Multispot fiber laser welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schutt Hansen, Klaus

This dissertation presents work and results achieved in the field of multi beam fiber laser welding. The project has had a practical approach, in which simulations and modelling have been kept at a minimum. Different methods to produce spot patterns with high power single mode fiber lasers have...... been examined and evaluated. It is found that both diamond turned DOE’s in zinc sulphide and multilevel etched DOE’s (Diffractive Optical Elements) in fused silica have a good performance. Welding with multiple beams in a butt joint configuration has been tested. Results are presented, showing it has...... been possible to control the welding width in incremental steps by adding more beams in a row. The laser power was used to independently control the keyhole and consequently the depth of fusion. An example of inline repair of a laser weld in butt joint configuration was examined. Zinc powder was placed...

Rare-earth-doped fluorozirconate fiber lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brierly, M.C.; France, P.W.; Moore, M.W.; Davey, S.T.

1988-01-01

Rare-earth-doped fiber lasers fabricated using silica-based fibers are rapidly becoming an established technology. Simultaneously, in the search for lower losses to achieve longer repeaterless communications links, another fiber technology based on fluorozirconate glasses is emerging. Fluorozirconate glass systems are known to be suitable laser hosts, and the authors have already reported Nd-doped fiber lasers using this technology. Recently the authors have used a 0.5-m length of 44-μm core fluorozirconate fiber doped with 1000 ppm of Nd 3+ ions in a longitudinally pumped Fabry-Perot cavity with a 90% output coupler. They observed lasing at 1.05 μm with a threshold of 33-mW launched power at 514 nm and a slope efficiency of 16.8%. The authors attribute this improvement to the higher dopant concentration, better fiber to mirror coupling, and more optimum output coupler reflectivity. In addition the same fiber used with two high-reflector mirrors at 1.35μm produced lasing at 1.35μm with a threshold of 60-mW launched power

Silica Optical Fibers Doped with Nanoparticles for Fiber Lasers and Broadband Sources

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kašík, Ivan; Peterka, Pavel; Mrázek, Jan; Honzátko, Pavel

2016-01-01

Roč. 12, č. 3 (2016), s. 277-290 ISSN 1573-4137 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP13-37368P; GA ČR GA14-35256S Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Fiber laser * Ceramics * Nanocrystal Subject RIV: BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers Impact factor: 1.062, year: 2016

Effect of ionizing radiation on in situ Raman scattering and photoluminescence of silica optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilodeau, T.G.; Ewing, K.J.; Nau, G.M.; Aggarwal, I.D.

1995-01-01

Raman fiber optic chemical sensors provide remote situ characterization capability. One application of Raman fiber optic chemical sensors is the characterization of the contents of nuclear waste tanks. In these tanks it is expected that approximately 20 meters of optical fiber will be exposed to radiation levels between 100 and 1,000 rads/hour. In support of this work two silica optical fiber types (one a communications grade fiber and the other nominally radiation resistant) have been tested at the radiation levels expected in the tanks. Luminescence and Raman scattering measurements have been performed in situ with 488-nm excitation on two types of silica optical fiber exposed to a constant low to moderate dose rate of gamma radiation of 880 rads(Si)/hour from a 60 Co source for a total dose of greater than 45 krads. The nominally radiation-resistant fiber was also excited with 514.5-nm and near-infrared 830-nm laser radiation. The rate of the silica Raman signal decrease is more than three times greater for the visible excitation wavelengths than for the 830-nm excitation for the radiation resistant fiber. The behavior of the 650-nm photoluminescence line upon irradiation was different for the two fibers studied, both in terms of the shift of the 650-nm line and rate of increase of the normalized photoluminescence intensity. In all cases the photoluminescence from the fibers was less than the Raman intensity. No radioluminescence was observed in either fiber. The radiation resistant fiber exhibited photo bleaching effects on the Raman transmission when photoannealed with 488-nm laser light

Effect of ionizing radiation on in situ Raman scattering and photoluminescence of silica optical fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Bilodeau, T. G.; Ewing, K. J.; Nau, G. M.; Aggarwai, I. D.

1995-02-01

Raman fiber optic chemical sensors provide remote in situ characterization capability. One application of Raman fiber optic chemical sensors is the characterization of the contents of nuclear waste tanks. In these tanks it is expected that approximately 20 meters of optical fiber will be exposed to radiation levels between 100 and 1000 rads/hour. In support of this work two silica optical fiber types (one a communications grade fiber and the other nominally radiation resistant) have been tested at the radiation levels expected in the tanks. Luminescence and Raman scattering measurements have been performed in situ with 488-nm excitation on two types of silica optical fiber exposed to a constant low to moderate dose rate of gamma radiation of 880 rads(Si)/hour from a /sup 60/Co source for a total dose of greater than 45 krads. The nominally radiation-resistant fiber was also excited with 514.5-nm and near-infrared 830-nm laser radiation. The rate of the silica Raman signal decrease is more than three times greater for the visible excitation wavelengths than for the 830-nm excitation for the radiation resistant fiber. The behavior of the 650-nm photoluminescence line upon irradiation was different for the two fibers studied, both in terms of the shift of the 650-nm line and rate of increase of the normalized photoluminescence intensity. In all cases the photoluminescence from the fibers was less than the Raman intensity. No radioluminescence was observed in either fiber. The radiation resistant fiber exhibited photobleaching effects on the Raman transmission when photoannealed with 488-nm laser light.

Optical Fiber Sensing Based on Reflection Laser Spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianluca Gagliardi

2010-03-01

Full Text Available An overview on high-resolution and fast interrogation of optical-fiber sensors relying on laser reflection spectroscopy is given. Fiber Bragg-gratings (FBGs and FBG resonators built in fibers of different types are used for strain, temperature and acceleration measurements using heterodyne-detection and optical frequency-locking techniques. Silica fiber-ring cavities are used for chemical sensing based on evanescent-wave spectroscopy. Various arrangements for signal recovery and noise reduction, as an extension of most typical spectroscopic techniques, are illustrated and results on detection performances are presented.

Hollow Core Optical Fiber Gas Lasers: Toward Novel and Practical Systems in Fused Silica

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-18

Hollow core Optically pumped Fiber Gas LASer’s (HOFGLAS’s) based on population inversion combine advantages of fiber lasers such as long interaction...polarization dependent fiber properties. Preliminary experiments were performed toward simultaneous lasing in the visible and near infrared; lasing in...words) Hollow core Optically pumped Fiber Gas LASer’s (HOFGLAS’s) based on population inversion combine advantages of fiber lasers such as long

Low-concentrated solar-pumped laser via transverse excitation fiber-laser geometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Masuda, Taizo; Iyoda, Mitsuhiro; Yasumatsu, Yuta; Endo, Masamori

2017-09-01

We demonstrate an extremely low-concentrated solar-pumped laser (SPL) using a fiber laser with transverse excitation geometry. A low concentration factor is highly desired in SPLs to eliminate the need for precise solar tracking and to considerably increase the practical applications of SPL technology. In this Letter, we have exploited the intrinsic low-loss property of silica fibers to compensate for the extremely low gain coefficient of the weakly pumped active medium. A 40 m long Nd 3+ -doped fiber coil is packed in a ring-shaped chamber filled with a sensitizer solution. We demonstrated a lasing threshold that is 15 times the concentration of natural sunlight and two orders of magnitude smaller than those of conventional SPLs.

Fabrication and optical characterization of silica optical fibers containing gold nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Rafael E P; Sjödin, Niclas; Fokine, Michael; Margulis, Walter; de Matos, Christiano J S; Norin, Lars

2015-01-14

Gold nanoparticles have been used since antiquity for the production of red-colored glasses. More recently, it was determined that this color is caused by plasmon resonance, which additionally increases the material's nonlinear optical response, allowing for the improvement of numerous optical devices. Interest in silica fibers containing gold nanoparticles has increased recently, aiming at the integration of nonlinear devices with conventional optical fibers. However, fabrication is challenging due to the high temperatures required for silica processing and fibers with gold nanoparticles were solely demonstrated using sol-gel techniques. We show a new fabrication technique based on standard preform/fiber fabrication methods, where nanoparticles are nucleated by heat in a furnace or by laser exposure with unprecedented control over particle size, concentration, and distribution. Plasmon absorption peaks exceeding 800 dB m(-1) at 514-536 nm wavelengths were observed, indicating higher achievable nanoparticle concentrations than previously reported. The measured resonant nonlinear refractive index, (6.75 ± 0.55) × 10(-15) m(2) W(-1), represents an improvement of >50×.

Highly fluorescent silver nanoclusters in alumina-silica composite optical fiber

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Halder, A.; Chattopadhyay, R.; Majumder, S.; Paul, M. C.; Das, S.; Bhadra, S. K., E-mail: skbhadra@cgcri.res.in [Fiber Optics and Photonics Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India); Bysakh, S.; Unnikrishnan, M. [Material Characterization Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India)

2015-01-05

An efficient visible fluorescent optical fiber embedded with silver nanoclusters (Ag-NCs) having size ∼1 nm, uniformly distributed in alumina-silica composite core glass, is reported. Fibers are fabricated in a repetitive controlled way through modified chemical vapour deposition process associated with solution doping technique. Fibers are drawn from the transparent preforms by conventional fiber drawing process. Structural characteristics of the doped fibers are studied using transmission electron microscopy and electron probe micro analysis. The oxidation state of Ag within Ag-NCs is investigated by X-ray photo electron spectroscopy. The observed significant fluorescence of the metal clusters in fabricated fibers is correlated with electronic model. The experimentally observed size dependent absorption of the metal clusters in fabricated fibers is explained with the help of reported results calculated by ab-initio density functional theory. These optical fibers may open up an opportunity of realizing tunable wavelength fiber laser without the help of rare earth elements.

Mid-IR supercontinuum generation beyond 7 μm using a silica-fluoride-chalcogenide fiber cascade

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Christian Rosenberg; Moselund, Peter M.; Petersen, Christian

2016-01-01

and fluoride fibers by an amplified 1.55 μm nanosecond diode laser. By pumping a commercial Ge10As22Se68 single-material photonic crystal fiber with 135.7 mW of the pump continuum from 3.5- 4.4 μm, we obtained a continuum up to 7.2 μm with a total output power after the collimating lens of 54.5 mW, and 3.7 m......We report on an experimental demonstration of mid-infrared cascaded supercontinuum generation in commercial silica, fluoride, and chalcogenide fibers as a potentially cheap and practical alternative to direct pumping schemes. A pump continuum up to 4.4 μm was generated in cascaded silica...

Preparation and Characterization of Bragg Fibers for Delivery of Laser Radiation at 1064 nm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Matejec

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Bragg fibers offer new performance for transmission of high laser energies over long distances. In this paper theoretical modeling, preparation and characterization of Bragg fibers for delivery laser radiation at 1064 nm are presented. Investigated Bragg fibers consist of the fiber core with a refractive index equal to that of silica which is surrounded by three pairs of circular layers. Each pair is composed of one layer with a high and one layer with a low refractive index and characterized by a refractive-index difference around 0.03. Propagation constants and radiation losses of the fundamental mode in such a structure were calculated on the basis of waveguide optics. Preforms of the Bragg fibers were prepared by the MCVD method using germanium dioxide, phosphorous pentoxide and fluorine as silica dopants. The fibers with a diameter of 170 m were drawn from the preforms. Refractive-index profiles, angular distributions of the output power and optical losses of the prepared fibers were measured. Results of testing the fibers for delivery radiation of a pulse Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm are also shown.

Optical absorption of neutron-irradiated silica fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooke, D.W.; Farnum, E.H.; Bennett, B.L.

