Power scaling of Raman fiber amplifier based on the optimization of temporal and spectral characteristics.

Abstract

We comprehensively study the effects of temporal and spectral optimization on single-mode Raman fiber amplifiers. Amplified spontaneous emission sources and ytterbium-doped fiber lasers are employed as seed or pump lasers for comparison, and passive fibers are utilized as gain media. The influences of various parameters of the laser on 2nd order Raman threshold and maximum output power are investigated experimentally, including bandwidth, seed power, wavelength separation between pump and seed laser, and temporal stability. With the 190 m passive fiber, the output power increases from 99.5 W to 142.4 W, corresponding to 43.1% improvement through the optimization of seed laser power, pump wavelength and temporal performance of pump source in this amplifier, which has guidance on the establishment of high-power single-mode Raman fiber amplifiers.