The generation of unwanted higher-order Raman effects is the main factor restricting the power scaling of Raman fiber amplifiers (RFAs). This phenomenon arises from an interplay of physical processes, including stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), four-wave mixing (FWM), and the intricate temporal and spectral dynamics. Tapered fibers have demonstrated excellent nonlinear effects suppression characteristics due to the varying core diameter along the fiber, which is widely used in ytterbium-doped fiber lasers. In this paper, a comprehensive numerical investigation is conducted on the core-pumping tapered fiber RFAs considering Raman-assisted FWM. The higher-order Raman power in the tapered fiber is always kept at a low level, showing a weak Raman-assisted FWM effect. A numerical investigation is conducted to study the impact of the tapering ratio, the lengths of the thin part, tapered region, and thick part on the higher-order Raman threshold of RFAs. Furthermore, the impact of phase mismatch variations caused by changes in the seed wavelength, on the output signal power and nonlinear effects is analyzed. This paper presents, for the first time, a study on core-pumped RFAs using tapered fibers, providing a novel perspective on enhancing the power of RFAs.
Read full abstract