1996-01-01

Induced-loss spectra of silica-based optical fibers exposed to high (10 23 n-m -2 ) and low (10 21 n-m -2 ) fluences of neutrons at the Los Alamos Spallation Radiation Effects Facility (LASREF) have been measured. Two types of fibers consisting of a pure fused silica core with fluorine-doped (∼4 mole %) cladding were obtained from Fiberguide Industries and used in the as-received condition. Anhydroguide trademark and superguide trademark fibers contained less than 1 ppm, and 600 to 800 ppm of OH, respectively. The data suggest that presently available silica fibers can be used in plasma diagnostics, but the choice and suitability depends upon the spectral region of interest. Low-OH content fibers can be used for diagnostic purposes in the interval ∼800 to 1400 mn if the exposure is to high-fluence neutrons. For low-fluence neutron exposures, the low-OH content fibers are best suited for use in the interval ∼800 to 2000 nm, and the high-OH content fibers are the choice for the interval ∼400 to 800 nm

Photoluminescence properties of Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fiber based on atomic layer deposition method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, Jianxiang; Wang, Jie; Dong, Yanhua; Chen, Na; Luo, Yanhua; Peng, Gang-ding; Pang, Fufei; Chen, Zhenyi; Wang, Tingyun

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We report on a new fabrication method of producing Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers. • There are obvious Bi-type ions absorption peaks at 520, 700 and 800 nm. • The fluorescence peaks are 1130 and 1145 nm with 489 and 705 nm excitations, respectively. • Their fluorescence lifetimes are 701 and 721 μs, respectively. • And then there are obvious fluorescence bands in 600–850 and 900–1650 nm with 532 nm pump exciting. • There is a maximum fluorescence intensity peak at 1120 nm, and its full wave at half maximum (FWHM) is approximately 180 nm. • These may mainly result from the interaction between Bi and Al ions. • The Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers would be used in high power or broadly tunable laser sources, and optical fiber amplifier in the optical communication fields. - Abstract: The Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers are fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) doping technique combing with conventional modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process. Bi 2 O 3 and Al 2 O 3 are induced into silica optical fiber core layer by ALD technique, with Bis (2,2,6,6-tetra-methyl-3,5-heptanedionato) Bismuth(III) (Bi(thd) 3 ) and H 2 O as Bi and O precursors, and with Al(CH 3 ) 3 (TMA) as Al precursor, respectively. The structure features and optical properties of Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers are investigated. Bi 2 O 3 stoichiometry is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The valence state of Bi element is +3. Concentration distribution of Si, Ge and O elements is approximately 24–33, 9 and 66 mol%, respectively, in fiber preform core and cladding layer region. Bi and Al ions have been also slightly doped approximately 150–180 and 350–750 ppm in fiber preform core, respectively. Refractive index difference of the Bi/Al-codoped fiber is approximately 0.58% using optical fiber refractive index profiler analyzer. There are obvious Bi-type ions absorption peaks at 520, 700 and 800 nm. The fluorescence

Photoluminescence properties of Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fiber based on atomic layer deposition method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wen, Jianxiang, E-mail: wenjx@shu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Specialty Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Wang, Jie; Dong, Yanhua; Chen, Na [Key Laboratory of Specialty Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Luo, Yanhua; Peng, Gang-ding [Photonics & Optical Communications, School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW (Australia); Pang, Fufei; Chen, Zhenyi [Key Laboratory of Specialty Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Wang, Tingyun, E-mail: tywang@mail.shu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Specialty Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China)

2015-09-15

Highlights: • We report on a new fabrication method of producing Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers. • There are obvious Bi-type ions absorption peaks at 520, 700 and 800 nm. • The fluorescence peaks are 1130 and 1145 nm with 489 and 705 nm excitations, respectively. • Their fluorescence lifetimes are 701 and 721 μs, respectively. • And then there are obvious fluorescence bands in 600–850 and 900–1650 nm with 532 nm pump exciting. • There is a maximum fluorescence intensity peak at 1120 nm, and its full wave at half maximum (FWHM) is approximately 180 nm. • These may mainly result from the interaction between Bi and Al ions. • The Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers would be used in high power or broadly tunable laser sources, and optical fiber amplifier in the optical communication fields. - Abstract: The Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers are fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) doping technique combing with conventional modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process. Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} are induced into silica optical fiber core layer by ALD technique, with Bis (2,2,6,6-tetra-methyl-3,5-heptanedionato) Bismuth(III) (Bi(thd){sub 3}) and H{sub 2}O as Bi and O precursors, and with Al(CH{sub 3}){sub 3} (TMA) as Al precursor, respectively. The structure features and optical properties of Bi/Al-codoped silica optical fibers are investigated. Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} stoichiometry is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The valence state of Bi element is +3. Concentration distribution of Si, Ge and O elements is approximately 24–33, 9 and 66 mol%, respectively, in fiber preform core and cladding layer region. Bi and Al ions have been also slightly doped approximately 150–180 and 350–750 ppm in fiber preform core, respectively. Refractive index difference of the Bi/Al-codoped fiber is approximately 0.58% using optical fiber refractive index profiler analyzer. There are obvious Bi-type ions absorption

Comparison of in situ ionizing radiation effects on Raman and photoluminescence intensity of high OH, low OH silica, and fluoride core fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Bilodeau, T. G.; Ewing, K. J.; Nau, G. M.; Aggarwal, I. D.

1995-06-01

An in situ study of the effects of ionizing radiation on the strength of the Raman and photoluminescence signal of high OH, low OH, and fluoride core fibers has been performed with 514.5 nm laser excitation. The fibers were irradiated with a 60Co source at a constant dose rate of 560 rads/h. The high OH fiber displayed a much slower decay of the fiber Raman intensity than the other two fibers during irradiation. The fluoride fiber exhibited the quickest decline in Raman signal with the intensity dropping by a factor of 1000 in less than 20 min. The Raman intensity of the low OH silica fiber recovered to greater than 90% of its pre-irradiation value after a post-irradiation photoanneal with 488 nm laser light. The silica fibers displayed an increase in intensity of a broad photoluminescence feature centered at 650 nm. However the fiber photoluminescence intensity remained much weaker than the Raman intensity throughout the irradiations.

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in tapered ZBLAN fiber with a standard Erbium mode-locked fiber laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kubat, Irnis; Moselund, Peter M.; Bang, Ole

2013-01-01

to generate a broadband SC using direct pumping with commercially available Erbium (Er) mode-locked fiber lasers at 1550 nm. Formation of SC is manipulated both in the UV and IR by changing the fiber dispersion and nonlinearity using tapers. This has been much studied in various silica fiber designs...... and is now also becoming used in ZBLAN [2], and other soft glasses such as chalcogenide [3] and tellurite [4]. The aim of this nummerical work is to show how pumping tapered commercially available ZBLAN fibers with an Er mode-locked fiber laser can generate a broadband SC approaching the ZBLAN long....... commercially available), core diameter Dc=7 μm, and ZDW=1.5 μm, is pumped with TFWHM=10 ps and P0=10 kW pulses from an Er mode-locked laser with a 40 MHz repetition rate and 4W average power. The resulting MIR SC seen in Fig. 1(b) is based on Modulation Instability breakup of the pump pulse, which generates...

Optimized fiber delivery system for Q-switched, Nd:YAG lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Setchell, R.E.

1997-01-01

Interest in the transmission of high intensities through optical fibers is being motivated by an increasing number of applications. Using different laser types and fiber materials, various studies are encountering transmission limitations due to laser-induced damage processes. For a number of years we have been investigating these limiting processes during the transmission of Q-switched, multimode, Nd:YAG laser pulses through step-index, multimode, fused-silica fiber. We have found that fiber transmission is often limited by a plasma-forming breakdown occurring at the fiber entrance face. This breakdown can result in subtle surface modifications that leave the entrance face more resistant to further breakdown or damage events. Catastrophic fiber damage can also occur as a result of a variety of mechanisms, with damage appearing at fiber entrance and exit faces, within the initial entry segment of the fiber path, and at other internal sites due to fiber fixturing and routing effects. System attributes that will affect breakdown and damage thresholds include laser characteristics, the design and alignment of laser-to-fiber injection optics, and fiber end-face preparation. In the present work we have combined insights gained in past studies in order to establish what thresholds can be achieved if all system attributes can be optimized to some degree. Our multimode laser utilized past modifications that produced a relatively smooth, quasi-Gaussian profile. The laser-to-fiber injection system achieved a relatively low value for the ratio of peak-to-average fluences at the fiber entrance face, incorporated a mode scrambler to generate a broad mode power distribution within the initial segment of the fiber path, and had improved fixturing to insure that the fiber axis was collinear with the incident laser beam. Test fibers were from a particular production lot for which initial-strength characteristics were established and a high-stress proof test was performed

A higher-order-mode fiber delivery for Ti:Sapphire femtosecond lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jespersen, Kim Giessmann; Le, Tuan; Grüner-Nielsen, Lars Erik

2010-01-01

We report the first higher-order-mode fiber with anomalous dispersion at 800nm and demonstrate its potential in femtosecond pulse delivery for Ti:Sapphire femtosecond lasers. We obtain 125fs pulses after propagating a distance of 3.6 meters in solid-silica fiber. The pulses could be further...... compressed in a quartz rod to nearly chirp-free 110fs pulses. Femtosecond pulse delivery is achieved by launching the laser output directly into the delivery fiber without any pre-chirping of the input pulse. The demonstrated pulse delivery scheme suggests scaling to >20meters for pulse delivery in harsh...

Radiation resistance of GeO2-doped silica core optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibata, Shuichi; Nakahara, Motohiro; Omori, Yasuharu

1985-01-01

Effects of hlogen addition to silica glass on the loss in optical fibers are examined by using halogen-free, chlorine-containing and fluorine-containing GeO 2 -doped silica core optical fibers. Measurements are made for dependence of induced loss in these optical fibers on various factors such as wavelength and total dose of gamma radiation as well as GeO 2 content. Ultraviolet absorption spectra are also observed. In addition, effects of halogens added to pure silica fibers are considered on the basis of Raman spectra of three different optical fibers (pure, F-doped, and F- and GeO 2 -codoped silica core). Thus, it is concluded that (1) addition of halogens (F and Cl) serves to decrease GeO defects and Ge(3) defects in GeO 2 -doped silica optical fibers ; (2) addition of halogens suppresses the increase in loss in GeO 2 -doped silica optical fibers induced by gamma radiation ; and (3) there are close relations between the increase in loss induced by gamma radiation and defects originally existing in the fibers. Effects of halogens added to GeO 2 -doped and pure silica optical fibers can be explained on the basis of the latter relations. (Nogami, K.)

Bulk damage and absorption in fused silica due to high-power laser applications

Science.gov (United States)

Nürnberg, F.; Kühn, B.; Langner, A.; Altwein, M.; Schötz, G.; Takke, R.; Thomas, S.; Vydra, J.

2015-11-01

Laser fusion projects are heading for IR optics with high broadband transmission, high shock and temperature resistance, long laser durability, and best purity. For this application, fused silica is an excellent choice. The energy density threshold on IR laser optics is mainly influenced by the purity and homogeneity of the fused silica. The absorption behavior regarding the hydroxyl content was studied for various synthetic fused silica grades. The main absorption influenced by OH vibrational excitation leads to different IR attenuations for OH-rich and low-OH fused silica. Industrial laser systems aim for the maximum energy extraction possible. Heraeus Quarzglas developed an Yb-doped fused silica fiber to support this growing market. But the performance of laser welding and cutting systems is fundamentally limited by beam quality and stability of focus. Since absorption in the optical components of optical systems has a detrimental effect on the laser focus shift, the beam energy loss and the resulting heating has to be minimized both in the bulk materials and at the coated surfaces. In collaboration with a laser research institute, an optical finisher and end users, photo thermal absorption measurements on coated samples of different fused silica grades were performed to investigate the influence of basic material properties on the absorption level. High purity, synthetic fused silica is as well the material of choice for optical components designed for DUV applications (wavelength range 160 nm - 260 nm). For higher light intensities, e.g. provided by Excimer lasers, UV photons may generate defect centers that effect the optical properties during usage, resulting in an aging of the optical components (UV radiation damage). Powerful Excimer lasers require optical materials that can withstand photon energy close to the band gap and the high intensity of the short pulse length. The UV transmission loss is restricted to the DUV wavelength range below 300 nm and

Femtosecond laser direct-write of optofluidics in polymer-coated optical fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Kevin A. J.; Haque, Moez; Ho, Stephen; Aitchison, J. Stewart; Herman, Peter R.

2017-03-01

Multifunctional lab in fiber technology seeks to translate the accomplishments of optofluidic, lab on chip devices into silica fibers. a robust, flexible, and ubiquitous optical communication platform that can underpin the `Internet of Things' with distributed sensors, or enable lab on chip functions deep inside our bodies. Femtosecond lasers have driven significant advances in three-dimensional processing, enabling optical circuits, microfluidics, and micro-mechanical structures to be formed around the core of the fiber. However, such processing typically requires the stripping and recoating of the polymer buffer or jacket, increasing processing time and mechanically weakening the device. This paper reports on a comprehensive assessment of laser damage in urethane-acrylate-coated fiber. The results show a sufficient processing window is available for femtosecond laser processing of the fiber without damaging the polymer jacket. The fiber core, cladding, and buffer could be simultaneously processed without removal of the buffer jacket. Three-dimensional lab in fiber devices were successfully fabricated by distortion-free immersionlens focusing, presenting fiber-cladding optical circuits and progress towards chemically-etched channels, microfluidic cavities, and MEMS structure inside buffer-coated fiber.

High-efficiency ytterbium-free erbium-doped all-glass double cladding silicate glass fiber for resonantly-pumped fiber lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiang, Zexuan; Geng, Jihong; Luo, Tao; Zhang, Jun; Jiang, Shibin

2014-02-01

A highly efficient ytterbium-free erbium-doped silicate glass fiber has been developed for high-power fiber laser applications at an eye-safe wavelength near 1.55 μm. Our preliminary experiments show that high laser efficiency can be obtained from a relatively short length of the gain fiber when resonantly pumped at 1535 nm in both core- and cladding-pumping configurations. With a core-pumping configuration as high as 75%, optical-to-optical efficiency and 4 W output power were obtained at 1560 nm from a 1 m long gain fiber. When using a cladding-pumping configuration, approximately 13 W output power with 67.7% slope efficiency was demonstrated from a piece of 2 m long fiber. The lengths of silicate-based gain fiber are much shorter than their silica-based counterparts used in other experiments, which is significantly important for high-power narrow-band and/or pulsed laser applications.

Femtosecond laser fabrication of fiber based optofluidic platform for flow cytometry applications

Science.gov (United States)

Serhatlioglu, Murat; Elbuken, Caglar; Ortac, Bulend; Solmaz, Mehmet E.

2017-02-01

Miniaturized optofluidic platforms play an important role in bio-analysis, detection and diagnostic applications. The advantages of such miniaturized devices are extremely low sample requirement, low cost development and rapid analysis capabilities. Fused silica is advantageous for optofluidic systems due to properties such as being chemically inert, mechanically stable, and optically transparent to a wide spectrum of light. As a three dimensional manufacturing method, femtosecond laser scanning followed by chemical etching shows great potential to fabricate glass based optofluidic chips. In this study, we demonstrate fabrication of all-fiber based, optofluidic flow cytometer in fused silica glass by femtosecond laser machining. 3D particle focusing was achieved through a straightforward planar chip design with two separately fabricated fused silica glass slides thermally bonded together. Bioparticles in a fluid stream encounter with optical interrogation region specifically designed to allocate 405nm single mode fiber laser source and two multi-mode collection fibers for forward scattering (FSC) and side scattering (SSC) signals detection. Detected signal data collected with oscilloscope and post processed with MATLAB script file. We were able to count number of events over 4000events/sec, and achieve size distribution for 5.95μm monodisperse polystyrene beads using FSC and SSC signals. Our platform shows promise for optical and fluidic miniaturization of flow cytometry systems.

The radiation hardness of silica optical fiber used in the LED-fiber monitor of BLM and BESIII EMC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xue Zhen; Hu Tao; Fang Jian; Xu Zizong; Wang Xiaolian; Lü Junguang; Zhou Li; Cai Xiao; Yu Boxiang; Wang Zhigang; Sun Lijun; Sun Xilei; Zhang Aiwu

2012-01-01

LED-fiber system has been used to monitor BLM and BESIII EMC. A radiation hard silica optical fiber is essential for its stability and reliability. Three types of silica optical fibers, silicone-clad silica optical fiber with high OH - content (SeCS), silica-clad silica optical fiber with low OH - content (SCSL) and silica-clad silica opical fiber with high OH - content (SCSH) were studied. In the experiment, 12 groups of fiber samples were irradiated by 60 Co and 3 groups of fiber samples were irradiated by BEPCII background radiation. Radiation hardness: the radiation hardness of SCSH is best and meets the radiation hardness requirement for LED-fiber monitor of BLM and BESIII EMC. The transmission of SeCS and SCSH decreased to around 80% under the 60 Co-irradiation of 5 Gy and 10 Gy, respectively. The radiation hardness of SeCS is worst because of its silicone cladding. Recovery characteristics: 60 Co-irradiated by the same doses, there were both more annealable and more permanent color centers formed in SeCS than SCSL, and for the same kind of fibers, as long as the irradiated doses are under a certain amount (for example, less than 5 Gy for SeCS), the higher the doses, both the more annealable and the more permanent color centers are formed.

Preparation of thick silica coatings on carbon fibers with fine-structured silica nanotubes induced by a self-assembly process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Baumgärtner

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A facile method to coat carbon fibers with a silica shell is presented in this work. By immobilizing linear polyamines on the carbon fiber surface, the high catalytic activity of polyamines in the sol–gel-processing of silica precursors is used to deposit a silica coating directly on the fiber’s surface. The surface localization of the catalyst is achieved either by attaching short-chain polyamines (e.g., tetraethylenepentamine via covalent bonds to the carbon fiber surface or by depositing long-chain polyamines (e.g., linear poly(ethylenimine on the carbon fiber by weak non-covalent bonding. The long-chain polyamine self-assembles onto the carbon fiber substrate in the form of nanoscopic crystallites, which serve as a template for the subsequent silica deposition. The silicification at close to neutral pH is spatially restricted to the localized polyamine and consequently to the fiber surface. In case of the linear poly(ethylenimine, silica shells of several micrometers in thickness can be obtained and their morphology is easily controlled by a considerable number of synthesis parameters. A unique feature is the hierarchical biomimetic structure of the silica coating which surrounds the embedded carbon fiber by fibrillar and interconnected silica fine-structures. The high surface area of the nanostructured composite fiber may be exploited for catalytic applications and adsorption purposes.

Photonic bandgap fiber lasers and multicore fiber lasers for next generation high power lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shirakawa, A.; Chen, M.; Suzuki, Y.

2014-01-01

Photonic bandgap fiber lasers are realizing new laser spectra and nonlinearity mitigation that a conventional fiber laser cannot. Multicore fiber lasers are a promising tool for power scaling by coherent beam combination. © 2014 OSA....

Switchable multiwavelength fiber laser by using a compact in-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Qianwu; Zeng, Xianglong; Pang, Fufei; Wang, Min; Wang, Tingyun

2012-01-01

We propose a simple and compact method for implementing an in-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which is constructed with two optical paths, propagating through the core and the ring-shaped silica cladding modes in the double-cladding fibers. Strong cladding-mode resonance across the thin inner cladding is used to excite the cladding modes. The measured spectra fringe presents high-contrast interference from cascading a pair of well-overlapped resonant spectra dips. In combination with the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique, switchable and tunable multi-channel laser outputs are experimentally demonstrated with a fluctuation of less than 0.1 dB. (paper)

Bragg gratings in air-silica structured fibers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groothoff, N.; Canning, J.; Buckley, E.; Lyttikainen, K.; Zagari, J.

2003-01-01

We report on grating writing in air-silica structured optical fibers with pure silica cores by use of two-photon absorption at 193 nm. A decrease in propagation loss with irradiation was observed. The characteristic growth curves were obtained. © 2003 Optical Society of America.

Proton irradiation effects on optical attenuation in doped- and pure-silica fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakasai, Kaoru; Bueker, H.; Haesing, F.W.; Pfeiffer, F.

1999-05-01

Optical attenuation in doped- and pure-silica fibers was measured at wavelengths of 470 nm, 660 nm, and 850 nm during and after 20 MeV proton irradiation. In the experiment the fibers were arranged on a holder to make one layer' so that uniform proton irradiation can be achieved to them. The induced loss of the doped-silica fiber increased strongly at the beginning of the first irradiation, and decreased slowly after stopping of the beam. In the second irradiation, however, the developed loss was not so large. On the other hand, the loss of the pure-silica fiber increased gradually in the first irradiation, and decreased very quickly after the beam stopped. The loss increased stepwise at the very beginning of the second irradiation. Small luminescence from the fibers during irradiation was observed also. The luminescence of the pure-silica fiber was slightly larger than that of the doped-silica fiber. The induced loss of HCP fibers was also measured when a SiO 2 plate was set in front of the fibers. It may be possible to estimate the proton dose in materials using fiber-optic technique. Proton sensitivities of doped- and pure-silica fibers were, respectively, 1.0 x 10 -10 at 660 nm and 5.5 x 10 -12 at 470 nm in units of (dB/m)/(protons/cm 2 ), where the values were estimated from the slope of the loss growth curves at the beginning of the first irradiation. (author)

Record power, ultra-broadband supercontinuum source based on highly GeO2 doped silica fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jain, Deepak; Sidharthan, R.; Moselund, Peter M.

2016-01-01

the potential of germania based photonic crystal fiber or a step-index fiber supercontinuum source for high power ultra-broad band emission being by pumped a 1060 nm or a 1550 nm laser source. To the best of our knowledge, this is the record power, ultra-broadband, and all-fiberized supercontinuum light source...... based on silica and germania fiber ever demonstrated to the date. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America......We demonstrate highly germania doped fibers for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. Experiments ensure a highest output power of 1.44 W for a broadest spectrum from 700 nm to 3200 nm and 6.4 W for 800 nm to 2700 nm from these fibers, while being pumped by a broadband Erbium-Ytterbium doped...

High density thoria-silica-metal (III) oxide fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1974-01-01

Transparent refractory fibers, at least 50% thoria and additionally containing silica and metal(III) oxides, particularly Al 2 O 3 and B 2 O 3 or Cr 2 O 3 are made by shaping and dehydratively gelling, particularly by extruding in air, viscous aqueous thoria solutions or sols containing colloidal silica with boric acid-stabilized aluminum acetate, or additionally chromium acetate or colloidal Cr 2 O 3 , and heating the resulting gelled fibers in a controlled manner to decompose and volatilize undesired constituents and convert fibers to refractory fibers which are useful to form, for example, refractory fabrics, or as reinforcement for composites. The fabrics are heat resistant. A special application is X-ray protective clothing

New approach for high reliability, low loss splicing between silica and ZBLAN fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Carbonnier, Robin; Zheng, Wenxin

2018-02-01

In the past decade, ZBLAN (ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-NaF) fibers have drawn increasing interest for laser operations at wavelengths where Fused Silica-based (SiO2) fibers do not perform well. One limitation to the expansion of ZBLAN fiber lasers today is the difficulty to efficiently inject and extract light in/from the guiding medium using SiO2 fibers. Although free space and butt coupling have provided acceptable results, consistent and long lasting physical joints between SiO2 and ZBLAN fibers will allow smaller, cheaper, and more robust component manufacturing. While low loss splices have been reported using a traditional splicing approach, the very low mechanical strength of the joint makes it difficult to scale. Difficulties in achieving a strong bond are mainly due to the large difference of transition temperature between ZBLAN and SiO2 fibers ( 260°C vs 1175°C). This paper presents results obtained by using the high thermal expansion coefficient of the ZBLAN fiber to encapsulate a smaller SiO2 fiber. A CO2 laser glass processing system was used to control the expansion and contraction of the ZBLAN material during the splicing process for optimum reliability. This method produced splices between 125μm ZBLAN to 80μm SiO2 fibers with average transmission loss of 0.225dB (measured at 1550nm) and average ultimate tension strength of 121.4gf. The Resulting splices can be durably packaged without excessive care. Other combinations using 125μm SiO2 fibers tapered to 80μm are also discussed.

An integrated fiber and stone basket device for use in Thulium fiber laser lithotripsy

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Christopher R.; Hutchens, Thomas C.; Hardy, Luke A.; Irby, Pierce B.; Fried, Nathaniel M.

2014-03-01

The Thulium fiber laser (TFL) is being explored as an alternative laser lithotripter to the Holmium:YAG laser. The TFL's superior near-single mode beam profile enables higher power transmission through smaller fibers with reduced proximal fiber tip damage. Recent studies have also reported that attaching hollow steel tubing to the distal fiber tip decreases fiber degradation and burn-back without compromising stone ablation rates. However, significant stone retropulsion was observed, which increased with pulse rate. In this study, the hollow steel tip fiber design was integrated with a stone basket to minimize stone retropulsion during ablation. A device was constructed consisting of a 100-μm-core, 140-μm-OD silica fiber outfitted with 5-mm-long stainless steel tubing at the distal tip, and integrated with a 1.3-Fr (0.433-mm-OD) disposable nitinol wire basket, to form an overall 1.9-Fr (0.633-mm- OD) integrated device. This compact design may provide several potential advantages including increased flexibility, higher saline irrigation rates through the ureteroscope working channel, and reduced fiber tip degradation compared to separate fiber and stone basket manipulation. TFL pulse energy of 31.5 mJ with 500 μs pulse duration and pulse rate of 500 Hz was delivered through the integrated fiber/basket device in contact with human uric acid stones, ex vivo. TFL stone ablation rates measured 1.5 +/- 0.2 mg/s, comparable to 1.7 +/- 0.3 mg/s (P > 0.05) using standard bare fiber tips separately with a stone basket. With further development, this device may be useful for minimizing stone retropulsion, thus enabling more efficient TFL lithotripsy at higher pulse rates.

Raman fiber lasers

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This book serves as a comprehensive, up-to-date reference about this cutting-edge laser technology and its many new and interesting developments. Various aspects and trends of Raman fiber lasers are described in detail by experts in their fields. Raman fiber lasers have progressed quickly in the past decade, and have emerged as a versatile laser technology for generating high power light sources covering a spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. The technology is already being applied in the fields of telecommunication, astronomy, cold atom physics, laser spectroscopy, environmental sensing, and laser medicine. This book covers various topics relating to Raman fiber laser research, including power scaling, cladding and diode pumping, cascade Raman shifting, single frequency operation and power amplification, mid-infrared laser generation, specialty optical fibers, and random distributed feedback Raman fiber lasers. The book will appeal to scientists, students, and technicians seeking to understand the re...

Comparison of photosensitivity in germanium doped silica fibers using 244 nm and 266 nm continuous wave lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Bo; Varming, Poul; Liu, B.

2001-01-01

Diode pumped continuous-wave UV lasers offer an interesting alternative to frequency doubled argon-ion lasers. We report the first photosensitivity comparison using these lasers on deuterium loaded standard telecommunication fibers and unloaded experimental fibers....

Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors with Ultrafast Laser Enhanced Rayleigh Backscattering Profiles for Real-Time Monitoring of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Aidong; Huang, Sheng; Li, Shuo; Chen, Rongzhang; Ohodnicki, Paul; Buric, Michael; Lee, Shiwoo; Li, Ming-Jun; Chen, Kevin P

2017-08-24

This paper reports a technique to enhance the magnitude and high-temperature stability of Rayleigh back-scattering signals in silica fibers for distributed sensing applications. With femtosecond laser radiation, more than 40-dB enhancement of Rayleigh backscattering signal was generated in silica fibers using 300-nJ laser pulses at 250 kHz repetition rate. The laser-induced Rayleigh scattering defects were found to be stable from the room temperature to 800 °C in hydrogen gas. The Rayleigh scatter at high temperatures was correlated to the formation and modification of nanogratings in the fiber core. Using optical fibers with enhanced Rayleigh backscattering profiles as distributed temperature sensors, we demonstrated real-time monitoring of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operations with 5-mm spatial resolution at 800 °C. Information gathered by these fiber sensor tools can be used to verify simulation results or operated in a process-control system to improve the operational efficiency and longevity of SOFC-based energy generation systems.

Ultrashort optical waveguide excitations in uniaxial silica fibers: elastic collision scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuetche, Victor K; Youssoufa, Saliou; Kofane, Timoleon C

2014-12-01

In this work, we investigate the dynamics of an uniaxial silica fiber under the viewpoint of propagation of ultimately ultrashort optical waveguide channels. As a result, we unveil the existence of three typical kinds of ultrabroadband excitations whose profiles strongly depend upon their angular momenta. Looking forward to surveying their scattering features, we unearth some underlying head-on scenarios of elastic collisions. Accordingly, we address some useful and straightforward applications in nonlinear optics through secured data transmission systems, as well as laser physics and soliton theory with optical soliton dynamics.

Transmission of laser pulses with high output beam quality using step-index fibers having large cladding

Science.gov (United States)

Yalin, Azer P; Joshi, Sachin

2014-06-03

An apparatus and method for transmission of laser pulses with high output beam quality using large core step-index silica optical fibers having thick cladding, are described. The thick cladding suppresses diffusion of modal power to higher order modes at the core-cladding interface, thereby enabling higher beam quality, M.sup.2, than are observed for large core, thin cladding optical fibers. For a given NA and core size, the thicker the cladding, the better the output beam quality. Mode coupling coefficients, D, has been found to scale approximately as the inverse square of the cladding dimension and the inverse square root of the wavelength. Output from a 2 m long silica optical fiber having a 100 .mu.m core and a 660 .mu.m cladding was found to be close to single mode, with an M.sup.2=1.6. Another thick cladding fiber (400 .mu.m core and 720 .mu.m clad) was used to transmit 1064 nm pulses of nanosecond duration with high beam quality to form gas sparks at the focused output (focused intensity of >100 GW/cm.sup.2), wherein the energy in the core was laser pulses was about 6 ns. Extending the pulse duration provided the ability to increase the delivered pulse energy (>20 mJ delivered for 50 ns pulses) without damaging the silica fiber.

Fabrication and evaluation of hybrid silica/polymer optical fiber sensors for large strain measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Haiying

2007-04-01

Silica-based optical fiber sensors are widely used in structural health monitoring systems for strain and deflection measurement. One drawback of silica-based optical fiber sensors is their low strain toughness. In general, silica-based optical fiber sensors can only reliably measure strains up to 2%. Recently, polymer optical fiber sensors have been employed to measure large strain and deflection. Due to their high optical losses, the length of the polymer optical fibers is limited to 100 meters. In this paper, we present a novel economical technique to fabricate hybrid silica/polymer optical fiber strain sensors for large strain measurement. First, stress analysis of a surface-mounted optical fiber sensor is performed to understand the load distribution between the host structure and the optical fiber in relation to their mechanical properties. Next, the procedure of fabricating a polymer sensing element between two optical fibers is explained. The experimental set-up and the components used in the fabrication process are described in details. Mechanical testing results of the fabricated silica/polymer optical fiber strain sensor are presented.

Over 19 W Single-Mode 1545 nm Er,Yb Codoped All-Fiber Laser

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiadong Wu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We report a high-power cladding-pumped Er,Yb codoped all-fiber laser with truly single transverse mode output. The fiber laser is designed to operate at 1545 nm by the use of a pair of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs to lock and narrow the output spectrum, which can be very useful in generating the eye-safe ~1650 nm laser emission through the Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS in silica fibers that is of interest in many applications. Two pieces of standard single-mode fibers are inserted into the laser cavity and output port to guarantee the truly single-mode output as well as good compatibility with other standard fiber components. We have obtained a maximum output power of 19.2 W at 1544.68 nm with a FWHM spectral width of 0.08 nm, corresponding to an average overall slope efficiency of 31.9% with respect to the launched pump power. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest output power reported from simple all-fiber single-mode Er,Yb codoped laser oscillator architecture.

Handling And Safety Aspects Of Fiber Optic Laser Beam Delivery Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Schonborn, K.-H.; Wodrich, W.

1988-06-01

Using lasers for therapeutic applications is getting more and more accepted. In ophthalmology Ar-lasers for intraocular applications are quite common. The Nd:YAG-laser is used as a high power tool in connection with silica fibers for different extracorporal and intracorporal applications. The CO2-laser is the cutting laser, one problem being the beam transmission: The state of the art in fibers is not sufficient up to now. Because of the high power used safety against laser radiation hazard is of great importance. The safety in laser use is primarily dependent on the surgeons cautiousness, e.g. using laser protection goggels, observing that the spot of the aiming beam is present etc. On the other hand the laser and fiber system has to be inherently safe by appropriate technical means as far as possible. An additional aspect adding to safety is the handling: With easier system handling less attention of the surgeon is necessary for driving the apparatus. Thus he can concentrate on the patient and on the procedure. In considering the fiber system one important point in handling and safety is the coupling of the fiber to the laser head. The development philosophy in this coupling may be divided into two groups: - one is trying to use standard connectors which were initially developed for data transmission; - the other is using special connectors. One example of the first group is the guiding of the laser beam from the Ar-laser to the slit-lamp in ophtalmology. Here the well-known F-SMA connectors together with a special fiber with adapted numerical aperture are used. The advantage of such a system is the low price of the connector. For high power lasers such as the clinical Nd:YAG lasers with 40 to 150 W those connectors are not suitable. Up to now every laser manufacturer developed his own connector system in this field.

Status of fiber lasers study of on ytterbium doped fiber laser and laser spectroscopy of doped fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magne, S.

1994-07-01

This work shows all the advantages and drawbacks of the rare-earth-doped fiber lasers and fiber optical amplifiers, pointing out their potential use for instrumentation and optical fiber sensor technology. The theory of light propagation in optical fibers is presented in order to understand the manufacturing methods. A comparative study of preform surface and concentration analysis is performed. The gain behaviour is also thoroughly examined. A synthesis of all technological parameters of the fiber laser is then established and all technologies of the constituting integrated components are reviewed and compared. The experimental techniques mainly involve: site selective excitation tunability, cooperative luminescence, oxidation state changes induced by gamma irradiation, ytterbium-doped mono-mode continuous wave tunable three-level fiber laser. (TEC). 622 refs., 176 figs

Influence of polyolefin fibers on the engineering properties of cement-based composites containing silica fume

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Ta-Yuan; Lin, Wei-Ting; Cheng, An; Huang, Ran; Huang, Chin-Cheng

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Experimental study is focus on the engineering properties of cement-based composites. ► Different mixes containing fiber and silica fume proportions have been tested. ► The influence of different mixes on the engineering properties has been discussed. ► The properties are included strength, ductility, permeability and microstructure. -- Abstract: This study evaluated the mechanical properties of cement-based composites produced with added polyolefin fibers and silica fume. Material variables included the water-cementitious ratio, the dosage of silica fume, and the length and dosage of polyolefin fiber. Researchers conducted tests on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, direct tensile strength, resistivity, rapid chloride penetration, and initial surface absorption, and performed microscopic observation. Test results indicate that the specimens containing silica fume have higher compressive strength than the control and specimen made with fibers. The specimens with polyolefin fiber and silica fume have considerably higher tensile strength and ductility than the control and specimens made with silica fume. The specimens containing silica fume and polyolefin fiber demonstrated better resistance to chloride penetration than composites with polyolefin fiber or silica fume. For a given volume fraction, short polyolefin fiber performs better than its long counterpart in improving the properties of concrete. Specimens containing silica fume demonstrated a significant increase in resistivity and decrease in the total charge passed and absorption. Scanning electron microscopy illustrates that the polyolefin fiber acts to arrest the propagation of internal cracks.

Cerium-doped scintillating fused-silica fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Akchurin, N.; Cowden, C.; Damgov, J.; Dragoiu, C.; Dudero, P.; Faulkner, J.; Kunori, S.

2018-04-01

We report on a set of measurements made on (scintillating) cerium-doped fused-silica fibers using high-energy particle beams. These fibers were uniformly embedded in a copper absorber in order to utilize electromagnetic showers as a source of charged particles for generating signals. This new type of cerium-doped fiber potentially offers myriad new applications in calorimeters in high-energy physics, tracking systems, and beam monitoring detectors for future applications. The light yield, pulse shape, attenuation length, and light propagation speeds are given and discussed. Possible future applications are also explored.

Fiber fuse light-induced continuous breakdown of silica glass optical fiber

CERN Document Server

Todoroki, Shin-ichi

2014-01-01

This book describes the fiber fuse phenomenon that causes a serious problem for the present optical communication systems. High-power light often brings about catastrophic damage to optical devices. Silica glass optical fibers with ultralow transmission loss are not the exception. A fiber fuse appears in a heated region of the fiber cable delivering a few watts of light and runs toward the light source destroying its core region. Understanding this phenomenon is a necessary first step in the development of future optical communication systems. This book provides supplementary videos and photog

Novel beam delivery fibers for delivering flat-top beams with controlled BPP for high power CW and pulsed laser applications

Science.gov (United States)

Jollivet, C.; Farley, K.; Conroy, M.; Abramczyk, J.; Belke, S.; Becker, F.; Tankala, K.

2016-03-01

Single-mode (SM) kW-class fiber lasers are the tools of choice for material processing applications such as sheet metal cutting and welding. However, application requirements include a flat-top intensity profile and specific beam parameter product (BPP). Here, Nufern introduces a novel specialty fiber technology capable of converting a SM laser beam into a flat-top beam suited for these applications. The performances are demonstrated using a specialty fiber with 100 μm pure silica core, 0.22 NA surrounded by a 120 μm fluorine-doped layer and a 360 μm pure silica cladding, which was designed to match the conventional beam delivery fibers. A SM fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 1.07 μm and terminated with a large-mode area (LMA) fiber with 20 μm core and 0.06 NA was directly coupled in the core of the flat-top specialty fiber using conventional splicing technique. The output beam profile and BPP were characterized first with a low-power source and confirmed using a 2 kW laser and we report a beam transformation from a SM beam into a flat-top intensity profile beam with a 3.8 mm*mrad BPP. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first successful beam transformation from SM to MM flat-top with controlled BPP in a single fiber integrated in a multi-kW all-fiber system architecture.

Gamma irradiation up to 109 rads of all silica fibers, comparison with polymer clad silica fibers and solid sample between 0.4 and 2.5 micrometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boisde, G.; Bonnejean, C.; Perez, J.J.; Neumann, V.; Wurier, B.; Boucher, D.

1983-05-01

The effect of γ radiation (Co 60 ) on optical fibers is studied for investigations to remote measurement in irradiating environments. The spectral characteristics of PCS and AS silica fibers, PCS ''Wet'' and AS ''wet'' and ''superwet'' are compared. An automatic computerized system for measurement ''in situ'' is used between 0,4 AND 1,1 micron. Radiation-induced effects are examined at 840nm on PCS, AS with silicone, AS with epoxy (200 and 400/600μm) up to 5.10 8 rads. Samples of ''dry'', ''wet'', ''superwet'' and ''doped fluor'' silica are studied up to 1,3.10 9 rads between 0,3 and 2,5 μm. The photobleaching, the radiation hardening and the breakeage of PCS and AS-silicone after 10 7 rads are recognized. The spectral characteristics of a band at 610-630nm, a spectral deformation at 945nm for ''wet'' fibers and a peak of the radiation-induced attenuation are observed. The kinetic of the 630nm defect in silica fibers and silica samples is also investigated [fr

Enhancement of laser induced damage threshold of fused silica by acid etching combined with UV laser conditioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Meng; Xiang Xia; Jiang Yong; Zu Xiaotao; Yuan Xiaodong; Zheng Wanguo; Wang Haijun; Li Xibin; Lu Haibing; Jiang Xiaodong; Wang Chengcheng

2010-01-01

Acid etching combined with UV laser conditioning is developed to enhance the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of fused silica. Firstly, the fused silica is etched for 1 ∼ 100 min with a buffered 1% HF solution. After acid etching, its transmittance, surface roughness and LIDT are measured. The results reveal that the fused silica has the highest LIDT and transmittance after etching for 10 min. Then UV laser (355 nm) conditioning is adopted to process the 10-min-etched fused silica. When the laser fluence is below 60% of fused silica's zero probability damage threshold, the LIDT increases gradually with the increase of laser conditioning fluence. However, the LIDT rapidly decreases to be lower than the threshold of the 10-min-etched fused silica when the conditioning fluence is up to 80% of the threshold. Proper acid etching and laser conditioning parameters will effectively enhance the laser damage resistance of fused silica. (authors)

An investigation of laser processing of silica surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, A.J.; Stewart, A.F.; Exarhos, G.J.; Stowell, W.K.

1988-01-01

An initial set of experiments has been conducted to determine the practicality of laser processing of optical substrates. In contrast to earlier work, a high average power CO 2 laser was used to flood load the entire surface of each test sample. Fused silica substrates were laser polished on both surfaces at power densities ranging from 150 to 350 W/cm 2 . During each test sequence sample surface temperatures were recorded using a thermal imaging system. Extensive pre- and post-test characterization revealed that surface roughness and scattering of bare silica surfaces were reduced while internal stress increased. Laser damage thresholds were found to increase only for certain conditions. Changes in the microstructure were observed. These preliminary experiments demonstrate that laser processing can dramatically improve the optical properties of fused silica substrates

Amplitude-modulated fiber-ring laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Caputo, J. G.; Clausen, Carl A. Balslev; Sørensen, Mads Peter

2000-01-01

Soliton pulses generated by a fiber-ring laser are investigated by numerical simulation and perturbation methods. The mathematical modeling is based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with perturbative terms. We show that active mode locking with an amplitude modulator leads to a self......-starting of stable solitonic pulses from small random noise, provided the modulation depth is small. The perturbative analysis leads to a nonlinear coupled return map for the amplitude, phase, and position of the soliton pulses circulating in the fiber-ring laser. We established the validity of this approach...

Formulation and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, A.; Kriker, A.; Ouaggad, H.; Merad, N.

2018-05-01

This paper presents the results of experimental investigations of the formulated and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume. The use of addition mineral is widely used in the production of cements through the world. The objective of this work is to bring our contribution to the recovery of local resources in the occurrence vegetable fibers of date palm to weak cost and from renewable source and integrate it in the filled of building. Date palm fiber are from Ouargla town in south of Algeria. Different mortar mixtures were prepared in which the cement was substitute by 10% of silica fume. The mechanical characteristics (compressive and flexural strength) of date palm fibers mortar by treatment of the matrix by the adding of silica fume were examined. The results obtained have shown that the mortar workability as well as the compressive and flexural strength decreases with increasing the silica fume replacement. The results showed that the use of silica fume enabled to evaluate the flexural strength. However, another treatment of fibers and matrix will be recommended for Improved the characteristics.

Femtosecond Fiber Lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, Katherine J.

This thesis focuses on research I have done on ytterbium-doped femtosecond fiber lasers. These lasers operate in the near infrared region, lasing at 1030 nm. This wavelength is particularly important in biomedical applications, which includes but is not limited to confocal microscopy and ablation for surgical incisions. Furthermore, fiber lasers are advantageous compared to solid state lasers in terms of their cost, form factor, and ease of use. Solid state lasers still dominate the market due to their comparatively high energy pulses. High energy pulse generation in fiber lasers is hindered by either optical wave breaking or by multipulsing. One of the main challenges for fiber lasers is to overcome these limitations to achieve high energy pulses. The motivation for the work done in this thesis is increasing the output pulse peak power and energy. The main idea of the work is that decreasing the nonlinearity that acts on the pulse inside the cavity will prevent optical wave breaking, and thus will generate higher energy pulses. By increasing the output energy, ytterbium-doped femtosecond fiber lasers can be competitive with solid state lasers which are used commonly in research. Although fiber lasers tend to lack the wavelength tuning ability of solid state lasers, many biomedical applications take advantage of the 1030 microm central wavelength of ytterbium-doped fiber lasers, so the major limiting factor of fiber lasers in this field is simply the output power. By increasing the output energy without resorting to external amplification, the cavity is optimized and cost can remain low and economical. During verification of the main idea, the cavity was examined for possible back-reflections and for components with narrow spectral bandwidths which may have contributed to the presence of multipulsing. Distinct cases of multipulsing, bound pulse and harmonic mode-locking, were observed and recorded as they may be of more interest in the future. The third

Possibilities and limitations of optical fibers for the transmission of excimer laser radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein, K.F.; Hillrichs, G.; Karlitschek, P.; Mann, K.

1997-01-01

For fiber-delivery systems with UV-lasers the candidates are mainly optical fibers with an undoped high-OH silica core and a F-doped silica cladding. However, there are three important limits to UV-applications: surface damage, two-photon-absorption and defect-generation during operation. In the last two years, UV-improved fibers with significantly reduced defects have been developed. This improvement is most pronounced at 248 and 193 nm, because at these critical wavelengths the induced losses are strongly influenced by the main broadband UV-defects with absorption maxima at 165 nm and 215 nm. We will summarize the results including the influence of the main parameters. In addition, the transmission capacity for the 308 nm wavelength is of interest due to medical and industrial applications. At this wavelength the influence of the nonlinearities is much lower; however, the induced losses in standard fibers are still an important factor. To show the advantages of the UV-improved fibers, the transmission characteristics at 308 nm wavelength will be described in more detail, for the first time

Silver metaphosphate glass wires inside silica fibers--a new approach for hybrid optical fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Chhavi; Rodrigues, Bruno P; Wieduwilt, Torsten; Kobelke, Jens; Wondraczek, Lothar; Schmidt, Markus A

2016-02-22

Phosphate glasses represent promising candidates for next-generation photonic devices due to their unique characteristics, such as vastly tunable optical properties, and high rare earth solubility. Here we show that silver metaphosphate wires with bulk optical properties and diameters as small as 2 µm can be integrated into silica fibers using pressure-assisted melt filling. By analyzing two types of hybrid metaphosphate-silica fibers, we show that the filled metaphosphate glass has only negligible higher attenuation and a refractive index that is identical to the bulk material. The presented results pave the way towards new fiber-type optical devices relying on metaphosphate glasses, which are promising materials for applications in nonlinear optics, sensing and spectral filtering.

Air and silica core Bragg fibers for radiation delivery in the wavelength range 0.6-1.5 μm

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Frank, M.; Jelínek, M.; Kubeček, V.; Kašík, Ivan; Podrazký, Ondřej; Matějec, Vlastimil

2016-01-01

Roč. 31, September (2016), s. 36-41 ISSN 1068-5200 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP102/12/2361; GA ČR GA16-10019S Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Bragg fiber * Silica core * Laser power Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 1.678, year: 2016

The influence on biotissue laser resection of a strongly absorbing layer at the optical fiber tip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daria Kuznetsova

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we consider a method of laser resection using the silica glass core from which the cladding layer has been removed as the cutting part of a laser scalpel. An absorbing layer coating the silica fiber tip markedly alters its biotissue cutting characteristics. The results of histological studies of skin after exposure to a laser scalpel with and without a strongly absorbing coating (SAC at a wavelength of 0.97μm show that resection using a coated scalpel is more sparing. When an uncoated scalpel was used, skin injury was more apparent in both its surface spread and the depth of structural damage, resulting in poorer tissue regeneration.

High-average-power laser medium based on silica glass

Science.gov (United States)

Fujimoto, Yasushi; Nakatsuka, Masahiro

2000-01-01

Silica glass is one of the most attractive materials for a high-average-power laser. We have developed a new laser material base don silica glass with zeolite method which is effective for uniform dispersion of rare earth ions in silica glass. High quality medium, which is bubbleless and quite low refractive index distortion, must be required for realization of laser action. As the main reason of bubbling is due to hydroxy species remained in the gelation same, we carefully choose colloidal silica particles, pH value of hydrochloric acid for hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate on sol-gel process, and temperature and atmosphere control during sintering process, and then we get a bubble less transparent rare earth doped silica glass. The refractive index distortion of the sample also discussed.

Growth, structure, and optical properties of carbon-reinforced silica fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Z. J.; Ajayan, P. M.; Ramanath, G.; Vacik, J.; Xu, Y. H.

2001-01-01

We report the synthesis of carbon-reinforced silica fibers by methane exposure of metallocene-treated oxidized-Si(001) substrates at 1100 degree C. The SiO 2 cap layer transforms into silica fibers reinforced by glassy carbon in the core during methane exposure. High-resolution electron microscopy and spatially resolved spectroscopy measurements of the fibers reveal an amorphous structure without a hollow, and domains of glassy carbon embedded at the fiber core. The carbon-reinforced fibers are optically transparent and have an optical band gap of ≅3.1 eV. These fibers are organized in radial patterns that vary for different metallocene species. On nickelocene-treated substrates, the fibers originate from the circumference of the circular templates and grow outwards, forming radial patterns. On ferrocene-treated substrates, randomly oriented fibers grow within as well as slightly outside the perimeter of the templates, forming wreath-like patterns. Aligned growth of such fibers could be useful for fabricating optoelectronics devices and reinforced composites. [copyright] 2001 American Institute of Physics

Airclad fiber laser technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kim P.; Olausson, Christina Bjarnal Thulin; Broeng, Jes

2011-01-01

High-power fiber lasers and amplifiers have gained tremendous momentum in the last 5 years. Many of the traditional manufacturers of gas and solid-state lasers are now pursuing the fiber-based systems, which are displacing the conventional technology in many areas. High-power fiber laser systems...... require reliable fibers with large cores, stable mode quality, and good power handling capabilities-requirements that are all met by the airclad fiber technology. In the present paper we go through many of the building blocks needed to build high-power systems and we show an example of a complete airclad...... laser system. We present the latest advancements within airclad fiber technology including a new 100 m single-mode polarization-maintaining rod-type fiber capable of amplifying to megawatt power levels. Furthermore, we describe the novel airclad-based pump combiners and their use in a completely...

Laser printed glass planar lightwave circuits with integrated fiber alignment structures

Science.gov (United States)

Desmet, A.; Radosavljevic, A.; Missinne, J.; Van Thourhout, D.; Van Steenberge, G.

2018-02-01

Femtosecond laser inscription allows straightforward manufacturing of glass planar lightwave circuits such as waveguides, interferometers, directional couplers, resonators and more complex structures. Fiber alignment structures are needed to facilitate communication with the glass planar lightwave circuit. In this study, a technique is described to create optical waveguides and alignment structures in the same laser exposure step. Using an industrial ytterbium-doped 1030 nm fiber laser pulses of 400 fs were focused into glass with a 0.4 NA objective causing permanent alteration of the material. Depending on laser parameters this modification allows direct writing of waveguides or the creation of channels after exposing the irradiated volumes to an etchant such as KOH. Writing of channels and waveguides with different laser powers, frequencies, polarisations, stage translation speeds and scan densities were investigated in fused silica and borosilicate glass. Waveguides with controlled dimensions were created, as well as etched U-grooves with a diameter of 126 μm and a sidewall roughness Ra of 255 nm. Cut back measurements were performed giving a waveguide propagation loss of 1.1 dB/cm in borosilicate glass. A coupling loss of 0.7 dB was measured for a transition between the waveguide and standard single mode fiber at 1550 nm, using index matching liquid. The described technique eliminates active alignment requirements and is useful for many applications such as microfluidic sensing, PLCs, fan-out connectors for multicore fibers and quantum optical networks.

High-power fiber-coupled pump lasers for fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Kasai, Yohei; Aizawa, Takuya; Tanaka, Daiichiro

2018-02-01

We present high-power fiber-coupled pump modules utilized effectively for ultra-high power single-mode (SM) fiber lasers. Maximum output power of 392 W was achieved at 23 A for 915 nm pump, and 394 W for 976 nm pump. Fiber core diameter is 118 μm and case temperature is 25deg. C. Polarization multiplexing technique was newly applied to our optical system. High-reliability of the laser diodes (LD) at high-power operation has been demonstrated by aging tests. Advanced package structure was developed that manages uncoupled light around input end of the fiber. 800 hours continuous drive with uncoupled light power of 100 W has been achieved.

Properties of Fiber-Reinforced Mortars Incorporating Nano-Silica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Ghazy

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Repair and rehabilitation of deteriorating concrete elements are of significant concern in many infrastructural facilities and remain a challenging task. Concerted research efforts are needed to develop repair materials that are sustainable, durable, and cost-effective. Research data show that fiber-reinforced mortars/concretes have superior performance in terms of volume stability and toughness. In addition, it has been recently reported that nano-silica particles can generally improve the mechanical and durability properties of cement-based systems. Thus, there has been a growing interest in the use of nano-modified fiber-reinforced cementitious composites/mortars (NFRM in repair and rehabilitation applications of concrete structures. The current study investigates various mechanical and durability properties of nano-modified mortar containing different types of fibers (steel, basalt, and hybrid (basalt and polypropylene, in terms of compressive and flexural strengths, toughness, drying shrinkage, penetrability, and resistance to salt-frost scaling. The results highlight the overall effectiveness of the NFRM owing to the synergistic effects of nano-silica and fibers.

Airclad fiber laser technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kim P.; Olausson, Christina Bjarnal Thulin; Broeng, Jes

2008-01-01

High-power fiber lasers and amplifiers have gained tremendous momentum in the last five years, and many of the traditional manufactures of gas and solid-state lasers are pursuing the attractive fiber-based systems, which are now displacing the old technology in many areas. High-power fiber laser...... systems require specially designed fibers with large cores and good power handling capabilities - requirements that are all met by the airclad fiber technology. In the present paper we go through many of the building blocks needed to build high-power systems and we show an example of a complete airclad...... laser system. We present the latest advancements within airclad fiber technology including a new 70 μm single-mode polarization-maintaining rod-type fiber capable of amplifying to MW power levels. Furthermore we describe the novel airclad based pump combiners and their use in a completely monolithic 350...

The strength and failure of silica optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, C; Bai, R X; Yu, H; Canning, J; Law, S

2010-01-01

The mechanical strength and failure behavior of conventional and microstructured silica optical fibers was investigated using a tensile test and fracture mechanics and numerical analyses. The effect of polymer coating on failure behavior was also studied. The results indicate that all these fibers fail in a brittle manner and failure normally starts from fiber surfaces. The failure loads observed in coated fibers are higher than those in bare fibers. The introduction of air holes reduces fiber strength and their geometrical arrangements have a remarkable effect on stress distribution in the longitudinal direction. These results are potentially useful for the design, fabrication and evaluation of optical fibers for a wide range of applications.

Theoretical modeling of fiber laser at 810 nm based on thulium-doped silica fibers with enhanced (3)H(4) level lifetime

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Peterka, Pavel; Kašík, Ivan; Dhar, Anirban; Dussardier, B.; Blanc, W.

2011-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 3 (2011), 2773-2781 ISSN 1094-4087 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) ME10119; GA ČR GPP102/10/P554 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20670512 Keywords : fiber lasers * fiber amplifiers * optical fiber Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 3.587, year: 2011

Silica Bridge Impact on Hollow-core Bragg Fiber Transmission Properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poli, F.; Foroni, M.; Giovanelli, D.

2007-01-01

The silica bridges impact on the hollow-core Bragg fiber guiding properties is investigated. Results demonstrate that silica nanosupports are responsible for the surface mode presence, which causes the peaks experimentally measured in the transmission spectrum. © 2006 Optical Society of America....

A Spectroscopic Comparison of Femtosecond Laser Modified Fused Silica using kHz and MHz Laser Systems.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reichman, W J; Krol, D M; Shah, L; Yoshino, F; Arai, A; Eaton, S M; Herman, P R

2005-09-29

Waveguides were written in fused silica using both a femtosecond fiber laser with a 1 MHz pulse repetition rate and a femtosecond amplified Ti:sapphire laser with a 1 kHz repetition rate. Confocal Raman and fluorescence microscopy were used to study structural changes in the waveguides written with both systems. A broad fluorescence band, centered at 650 nm, associated with non-bridging oxygen hole center (NBOHC) defects was observed after waveguide fabrication with the MHz laser. With the kHz laser system these defects were only observed for pulse energies above 1 {mu}J. Far fewer NBOHC defects were formed with the MHz laser than with kHz writing, possibly due to thermal annealing driven by heat accumulation effects at 1 MHz. When the kHz laser was used with pulse energies below 1 {mu}J, the predominant fluorescence was centered at 550 nm, a band assigned to the presence of silicon clusters (E{prime}{sub {delta}}). We also observed an increase in the intensity of the 605 cm{sup -1} Raman peak relative to the total Raman intensity, corresponding to an increase in the concentration of 3-membered rings in the lines fabricated with both laser systems.

Fabrication of transparent superhydrophobic glass with fibered-silica network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Feng [College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Shi, Zhenwu, E-mail: zwshi@suda.edu.cn [College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Jiang, Yingjie; Xu, Chengyun; Wu, Zhuhui; Wang, Yanyan [College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Peng, Changsi, E-mail: changsipeng@suda.edu.cn [College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China); Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 (China)

2017-06-15

Highlights: • Superhydrophobic fibred-silica film with water contact angle of 166° and sliding angle of 1° was efficiently prepared using soot as template by CVD. • The film showed transmittance of 88% in visible range. • The superhydrophobic film possesses excellent mechanical robustness, chemical corrosion resistance, and thermal stability. • The superhydrophobic film showed outstanding self-cleaning behavior. - Abstract: In this paper, silica was deposited on the soot film pre-coated glass via chemical vapor deposition. Through calcination at 500 °C with the assistance of O{sub 2} airflow, the soot film was removed and a novel robust fibered-silica network film was then decorated onto the glass substrate. After modification with fluorosilane, the surface water contact angle (WCA) was 166° and sliding angle (SA) was 1° which behaves a good self-cleaning for the as-prepared glass. And its average transmittance was still over 88% in visible wavelength. Moreover, this fibered-silica coating showed a strong tolerance for heavy water droplets, acid/alkali corrosion, salt solution immersion and thermal treatment.

Monolithic Yb-fiber femtosecond laser using photonic crystal fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2008-01-01

We demonstrate, both experimentally and theoretically, an environmentally stable monolithic all-PM modelocked femtosecond Yb-fiber laser, with laser output pulse compressed in a spliced-on low-loss hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. Our laser provides direct fiber-end delivery of 4 nJ pulses...

Multibeam fiber laser cutting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Flemming Ove; Hansen, Klaus Schütt; Nielsen, Jakob Skov

2009-01-01

The appearance of the high power high brilliance fiber laser has opened for new possibilities in laser materials processing. In laser cutting this laser has demonstrated high cutting performance compared to the dominating Cutting laser, the CO2 laser. However, quality problems in fiber......-laser cutting have until now limited its application to metal cutting. In this paper the first results of proof-of-principle Studies applying a new approach (patent pending) for laser cutting with high brightness and short wavelength lasers will be presented. In the approach, multibeam patterns are applied...... to control the melt flow out of the cut kerf resulting in improved cut quality in metal cutting. The beam patterns in this study are created by splitting up beams from two single mode fiber lasers and combining these beams into a pattern in the cut kerf. The results are obtained with a total of 550 W...

Miniature all-silica optical fiber pressure sensor with an ultrathin uniform diaphragm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wenhui; Wu, Nan; Tian, Ye; Niezrecki, Christopher; Wang, Xingwei

2010-04-26

This paper presents an all-silica miniature optical fiber pressure/acoustic sensor based on the Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometric principle. The endface of the etched optical fiber tip and silica thin diaphragm on it form the FP structure. The uniform and thin silica diaphragm was fabricated by etching away the silicon substrate from a commercial silicon wafer that has a thermal oxide layer. The thin film was directly thermally bonded to the endface of the optical fiber thus creating the Fabry-Perot cavity. Thin films with a thickness from 1microm to 3microm have been bonded successfully. The sensor shows good linearity and hysteresis during measurement. A sensor with 0.75 microm-thick diaphragm thinned by post silica etching was demonstrated to have a sensitivity of 11 nm/kPa. The new sensor has great potential to be used as a non-intrusive pressure sensor in a variety of sensing applications.

Tunable femtosecond Cherenkov fiber laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Svane, Ask Sebastian; Lægsgaard, Jesper

2014-01-01

We demonstrate electrically-tunable femtosecond Cherenkov fiber laser output at the visible range. Using an all-fiber, self-starting femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser as the pump source and nonlinear photonic crystal fiber link as the wave-conversion medium, ultrafast, milliwatt-level, tunable...... and spectral isolated Cherenkov radiation at visible wavelengths are reported. Such a femtosecond Cherenkov laser source is promising for practical biophotonics applications....

Advances in Fiber Lasers

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Morse, T

1999-01-01

Most of the time of this contract has been devoted toward improvements in optical fiber lasers and toward gathering experience to improve our program in high power, cladding pumped optical fiber lasers...

Single-frequency thulium-doped distributed-feedback fibre laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agger, Søren; Povlsen, Jørn Hedegaard; Varming, Poul

2004-01-01

We have successfully demonstrated a single-frequency distributed-feedback (DFB) thulium-doped silica fiber laser emitting at a wavelength of 1735 nm. The laser cavity is less than 5 cm long and is formed by intracore UV-written Bragg gratings with a phase shift. The laser is pumped at 790 nm from...... a Ti:sapphire laser and has a threshold pump power of 59 mW. The laser has a maximum output power of 1 mW in a singlefrequency, single-polarization radiation mode and is tunable over a few nanometers. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a single-frequency DFB fiber laser...... that uses thulium as the amplifying medium. The lasing wavelength is the longest demonstrated with DFB fiber lasers and yet is among the shortest obtained for thulium-doped silica fiber lasers....

