplitude modulation is small. FM-to-AM effect caused by free-space propagation after using smoothing by spectral dispersion is theoretically analyzed. Results indicate inserting a dispersion grating in places with larger beam aperture could alleviate the FM-to- AM effect, suggesting minimizing free-space propagation and adopting image relay. Experiments taken on SG-III laser facility indicate when the number of color cycles (Nc) adopts 1, imposing of SSD with 3.3 times diffraction limit (TDL) did not lead to pinhole closure in the spatial filters of the preamplifier and main amplifier with 30-TDL pinhole size. The nonuniformity of the focal spot using Multi-FM SSD and CPP drops to 0.26, comparing to 0.84 only using CPP. The experiments solve some key technical problems using SSD and CPP on SG-III laser facility, and provide a flexible platform for laser-plasma interaction experiments. Combined beam smoothing and polarization smoothing are also analyzed. Simulation results indicate through adjusting dispersion directions of one-dimensional SSD beams in a quad, two-dimensional SSD could be obtained. The near field and far field properties of beams using polarization smoothing were also studied, including birefringent wedge and polarization control plate (PCP). By using PCP, cylindrical vector beams could be obtained. New solutions will be provided to solve the LPI problem encountered in indirect drive laser fusion.

Research on 2x1 plasma electrode electro-optical switch with large aperture

In conceptual design of the prototype for SG-III facility, a full aperture electro-optical switch was placed between the cavity mirror and the main amplifier to isolate the reflected beams. The beam on the cavity mirror is 240mm×240mm square. Pockells cells of conversional design with coaxial ring electrodes can not scale to such large square aperture. In the 1980s, a plasma electrode Pockels cell (PEPC) concept was invented at LLNL. It uses transparent plasma electrode formed through gas discharge as the electrodes to apply the voltage across switching crystal to rotate the polarization of a transmitted laser beam. And it can be scaled to large aperture with thin crystal. So the switch which would be used in SG-III is based on this technology. The technical integration line as a prototype of SG-III laser is actually a 4×2 beam bundle. And the full aperture optical switch is mechanically designed four apertures as a removable unit, and electrically two 2×1 PEPC putting together. So we built a 2×1 PEPC to develop the technology first. The 2×1 PEPC is a sandwich structure made of an insulating mid plane between a pair of plasma chambers. The frame of both plasma chambers are machining in duralumin. Each chamber is installed with a planar magnetic cathode and four segments spherical anodes made from stainless steel. The cathode and anode are insulated from the housing with a special shell made from plastic, and plasma is insulated from the housing by an 80-μm-thick anodic coating on the duralumin. The two plasma chambers are separated by a mid plane of glass frame with two square holes. The two holes are filled by two electro-optical crystals with a 240-mm square aperture. With the optimized operating pressure and the electrical parameters, a very good homogeneity and low resistivity plasma electrode is obtained. Finally we tested its switching performance to simulate the case that it will be used in the SG-III prototype facility. It works with a quarter wave delay voltage and the laser beam passes through PEPC twice. The average switching efficiency across the entire aperture is greater than 98.6%, the rising time of the switch is about 83ns, and the transmission of the switch is 86%.