Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Configuration Research Articles

10 W, 2 mJ-level ns all-fiber amplifier at 2.8 µm.

In this Letter, we demonstrate a single-stage erbium-doped fluoride fiber amplifier composed of two spliced large core fibers with respective diameters of 85 and 130 µm. An optical parametric generator (OPG) operating at a 5 kHz repetition rate, and providing ∼2 ns pulse duration, and an average output power of 500 mW at a wavelength of 2.8 µm was used as a seed source. This nanosecond amplifier configuration achieved an average output power of 10 W with a record pulse energy of 2 mJ, corresponding to 1 MW of output peak power. The maximum slope efficiency of this hybrid amplifier is 21% with respect to the total incident pump power at 940 nm. The presented master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) configuration shows its potential for further power and energy scaling.

145 W single-frequency fiber laser at 1607 nm with the seed and MOPA configuration

In this paper, high Er3+ concentration erbium doped fiber (EDF) and erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber (EYDF) were fabricated for the seed and master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system of the single-frequency fiber laser. An in-band pumping source with the wavelength of 1535 nm was proposed to improve the efficiency in the ring-cavity. A slope efficiency of 23.8% with an output power of 49 mW was achieved and the laser linewidth was measured to be 800 Hz. In the MOPA system, a piece of EYDF was used firstly to absorb the backward 1 µm amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and amplified the signal from the seed. Based on the above methods, an output power of 145 W was achieved at 1607.75 nm. Because of the self-phase modulation, the laser linewidth was expanded to be 10.75 kHz at the output power of 132 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency and output power of the seed and the highest output power of the 1.6 µm single-frequency fiber laser.

Robust low-noise 795-nm single-frequency fiber laser with continuous frequency tuning

This study presents a highly efficient and low-noise all-fiber single-frequency (SF) 795-nm laser system realized using a simple and robust single-pass frequency-doubling configuration. The foundation of the system is a 1590-nm erbium-doped fiber amplifier operating in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration seeded by a distributed feedback semiconductor laser at 1590.52 nm. The main amplifier exhibits an exceptional amplification efficiency of 30.5 %. By utilizing a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide, the 795-nm laser is frequency-doubled with an output power reaching 2.3 W, corresponding to an optical efficiency of 44 % of the fundamental laser. Crucial to its application in precision measurements and quantum technologies, the SF 795-nm laser exhibits a relative intensity noise close to −150 dBc/Hz in the frequency range of 0.1 to 10 MHz. Additionally, a continuous frequency-tuning range of 11.7 GHz is achieved by modulating the current with a 2.5-mA 1-Hz triangular wave. Notably, this is the first report on an all-fiber SF 795-nm laser system.

All fiber single frequency pulsed Yb doped laser source scaling up to 600 uJ at 1 kHz

An all-fiber based high energy single frequency pulsed laser at 1030 nm with fixed repetition rate of 1 kHz was demonstrated. The system adopts a master oscillator power amplifier configuration. In the main amplification stage, we employed a highly doped, very large core diameter of 50 μm YDF fiber as the laser gain media. 670 μJ, 500 ns pulse train was obtained, corresponding to a peak power of 1.34 kW. Such a high-peak-power and high-repetition-rate SF source is well suited for long range coherent imaging, optical remote sensing, and coherent interferometry, etc.

Pulse-shaped high-energy and high-average-power fiber laser in the nanosecond regime.

A high-energy and high-average-power pulsed fiber laser has been investigated in a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration seeding with a diode laser at a programmed pulse duration of ∼250ns. The fiber amplifier successfully demonstrates the pulse with 21.4 mJ at the repetition rate of 50 kHz and a maximum average output power of 1535 W with a slope efficiency of 81.6% at 250 kHz. To overcome fiber nonlinearities such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and self-phase modulation (SPM), extra-large mode area ytterbium (Yb)-doped step-index dual cladding fiber has been utilized as gain fiber in the MOPA laser system. The gain saturation effect in the power amplifier was greatly mitigated by the programmed seed signal. This pulse-shaped MOPA system can provide practical applications in many fields such as laser cleaning, paint stripping, and other applications requiring special pulse shapes.

Er/Yb co-doped 345-W all-fiber laser at 1535 nm using hybrid fiber.

