Super broadband light source: a promising master oscillator source for high brightness and high-power fiber amplifiers

Abstract

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and transverse mode instability (TMI) effects are crucial limitation factors for further power scaling of high-power fiber amplifiers with near-diffraction-limited beam quality. It is an important research direction to carry out laser system optimization from the perspective of seed construction. In this work, we experimentally investigated the impact of utilizing different seed lasers on the SRS and TMI characteristics in high power ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Both the phase modulated single frequency fiber laser (PMSFL), fiber oscillator laser (FOL), and superfluorescent fiber source (SFS) as a typical type of temporally stable broadband light source (SBLS) are employed as seed lasers. The experimental results indicated that the SRS intensity in the fiber amplifier is influenced by the properties of the seed laser source. Notably, the SRS threshold of the SBLS could be comparable to that of a low-noise PMSFL source. There is a significant increase in TMI threshold when employing SBLS as a seed laser in high-power fiber amplifiers, which is 3.86 times that of the injected seed laser with a 3 dB narrow linewidth of 0.74 nm. Considering the combined threshold characteristics of SRS and TMI, it can be found that SBLS is a promising master oscillator source for high brightness and high-power fiber amplifiers. Our work could provide a good reference for the selection of a master oscillator source, and we believe that it is an important direction to go beyond the power limitation of high-power fiber lasers by constructing a light source with broader spectral linewidth and temporal stability.