Fabrication and characterization of chromium-doped nanophase separated yttria-alumina-silica glass-based optical fibers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dutta, Debjit; Dhar, Anirban; Das, Shyamal; Paul, Mukul C. [Fiber Optics and Photonics Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata (India); Kir' yanov, Alexander V. [Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Guanajuato (Mexico); Bysakh, Sandip [Electron Microscopic Section, Material Characterization Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata (India)

2015-08-15

The basic material and optical properties of chromium-doped nanophase-separated yttria-alumina-silica (YAS) glass based optical preforms and fibers, fabricated through the modified chemical vapor deposition process in conjunction with solution doping technique under suitable thermal annealing conditions are reported. The size of the phase-separated particles within the core of the annealed preform is around 20-30 nm which is significantly reduced to around 5.0 nm in the drawn fiber. The absorption spectra of fibers drawn from the annealed and non-annealed preform samples revealed the presence of Cr{sup 4+}, Cr{sup 3+}, and Cr{sup 6+} specie. Numerically, extinction of absorption drops ∝3-3.5 times for the annealed sample as a result of nano-phase restructuration during annealing process. Intense broadband emission (within 500-800 nm) in case of the annealed preform sample is observed as compared to the non-annealed one and is associated with the presence of Cr{sup 3+} ions in nanostructured environment inside the YAS core glass. The final fibers show broadband emission ranging from 900 to 1400 nm under pumping at 1064 nm which is attributed mainly to the presence of Cr{sup 3+}/Cr{sup 4+} ions. The fabricated fibers seem to be a potential candidate for the development of fiber laser sources for the visible and near-infra ranges and for effective Q-switching units for ∝1-1.1 μm all-fiber ytterbium lasers. (copyright 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Stress corrosion in silica optical fibers: Review of fatigue testing procedures

Science.gov (United States)

Severin, Irina; Borda, Claudia; Dumitrache-Rujinski, Alexandru; Caramihai, Mihai; Abdi, Rochdi El

2018-02-01

The expected lifetime of optical fibers used either in telecommunication technologies or smart applications are closely related to the chemical reaction on the silica network. Due to the manufacturing processes or the handling procedures, the flaws spread on the fiber surface are inherently present. The aging mechanism is assumed to enlarge or to extend these flaws. Based on systematic experiments one may notice that water may induce a certain curing effect. Silica optical fibers have been aged in water; series of samples have been subjected to overlapped stretching or bending. Other series have been subjected to overlapped aging effect of microwaves and hot water. Finally, samples were submitted to dynamic tensile testing. The Weibull's diagram analysis shows mono or bimodal dispersions of flaws on the fiber surface, but the polymer coating appears vital for fiber lifetime. While humidity usually affects the fiber strength, the series of testing has revealed that in controlled conditions of chemical environment and controlled applied stress, fiber strength may be increased. A similar effect may be obtained by external factors such as microwaves or previous elongation, too.

High Power Tm3+-Doped Fiber Lasers Tuned by a Variable Reflective Output Coupler

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yulong Tang

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Wide wavelength tuning by a variable reflective output coupler is demonstrated in high-power double-clad Tm3+-doped silica fiber lasers diode-pumped at ∼790  nm. Varying the output coupling from 96% to 5%, the laser wavelength is tuned over a range of 106  nm from 1949 to 2055  nm. The output power exceeds 20  W over 90-nm range and the maximum output power is 32  W at 1949  nm for 51-W launched pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency of ∼70%. Assisted with different fiber lengths, the tuning range is expanded to 240  nm from 1866 to 2107  nm with the output power larger than 10  W.

Enhanced performance of an S-band fiber laser using a thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Muhammad, A. R.; Emami, S. D.; Hmood, J. K.; Sayar, K.; Penny, R.; Abdul-Rashid, H. A.; Ahmad, H.; Harun, S. W.

2014-11-01

This work proposes a new method to enhance the performance of an S-band fiber laser by using a thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The proposed method is based on amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) suppression provided by the thulium-doped PCF unique geometric structure. The enhanced performance of this filter based PCF is dependent on the short and long cut-off wavelength characteristics that define the fiber transmission window. Realizing the short wavelength cut-off location requires the PCF cladding to be doped with a high index material, which provides a refractive index difference between the core and cladding region. Achieving the long cut-off wavelength necessitates enlarging the size of the air holes surrounding the rare-earth doped core region. The PCF structure is optimized so as to achieve the desired ASE suppression regions of below 0.8 μm and above 1.8 μm. The laser performance is simulated for different host media, namely pure silica, alumino-silicate, and fluoride-based fiber ZBLAN based on this thulium-doped PCF design. The host media spectroscopic details, including lifetime variations and quantum efficiency effect on the lasing emission are also discussed. Information on the filter based PCF design is gathered via a full-vectorial finite element method analysis and specifically a numerical modelling solution for the energy level rate equation using the Runge-Kutta method. Results are analyzed for gain improvement, lasing cavity, laser efficiency and effect of core size diameter variation. Results are compared with conventional thulium-doped fiber and thulium-doped PCF for every single host media. We observe that the ZBLAN host media is the most promising candidate due to its greater quantum efficiency.

Enhanced performance of an S-band fiber laser using a thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muhammad, A R; Emami, S D; Penny, R; Ahmad, H; Harun, S W; Hmood, J K; Sayar, K; Abdul-Rashid, H A

2014-01-01

This work proposes a new method to enhance the performance of an S-band fiber laser by using a thulium-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The proposed method is based on amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) suppression provided by the thulium-doped PCF unique geometric structure. The enhanced performance of this filter based PCF is dependent on the short and long cut-off wavelength characteristics that define the fiber transmission window. Realizing the short wavelength cut-off location requires the PCF cladding to be doped with a high index material, which provides a refractive index difference between the core and cladding region. Achieving the long cut-off wavelength necessitates enlarging the size of the air holes surrounding the rare-earth doped core region. The PCF structure is optimized so as to achieve the desired ASE suppression regions of below 0.8 μm and above 1.8 μm. The laser performance is simulated for different host media, namely pure silica, alumino-silicate, and fluoride-based fiber ZBLAN based on this thulium-doped PCF design. The host media spectroscopic details, including lifetime variations and quantum efficiency effect on the lasing emission are also discussed. Information on the filter based PCF design is gathered via a full-vectorial finite element method analysis and specifically a numerical modelling solution for the energy level rate equation using the Runge–Kutta method. Results are analyzed for gain improvement, lasing cavity, laser efficiency and effect of core size diameter variation. Results are compared with conventional thulium-doped fiber and thulium-doped PCF for every single host media. We observe that the ZBLAN host media is the most promising candidate due to its greater quantum efficiency. (paper)

Ultra-large bandwidth hollow-core guiding in all-silica bragg fibers with nano-supports

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vienne, Guillaume; Xu, Yong; Jakobsen, Christian

2004-01-01

We demonstrate a new class of hollow-core Bragg fibers that are composed of concentric cylindrical silica rings separated by nanoscale support bridges. We theoretically predict and experimentally observe hollow-core confinement over an octave frequency range. The bandwidth of bandgap guiding in t...... in this new class of Bragg fibers exceeds that of other hollow-core fibers reported in the literature. With only three rings of silica cladding layers, these Bragg fibers achieve propagation loss of the order of 1 dB/m....

Multielement (P-Yb-Zr-Ce-Al-Ca) fiber for moderate-power laser application with enhanced photodarkening resistivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dhar, Anirban; Paul, Mukul Chandra [CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196 Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032 (India); Das, Shyamal; Reddy, Pinninty Harshavardhan; Siddiki, Salim H.; Dutta, Debjit; Pal, Mrinmay [Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-CGCRI Campus, Kolkata 700 032 (India); Kir' yanov, Alexander V. [Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Loma del Bosque 115, Col. Lomas del Campestre, Leon 37150, Guanajuato (Mexico)

2017-06-15

Multielement (ME) (P-Yb-Zr-Ce-Al-Ca) nanophase separated silica-glass-based optical fiber is fabricated through a conventional-modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process, coupled with solution doping technique. The lasing and photodarkening behaviors of this ME fiber have been demonstrated and compared, in terms of its photodarkening (PD) performance at moderate pump powers (tens of Watts), with standard Yb-doped fiber with phospho-alumino-silicate (PAS) glass composition, which clearly reveals that the ME-Yb doped fiber is a promising candidate for laser applications with enhanced PD resistivity. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

All-Silica Hollow-Core Microstructured Bragg Fibers for Biosensor Application

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Passaro, Davide; Foroni, Matteo; Poli, Federica

2008-01-01

The possibility to exploit all-silica hollow-core-microstructured Bragg fibers to realize a biosensor useful to detect the DNA hybridization process has been investigated. A Bragg fiber recently fabricated has been considered for the analysis performed by means of a full-vector modal solver based...... layer on the inner surface of the fiber holes can modify the fundamental mode properties. The numerical analysis results have successfully demonstrated the DNA bio-sensor feasibility in hollow-core Bragg fibers....

New Methods of Enhancing the Thermal Durability of Silica Optical Fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wysokiński, Karol; Stańczyk, Tomasz; Gibała, Katarzyna; Tenderenda, Tadeusz; Ziołowicz, Anna; Słowikowski, Mateusz; Broczkowska, Małgorzata; Nasiłowski, Tomasz

2014-10-13

Microstructured optical fibers can be precisely tailored for many different applications, out of which sensing has been found to be particularly interesting. However, placing silica optical fiber sensors in harsh environments results in their quick destruction as a result of the hydrolysis process. In this paper, the degradation mechanism of bare and metal-coated optical fibers at high temperatures under longitudinal strain has been determined by detailed analysis of the thermal behavior of silica and metals, like copper and nickel. We furthermore propose a novel method of enhancing the lifetime of optical fibers by the deposition of electroless nickel-phosphorous alloy in a low-temperature chemical process. The best results were obtained for a coating comprising an inner layer of copper and outer layer of low phosphorous nickel. Lifetime values obtained during the annealing experiments were extrapolated to other temperatures by a dedicated model elaborated by the authors. The estimated copper-coated optical fiber lifetime under cycled longitudinal strain reached 31 h at 450 °C.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensor on an Optical Fiber Probe Fabricated with a Femtosecond Laser

OpenAIRE

Ma, Xiaodong; Huo, Haibin; Wang, Wenhui; Tian, Ye; Wu, Nan; Guthy, Charles; Shen, Mengyan; Wang, Xingwei

2010-01-01

A novel fabrication method for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors that used a fast femtosecond (fs) laser scanning process to etch uniform patterns and structures on the endface of a fused silica optical fiber, which is then coated with a thin layer of silver through thermal evaporation is presented. A high quality SERS signal was detected on the patterned surface using a Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) solution. The uniform SERS sensor built on the tip of the optical fiber tip was small, l...

Experimental stress–strain analysis of tapered silica optical fibers with nanofiber waist

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holleis, S.; Hoinkes, T.; Wuttke, C.; Schneeweiss, P.; Rauschenbeutel, A.

2014-01-01

We experimentally determine tensile force–elongation diagrams of tapered optical fibers with a nanofiber waist. The tapered optical fibers are produced from standard silica optical fibers using a heat and pull process. Both, the force–elongation data and scanning electron microscope images of the rupture points indicate a brittle material. Despite the small waist radii of only a few hundred nanometers, our experimental data can be fully explained by a nonlinear stress–strain model that relies on material properties of macroscopic silica optical fibers. This is an important asset when it comes to designing miniaturized optical elements as one can rely on the well-founded material characteristics of standard optical fibers. Based on this understanding, we demonstrate a simple and non-destructive technique that allows us to determine the waist radius of the tapered optical fiber. We find excellent agreement with independent scanning electron microscope measurements of the waist radius

Comparison of fiber lasers based on distributed side-coupled cladding-pumped fibers and double-cladding fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Zhihe; Cao, Jianqiu; Guo, Shaofeng; Chen, Jinbao; Xu, Xiaojun

2014-04-01

We compare both analytically and numerically the distributed side-coupled cladding-pumped (DSCCP) fiber lasers and double cladding fiber (DCF) lasers. We show that, through optimization of the coupling and absorbing coefficients, the optical-to-optical efficiency of DSCCP fiber lasers can be made as high as that of DCF lasers. At the same time, DSCCP fiber lasers are better than the DCF lasers in terms of thermal management.

Monolithic all-PM femtosecond Yb-doped fiber laser using photonic bandgap fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2009-01-01

We present a monolithic Yb fiber laser, dispersion managed by an all-solid photonic bandgap fiber, and pulse compressed in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The laser delivers 9 nJ, 275-fs long pulses at 1035 nm.......We present a monolithic Yb fiber laser, dispersion managed by an all-solid photonic bandgap fiber, and pulse compressed in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The laser delivers 9 nJ, 275-fs long pulses at 1035 nm....

Thermal tuning On narrow linewidth fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Peiqi; Liu, Tianshan; Gao, Xincun; Ren, Shiwei

2010-10-01

At present, people have been dedicated to high-speed and large-capacity optical fiber communication system. Studies have been shown that optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology is an effective means of communication to increase the channel capacity. Tunable lasers have very important applications in high-speed, largecapacity optical communications, and distributed sensing, it can provide narrow linewidth and tunable laser for highspeed optical communication. As the erbium-doped fiber amplifier has a large gain bandwidth, the erbium-doped fiber laser can be achieved lasing wavelength tunable by adding a tunable filter components, so tunable filter device is the key components in tunable fiber laser.At present, fiber laser wavelength is tuned by PZT, if thermal wavelength tuning is combined with PZT, a broader range of wavelength tuning is appearance . Erbium-doped fiber laser is used in the experiments,the main research is the physical characteristics of fiber grating temperature-dependent relationship and the fiber grating laser wavelength effects. It is found that the fiber laser wavelength changes continuously with temperature, tracking several temperature points observed the self-heterodyne spectrum and found that the changes in spectra of the 3dB bandwidth of less than 1kHz, and therefore the fiber laser with election-mode fiber Bragg grating shows excellent spectral properties and wavelength stability.

Radiation hardening of sol gel-derived silica fiber preforms through fictive temperature reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Hari Babu, B; Lancry, Matthieu; Ollier, Nadege; El Hamzaoui, Hicham; Bouazaoui, Mohamed; Poumellec, Bertrand

2016-09-20

The impact of fictive temperature (Tf) on the evolution of point defects and optical attenuation in non-doped and Er3+-doped sol-gel silica glasses was studied and compared to Suprasil F300 and Infrasil 301 glasses before and after γ-irradiation. To this aim, sol-gel optical fiber preforms have been fabricated by the densification of erbium salt-soaked nanoporous silica xerogels through the polymeric sol-gel technique. These γ-irradiated fiber preforms have been characterized by FTIR, UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and photoluminescence measurements. We showed that a decrease in the glass fictive temperature leads to a decrease in the glass disorder and strained bonds. This mainly results in a lower defect generation rate and thus less radiation-induced attenuation in the UV-vis range. Furthermore, it was found that γ-radiation "hardness" is higher in Er3+-doped sol-gel silica compared to un-doped sol-gel silica and standard synthetic silica glasses. The present work demonstrates an effective strategy to improve the radiation resistance of optical fiber preforms and glasses through glass fictive temperature reduction.

Raman fiber distributed feedback lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Westbrook, Paul S; Abedin, Kazi S; Nicholson, Jeffrey W; Kremp, Tristan; Porque, Jerome

2011-08-01

We demonstrate fiber distributed feedback (DFB) lasers using Raman gain in two germanosilicate fibers. Our DFB cavities were 124 mm uniform fiber Bragg gratings with a π phase shift offset from the grating center. Our pump was at 1480 nm and the DFB lasers operated on a single longitudinal mode near 1584 nm. In a commercial Raman gain fiber, the maximum output power, linewidth, and threshold were 150 mW, 7.5 MHz, and 39 W, respectively. In a commercial highly nonlinear fiber, these figures improved to 350 mW, 4 MHz, and 4.3 W, respectively. In both lasers, more than 75% of pump power was transmitted, allowing for the possibility of substantial amplification in subsequent Raman gain fiber. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Non-destructive evaluation of UV pulse laser-induced damage performance of fused silica optics.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jin; Wang, Fengrui; Liu, Hongjie; Geng, Feng; Jiang, Xiaodong; Sun, Laixi; Ye, Xin; Li, Qingzhi; Wu, Weidong; Zheng, Wanguo; Sun, Dunlu

2017-11-24

The surface laser damage performance of fused silica optics is related to the distribution of surface defects. In this study, we used chemical etching assisted by ultrasound and magnetorheological finishing to modify defect distribution in a fused silica surface, resulting in fused silica samples with different laser damage performance. Non-destructive test methods such as UV laser-induced fluorescence imaging and photo-thermal deflection were used to characterize the surface defects that contribute to the absorption of UV laser radiation. Our results indicate that the two methods can quantitatively distinguish differences in the distribution of absorptive defects in fused silica samples subjected to different post-processing steps. The percentage of fluorescence defects and the weak absorption coefficient were strongly related to the damage threshold and damage density of fused silica optics, as confirmed by the correlation curves built from statistical analysis of experimental data. The results show that non-destructive evaluation methods such as laser-induced fluorescence and photo-thermal absorption can be effectively applied to estimate the damage performance of fused silica optics at 351 nm pulse laser radiation. This indirect evaluation method is effective for laser damage performance assessment of fused silica optics prior to utilization.

Guiding Properties of Silica/Air Hollow-Core Bragg Fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foroni, Matteo; Passaro, Davide; Poli, Federica

2008-01-01

The guiding properties of realistic silica/air hollow-core Bragg fibers have been investigated by calculating the dispersion curves, the confinement loss spectrum and the field distribution of the guided modes through a full-vector modal solver based on the finite element method. In particular, t...... the different possible applications, the feasibility of a DNA bio-sensor based on a hollow-core Bragg fiber has been demonstrated....

Radiation hardness of Ce-doped sol-gel silica fibers for high energy physics applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Cova, Francesca; Moretti, Federico; Fasoli, Mauro; Chiodini, Norberto; Pauwels, Kristof; Auffray, Etiennette; Lucchini, Marco Toliman; Baccaro, Stefania; Cemmi, Alessia; Bártová, Hana; Vedda, Anna

2018-02-15

The results of irradiation tests on Ce-doped sol-gel silica using x- and γ-rays up to 10 kGy are reported in order to investigate the radiation hardness of this material for high-energy physics applications. Sol-gel silica fibers with Ce concentrations of 0.0125 and 0.05 mol. % are characterized by means of optical absorption and attenuation length measurements before and after irradiation. The two different techniques give comparable results, evidencing the formation of a main broad radiation-induced absorption band, peaking at about 2.2 eV, related to radiation-induced color centers. The results are compared with those obtained on bulk silica. This study reveals that an improvement of the radiation hardness of Ce-doped silica fibers can be achieved by reducing Ce content inside the fiber core, paving the way for further material development.

Random fiber laser based on artificially controlled backscattering fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaoliang; Chen, Daru; Li, Haitao; She, Lijuan; Wu, Qiong

2018-01-10

The random fiber laser (RFL), which is a milestone in laser physics and nonlinear optics, has attracted considerable attention recently. Most previously reported RFLs are based on distributed feedback of Rayleigh scattering amplified through the stimulated Raman-Brillouin scattering effect in single-mode fibers, which require long-distance (tens of kilometers) single-mode fibers and high threshold, up to watt level, due to the extremely small Rayleigh scattering coefficient of the fiber. We proposed and demonstrated a half-open-cavity RFL based on a segment of an artificially controlled backscattering single-mode fiber with a length of 210 m, 310 m, or 390 m. A fiber Bragg grating with a central wavelength of 1530 nm and a segment of artificially controlled backscattering single-mode fiber fabricated by using a femtosecond laser form the half-open cavity. The proposed RFL achieves thresholds of 25 mW, 30 mW, and 30 mW, respectively. Random lasing at a wavelength of 1530 nm and extinction ratio of 50 dB is achieved when a segment of 5 m erbium-doped fiber is pumped by a 980 nm laser diode in the RFL. A novel RFL with many short cavities has been achieved with low threshold.

Self-protecting nonlinear compression in a solid fiber for long-term stable ultrafast lasers at 2 μm wavelength

Science.gov (United States)

Stutzki, Fabian; Gaida, Christian; Gebhardt, Martin; Jauregui, Cesar; Limpert, Jens; Tünnermann, Andreas; Pupeza, Ioachim

2017-02-01

Ultrashort-pulse laser systems are an enabling technology for numerous applications. The stability of such systems is especially crucial for frequency metrology and high precision spectroscopy. Thulium-based fiber lasers are an ideal starting point as a reliable and yet powerful source for the nonlinear conversion towards the mid-IR region. Recently, we have demonstrated that nonlinear self-compression in a fused silica solid-core fiber allows for few-cycle pulse duration with up to 24 MW peak power using a high-repetition rate thulium-based fiber laser system operating at around 2 μm wavelength [1]. This experiment operates near the self-focusing limit of about 24 MW for circular polarization, which increases the requirements for the system stability due to the risk of a fiber damage. Here, we present a self-protecting nonlinear compression regime allowing for long-term operation and high output-pulse stability with very similar output performance.

Orange fiber laser for ophthalmology

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, M.; Kojima, K.; Hayashi, K.

2007-02-01

For the light source of photocoagulators for ophthalmology, orange laser is more suitable than green laser because of low scattering loss by the crystalline lens, and low absorption by xanthophylls in the retina. We developed two orange fiber lasers (580 nm and 590 nm) to investigate the effect depending on the difference in the range of orange. The 580nm laser is composed of a 1160 nm fiber laser and a Periodically Polled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) crystal for second harmonic generation. The 1160 nm fiber laser beam is focused into the MgO-doped PPLN crystal whose length is 30 mm with 3-pass configuration. Continuous-wave 1.3 W output power of 580 nm was obtained with 5.8 W input power of 1160nm for the first time. The conversion efficiency was 22%. The band width of the second harmonic was 0.006 nm (FWHM). The 590 nm laser is almost the same as 580 nm laser source. In this case we used a Raman shift fiber to generate 1180 nm, and the output power of 590 nm was 1.4 W. We developed an evaluation model of photocoagulator system using these two laser sources. A 700 mW coagulation output power was obtained with this orange fiber laser photocoagulator system. This is enough power for the eye surgery. We have the prospect of the maintenance-free, long-life system that is completely air-cooled. We are planning to evaluate this photocoagulator system in order to investigate the difference between the two wavelengths at the field test.

New Methods of Enhancing the Thermal Durability of Silica Optical Fibers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karol Wysokiński

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Microstructured optical fibers can be precisely tailored for many different applications, out of which sensing has been found to be particularly interesting. However, placing silica optical fiber sensors in harsh environments results in their quick destruction as a result of the hydrolysis process. In this paper, the degradation mechanism of bare and metal-coated optical fibers at high temperatures under longitudinal strain has been determined by detailed analysis of the thermal behavior of silica and metals, like copper and nickel. We furthermore propose a novel method of enhancing the lifetime of optical fibers by the deposition of electroless nickel-phosphorous alloy in a low-temperature chemical process. The best results were obtained for a coating comprising an inner layer of copper and outer layer of low phosphorous nickel. Lifetime values obtained during the annealing experiments were extrapolated to other temperatures by a dedicated model elaborated by the authors. The estimated copper-coated optical fiber lifetime under cycled longitudinal strain reached 31 h at 450 °C.

Widely tunable asymmetric long-period fiber grating with high sensitivity using optical polymer on laser-ablated cladding.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Nan-Kuang; Hsu, Der-Yi; Chi, Sien

2007-08-01

We demonstrate high-efficiency, wideband-tunable, laser-ablated long-period fiber gratings that use an optical polymer overlay. Portions of the fiber cladding are periodically removed by CO(2) laser pulses to induce periodic index changes for coupling the core mode into cladding modes. An optical polymer with a high thermo-optic coefficient with a dispersion distinct from that of silica is used on a deep-ablated cladding structure so that the effective indices of cladding modes become dispersive and the resonant wavelengths can be efficiently tuned. The tuning efficiency can be as high as 15.8 nm/ degrees C, and the tuning range can be wider than 105 nm (1545-1650 nm).

Nanodrilling of fused silica using nanosecond laser radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lorenz, P., E-mail: pierre.lorenz@iom-leipzig.de; Zajadacz, J.; Bayer, L.; Ehrhardt, M.; Zimmer, K.

2015-10-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Low-fluence irradiation of 10 nm Mo on SiO{sub 2} results in the formation of Mo droplets. • High-fluence irradiation of droplets results in the formation of holes in the SiO{sub 2}. • The process allows the formation of randomly distributed and periodic holes. • The randomly distributed hole density ρ{sub h} depends on the fluence (ρ{sub h} ≤ 1.3 μm{sup −2}). • The interaction of the laser beam with Mo/SiO{sub 2} was simulated by FEM. - Abstract: The fast laser drilling of dielectric surfaces with hole diameters in the sub-μm range and a high aspect ratio is a challenge for laser methods. In this study, a novel laser structuring method for the production of randomly and periodically distributed holes in a fused silica surface will be presented using a self-assembling process. A fused silica surface was covered with a 10 nm thick magnetron-sputtered molybdenum film. The metal film was irradiated by a KrF excimer laser (wavelength λ = 248 nm, pulse duration Δt{sub p} = 25 ns) with low laser fluences (Φ < 1 J/cm{sup 2}) and the laser-induced heating resulting in a melting of the metal film and finally in a self-assembled formation of randomly distributed metal droplets due to the surface tension of the metal liquid phase using a top hat beam profile. Furthermore, the usage of a periodically modulated laser beam profile allows the fabrication of periodically distributed droplet pattern. The multi-pulse irradiation of the laser-generated metal droplets with higher laser fluences results in a stepwise evaporation of the metal and in a partial evaporation of the fused silica near the metal droplets. Finally, the laser-induced stepwise evaporation process results in a formation of cone-like holes in the fused silica surface where the resultant holes are dependent on the size of the generated metal droplets and on the laser parameters. The “drilling” process allows the fabrication of holes with a depth up to 1 �

Fiber-ring laser-based intracavity photoacoustic spectroscopy for trace gas sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qiang; Wang, Zhen; