Abstract
Yb:YAG single crystal fiber (SCF) amplifiers have recently drawn much attention in the field of amplification of ultra-short pulses. In this paper, we report on the use of SCF amplifiers for the amplification of cylindrically polarized laser beams, as such beams offer promising properties for numerous applications. While the amplification of cylindrically polarized beams is challenging with other amplifier designs due to thermally induced depolarization, we demonstrate the amplification of 32 W cylindrically polarized beams to an output power of 100 W. A measured degree of radial polarization after the SCF of about 95% indicates an excellent conservation of polarization.
Highlights
Laser beams with cylindrical polarization states, namely radial and azimuthal polarization, have gained remarkable attention in the last decade, as the axially symmetric polarization of such beams enhances many laser-based applications in different fields
In conclusion we have investigated the amplification of cw laser beams with different polarizations using a Yb:YAG single-crystal fiber amplifier in single-pass configuration
We have demonstrated that the polarization of a linearly polarized seed beam is well maintained with very low depolarization losses even at high power levels
Summary
Laser beams with cylindrical polarization states, namely radial and azimuthal polarization, have gained remarkable attention in the last decade, as the axially symmetric polarization of such beams enhances many laser-based applications in different fields. Being a „bulk“-crystal concept, thermally induced effects, e.g. thermal lensing and stress induced birefringence are to be expected with this concept at high power levels It is well known [18] that in the case of axially symmetric gain media, stress-induced birefringence [19, 20] leads to bi-focusing, meaning that the azimuthal and the radial polarization components of a beam traveling through the gain medium experience different focal lengths. In order to evaluate the suitability of the SCF concept for the amplification of high-power cylindrically polarized laser beams, we investigate the amplification of linearly, radially and azimuthally polarized cw seed laser beams
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