The 1.5-µm fiber laser is widely used in the fields of laser lidar, remote sensing, and gas monitoring because of its advantages of being eye-safe and exhibiting low atmospheric transmission loss. However, due to the ∼1-µm amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the Er/Yb co-doped fiber (EYDF), it is difficult to improve the laser power. Here, we simulated the effect of the Er3+ concentration and the seed power on ∼1-µm ASE, and fabricated a large mode area EYDF by the modified chemical vapor deposition process. Additionally, a piece of ytterbium-doped fiber was introduced into the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration to absorb the generated ∼1-µm ASE simultaneously. Experimental results show that an output power of 345 W with a slope efficiency of 43% at 1535 nm is obtained in an all-fiber configuration, profiting from effective suppression of ∼ 1-µm ASE. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power available with an Er/Yb co-doped fiber from an all-fiber MOPA configuration.

A 2 kW, 8 GHz-Linewidth Yb-Doped Polarization-Maintained Fiber Laser with Quasi-Flat-Top Pseudo Random Binary Sequence Phase Modulation for SBS Suppression.

We demonstrated a narrow-linewidth high-power Yb-doped polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber laser with near-diffraction-limited beam. The laser system consisted of a phase-modulated single-frequency seed source and four-stage amplifiers in the master oscillator power amplifier configuration. A quasi-flat-top pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) phase-modulated single-frequency laser with a linewidth of 8 GHz was injected into the amplifiers for suppressing stimulated Brillouin scattering. The quasi-flat-top PRBS signal was readily generated from the conventional PRBS signal. The maximum output power was 2.01 kW with polarization extinction ratio (PER) of ~15 dB. The beam quality (M2) was less than 1.3 over the power scaling range.

Researching and integrating colour laser marking system on a metal surface using high power fiber laser with MOPA configuration

This paper presents the results of research and fabrication of a colour laser marking device on metal surfaces using a high-power fiber laser with a MOPA (Master oscillator power amplifier) configuration by intergrating semi-finished modules. Using our manufactured colour laser marking device, the effects of laser parameters such as laser power, laser pulse repetition frequency, beam scanning speed, line width on forming colour process have been researched and evaluated explicitly to provide the optimal set of parameters for the colours on each specific stainless steel and titanium metal.

Thermal lensing in copper vapor laser oscillator-amplifier configuration: Its measurement, role and compensation

A novel technique to measure the resultant focal length of the thermal lens in an amplifier using collimated beam of the oscillator for copper vapour laser system demonstrated. The resultant focal length was estimated using ray tracing approach in a 40 W system (CVL-40). Effect of input electrical power and neon buffer gas pressure on the resultant focal length was studied. Role of equivalent thermal lens in master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration was evaluated. Compensation techniques for minimization of the thermal lensing effect for a MOPA chain were theoretically studied using ray tracing in an equivalent lensing model. Compensation of thermal lensing for an eight module MOPA chain with CVL-40 (38 mm bore, 1.8 m long, 40 W, 9 kHz) systems studied. An eight-module MOPA chain configuration with minimized thermal lensing based on optimized compensation techniques is proposed. Our study finds benefits for high power laser systems used in various industrial, research and development applications like micromachining, high speed photography, bio-medical applications and pumping dye lasers for spectroscopy.

Effect of the seed power spectral density on spectral broadening in kW-level narrow-linewidth fiber amplifiers

Narrow-linewidth high-power fiber amplifiers are demanded in the spectral beam combining technique for power scaling. This article has experimentally studied the seed power spectral density (PSD) effect on the spectral broadening in all-fiber high-power narrow-linewidth fiber amplifier based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) structure. It was found that the spectral bandwidth of the amplifier output reduces by increasing the PSD of the seed source. During the experiments, a ytterbium-doped fiber (YDF) amplifier was injected by three seed sources with the PSDs of 1.27 W/pm, 1.5 W/pm and 1.8 W/pm to scale up the seed power. After amplification, the resultant 3-dB spectral bandwidth of the amplifier was measured to be 88 pm, 61 pm, and 41 pm, respectively, at kW-level power. Meanwhile, we developed a 990 W fiber amplifier with a 3-dB spectral bandwidth of 41 pm; the narrowest spectrum achieved using a simple FBG-based master oscillator power amplifier configuration at this power level.

