Experimental investigation of high-power broadband all-fiber nanosecond superfluorescent source

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate a broadband nanosecond superfluorescent fiber source (ns-SFS) with an average power of several hundred watts and an adjustable repetition frequency of 25 kHz–100 kHz. To figure out a suitable active fiber length for ns-SFS seed, the impact of active fiber length on the output spectrum of SFS is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The results indicate an evident redshift in the central wavelength of output spectrum with increasing fiber length. By scaling the power of the ns-SFS seed employing three amplifier stages, the maximum average power and pulse energy are obtained with a value of 463 W, 17.6 mJ, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first demonstration of a broadband ns-SFS amplifier with output power exceeding hundred watt and pulse energy exceeding 10 mJ.