A route to high power continuous-wave generation around 1.7 µm has been explored using an Er-only doped LMA fiber laser for high brightness core pumping of a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL). The maximum output power of 47 W with a slope efficiency of 80% was achieved at 1726 nm which, to the author’s best knowledge, is the highest recorded power in this wavelength region from a TDFL. The motivation for an Er-only pump source is scalability; these results show that this configuration has significant potential for further power scaling towards hundred-watt class systems at 1.7 µm and beyond.
Laser and optical amplifier geometries may be split into categories such as rod and fiber. Rod gain media are susceptible to thermal effects at high power, whereas fiber suffer from detrimental non-linear effects due to their long length and small mode areas. Here we present an application of a hybrid architecture between the two geometries – the Thermally-Guiding Fiber-Rod (TGFR). The TGFR inherits the large mode area of the rod amplifier, the high surface area of a fiber, and exploits thermal lensing to guide modes.
We present a successful demonstration of amplification of a radially polarized mode using the TGFR. A 1030 nm continuous-wave radially polarized seed source of high purity and beam quality (M2=1.9±0.1) was constructed using thermal bifocussing in a Yb:YAG crystal to provide mode selection. This seed source was carefully focussed into the 300 µm core of a 10 cm long sample of commercially available triple-clad Yb-doped silica fiber in order to satisfy the thermal guidance condition and avoid waveguiding due to the refractive index step. The TGFR was pumped using a high power 915 nm diode laser.
The radially polarized mode was preserved through transmission of the TGFR. The output beam polarization was maintained at 99.1% purity while the M2 factor was measured to be 2.1±0.1. The maximum output power was 12.6 W of radially polarized light, corresponding to a gain of 7.0 dB limited by available pump power. This promising geometry the potential for further power scaling of radially-polarized beams for application in laser processing.
There are a number of spectral features around 1700 nm which are very attractive to the laser community. Strong C-H bond absorption and moderate water absorption lend this region to many applications such as polymer processing and laser surgery. Despite being a growing area of interest, development of high-power, laser sources in this region is quite challenging. Here we present preliminary results of in-band pumping a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) with erbium-only doped fiber laser (EDFL) to generate 1700 nm
Erbium-only was chosen to avoid the power scaling limitations of co-doping with ytterbium. Parasitic lasing on the ytterbium band at 1030 nm results in efficiency roll-off and self-pulsing. Because of this, single-mode Er/Yb laser systems are generally limited to moderate powers of ~20W and reliability remains an issue.
An in-house double-clad large mode-area fiber, with a fundamental mode-field diameter of 20 um, was cladding pumped at 975 nm. Maximum power at 90 W launched was 31 W and the slope efficiency was 44.2% (35.4%) with respect to absorbed (launched) pump power. Suitability for high-brightness core pumping of a TDFL was confirmed with an M2 measurement of 1.1 ± 0.1.
For 1700 nm generation, the 1580 nm pump light was free-space coupled into an in-house TDF (0.2 wt.% dopant concentration). For a maximum launched power of 23 W, 15 W of 1726 nm output was generated with a slope efficiency of 67.1% (64.7%) with respect to absorbed (launched). To the author’s best knowledge, this is the highest recorded power in this wavelength region from a TDFL.
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