High-power Yb Research Articles

High power Yb 3+ -doped double clad fibre amplification at 1127 nm: 977 against 920 nm pumping comparison

A 1127 nm high power amplifier based on Yb3+-doped double clad fibre technology has been demonstrated. The achievable output power and gain are investigated in dependence on 920 and 977 nm pumping wavelengths, both theoretically and experimentally. A two-stage fibre amplifier architecture with amplified spontaneous emission filtering are required to obtain >30 dBm output power.

Sum frequency generation of synchronously-seeded, high-power Yb and Er fiber amplifiers in periodically poled KTP

Synchronous temporal seeding of single-mode, high-peak, and average-power Yb and Er fiber amplifiers allowed efficient, single-pass, sum frequency generation in periodically poled KTP. 3.5 W average power in the red, at 630 nm, is generated with Gaussian spatial beam quality.

Efficient magneto-optical trapping of a metastable helium gas

This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately 10 9 ) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.

Yb Fiber Laser Pumped Mid-IR Source Based on Difference Frequency Generation and Its Application to Ammonia Detection

A Yb fiber laser pumped cw narrow-linewidth tunable mid-IR source based on a difference frequency generation (DFG) in a periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) crystal for trace gas detection was demonstrated. A high power Yb fiber laser and a distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode were used as DFG pump sources. This source generates mid-IR at 3 µm with a power of ∼2.5 µW and a spectral linewidth of less than 30 MHz. A frequency tuning range of 300 GHz (10 cm-1) was obtained by varying the current and temperature of the DFB laser diode. A high-resolution NH3 absorption Doppler-broadened spectrum at 3295.4 cm-1 (3.0345 µm) was obtained at a cell pressure of 27 Pa from which a detection sensitivity of 24 ppm·m was estimated.

Dynamics and stabilization of a high power side-pumped Yb-doped double-clad fiber laser

We present an experimental study of the dynamics of a high power Yb 3+-doped double-clad fiber laser in various optical configurations operating in the 1.08 μm wavelength. The fiber is side-pumped with a high power laser diode using the V -groove technique. Different self-pulsing regimes are identified resulting from third-order nonlinear effects. The influence of the cavity losses on the dynamical behavior is also investigated. In addition, we show that the system is efficiently stabilized in a unidirectional ring cavity where Brillouin backscattering is suppressed.

Ytterbium solid-state lasers. The first decade

The spectroscopic and laser kinetic properties of the trivalent ytterbium ion in various solid-state media are reviewed. Contrasts between four- and quasi-three-level lasers (e.g., Nd:YAG versus Yb:YAG) are highlighted. Various architectures suitable for use in high-brightness high-power Yb:YAG lasers are examined, and achieved laser performance levels are summarized. The properties of alternative ytterbium-doped laser gain media are reviewed, and early laser results are cited.

Ultrawide tunable Er soliton fiber laser amplified in Yb-doped fiber

A Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled high-power Er-fiber soliton laser for seeding an efficient high-power Yb fiber femtosecond amplifier is demonstrated. The Raman-shifted and frequency-doubled Er-soliton laser is tunable from 1.00 to 1.070microm and produces bandwidth-limited 24-pJ pulses at a repetition rate of 50 MHz with a FWHM pulse width of 170 fs at 1.040microm . The Yb(3+) amplifier has a slope efficiency of 52% and generates 3-ps linearly chirped pulses with an average power of 0.8 W at 1.05microm . After pulse compression, 74-fs bandwidth-limited pulses with an average power of 0.4 W and a pulse energy of 8 nJ are generated.