Experimental investigation on a hundred-Watt monolithic fiber laser operating near 980 nm with 20/125-μm double-cladding Yb-doped fiber

• A hundred-Watt 980-nm MOPA fiber laser is demonstrated with the 20/125-μm DCYF. • In-band ASE limits the power up-scaling of the MOPA fiber laser. • Increasing seed power is beneficial to suppress the in-band ASE. • Split-step seed loading method is presented, with which 109-W output power is achieved. • The fiber laser provides a cost-effective solution for high-power core-pumping source. In this paper, a hundred-watt monolithic fiber laser operating near 980 nm is demonstrated by using a double-cladding Yb-doped fiber (DCYF) with 20-μm core and 125-μm inner-cladding diameter. The fiber laser is fabricated with the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration to scale up the output power. In our experiment, it is found that the power scalability of the fiber laser is limited by the in-band amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) which can be effectively suppressed by increasing the seed power. Then, with the split-step seed loading method, 109-W output power around 980 nm has been achieved with in-band and 1030-nm ASE suppressed to 17.1 and 40.6 dB, respectively. The beam quality has also been measured, and the M 2 factor is about 1.9 at the maximum output power. Our work provides a cost-effective solution to achieve hundred-Watt fiber lasers operating near 980 nm.

3.96 kW All-Fiberized Linearly Polarized and Narrow Linewidth Fiber Laser with Near-Diffraction-Limited Beam Quality.

In this paper, we realize a 3.96 kW all-fiberized and polarization-maintained (PM) amplifier with narrow linewidth and near-diffraction-limited beam quality. Based on a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration seeded with phase-modulated single-frequency laser, a 3.96 kW signal laser is achieved with a 3 dB linewidth of 0.62 nm at the pump power of 5.02 kW. At the maximum output power, the polarization extinction ratio (PER) is ~13.9 dB, and the beam quality (M2 factor) is M2x = 1.31, M2y = 1.41. As far as we know, this is the maximum output power of PM narrow linewidth fiber laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality and all-fiber format.

20 watt-level single transverse mode narrow linewidth and tunable random fiber laser at 1.5 µm band.

High power 1.5 µm band fiber lasers are of great importance for many practical applications. Generally, the technical targets including high average output power, narrow linewidth, temporally suppressed intensity dynamics, high spectral purity, single transverse mode lasing, and excellent robustness are the major concerns when constructing a high-performance laser source. Here, we demonstrate the highest output power of a wavelength tunable 1.5 µm band random fiber laser based on the active fiber gain mechanism to the best of our knowledge. A master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) configuration is employed to greatly boost the output power to 20 watt-level with a single transverse mode lasing and the same linewidth as the seed, benefiting from the spectral broadening free feature when employing the random fiber laser as the seed. This work not only enriches the progress of random fiber laser, but also provides an attractive alternative in realizing high performance lasing light source at 1.5 µm band.

3 kW power-level all-fiberized superfluorescent fiber source with linear polarization and near-diffraction-limited beam quality.

In this paper, we demonstrate a high-power linearly polarized all-fiberized superfluorescent fiber source (SFS) with near-diffraction-limited beam quality. The laser system is based on a master oscillator power amplifier configuration, which mainly consists of a polarization-maintained (PM) broadband SFS and multistage PM fiber amplifiers. A linearly polarized fiber laser over 3 kW is obtained at a pump power of about 4.3 kW with the corresponding slope efficiency of 71.9%. The polarization extinction ratio and the beam quality (M2 factor) of the output laser are about 12.7 dB and 1.18, respectively, at the maximum output power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of a linearly polarized broadband SFS with near-diffraction-limited beam quality.

Optical Feedback Generated by Tapered Amplifiers Emitting at 1120 nm

In this work the optical feedback generated by a tapered amplifier (TPA) emitting at 1120 nm is characterized at different operational conditions. The TPA is operated in a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration, while the influence of pump current or seed power on the emitted feedback is investigated. Measurements are also performed with the TPA exposed to defined external optical feedback. For an estimation of the feedback from the TPA a simple formula is derived and the calculations are compared to the measurement results. With the experimental and theoretical results the required feedback resistance of the master oscillator seed source can be defined and the MOPA system optimized for certain applications with unwanted optical feedback.

1.5-kW all-fiberized Yb-doped MOPA laser at 1105 nm with near-diffraction-limited beam quality and narrow spectral width

We demonstrate an all-fiberized ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) at 1104.9 nm with a high optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) by using ytterbium gain purely. The system is built based on FBG-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration, producing 1.5-kW power with a near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M2∼1.4) and a narrow spectral linewidth (FWHM∼70 GHz). The OSNR is ∼33 dB. A theoretical model is developed to calculate the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in the final amplifier. Both the calculated and experimental results suggest that the ASE or even parasitic lasing is the primary limitation for further power scaling. To the best of our knowledge, in >1100 nm wavelength range, this is the highest output power narrow spectral YDFL (with <100 GHz 3-dB spectral width) by using FBG-based MOPA configuration.

Gain-switched watt-level thulium-doped fiber laser and amplifier operating at 1.7 μm

Abstract A 1.7 μm gain-switched thulium-doped all-fiber laser with a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration, utilizing a bandpass fiber filter and a 1550 nm erbium/ytterbium-codoped fiber MOPA, is demonstrated. The influences of pump pulse parameters (repetition rate and pulse duration) and laser cavity structures (ring and linear) on the laser performances were experimentally investigated. To the best of our knowledge, the power quenching and drop were observed in the 1.7 μm gain-switched thulium-doped fiber lasers for the first time, resulting from the mode-locked-resembling operation and nonlinear effects. Moreover, the fiber ring-cavity laser was more stable than the linear-cavity laser in the time domain and power. Finally, a laser with a maximum average power of 1.687 W, a slope efficiency of 19.7%, a single-pulse energy of 16.87 μJ, a pulse width of 425 ns, a repetition rate of 100 kHz and a peak power of 39.69 W was obtained.

316 W high-brightness narrow-linewidth linearly-polarized all-fiber single-frequency laser at 1950 nm

Based on a three-cascaded all-fiber master oscillator power-amplifier configuration, a 1950 nm high-brightness narrow-linewidth linearly-polarized single-frequency fiber laser with an output power of 316 W and a laser linewidth of 8.4 kHz is demonstrated experimentally. With the employment of a square-coiling fiber scheme with round corners and a 20/300 μm-core/cladding polarization-maintaining Tm3+-doped double-cladding fiber, the bending loss of LP11 mode is improved, thus leading the good beam quality, Mx 2 = 1.19 and My 2 = 1.17, herein. Additionally, a polarization-extinction ratio of 17.1 dB and an optical signal-to-noise ratio of >63 dB separately confirm good maintenance of linear polarization and adequate suppression of amplified spontaneous emission in the power amplification.

3.5 kW narrow-linewidth monolithic fiber amplifier at 1064 nm by employing a confined doping fiber

A high-power monolithic continuous-wave fiber amplifier at 1064 nm has been demonstrated based on a piece of confined ytterbium-doped fiber, which generated 3.5 kW narrow-linewidth laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality. By tailoring the diameter of gain dopant across the fiber core, and optimizing the profile of refractive index and doping concentration, the confined doping fiber works making the fundamental mode more dominant in transverse mode competition, while suppressing the high-order mode. In a kilowatt-level narrow-linewidth fiber master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system, the threshold of mode instability (MI) is about 2.2 times as much as that of the conventional fiber amplifier. Then, by increasing seed power and utilizing a MOPA configuration with four amplifier stages, up to 3.57 kW signal output, a slope efficiency of 61% without any sign of MI or stimulated Raman scattering for a spectral dynamic range of higher than − 50 d B is obtained. A further increase of the output power was only limited by the available laser-diode pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest narrow-linewidth laser power generated from the confined doping monolithic fiber amplifier.

16.3 W Peak-Power Pulsed All-Diode Laser Based Multi-Wavelength Master-Oscillator Power-Amplifier System at 964 nm

An all-diode laser-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration for the generation of ns-pulses with high peak power, stable wavelength and small spectral line width is presented. The MOPA emits alternating at two wavelengths in the spectral range between 964 nm and 968 nm, suitable for the detection of water vapor by absorption spectroscopy. The monolithic master oscillator (MO) consists of two slightly detuned distributed feedback laser branches, whose emission is combined in a Y-coupler. The two emission wavelengths can be adjusted by varying the current or temperature to an absorption line and to a non-absorbing region. The power amplifier (PA) consists of a ridge-waveguide (RW) section and a tapered section, monolithically integrated within one chip. The RW section of the PA acts as an optical gate and converts the continuous wave input beam emitted by the MO into a sequence of short optical pulses, which are subsequently amplified by the tapered section to boost the output power. For a pulse width of 8 ns, a peak power of 16.3 W and a side mode suppression ratio of more than 37 dB are achieved at a repetition rate of 25 kHz. The measured spectral width of 10 pm, i.e., 0.1 cm−1, is limited by the resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer. The generated pulses emitting alternating at two wavelengths can be utilized in a differential absorption light detection and ranging system.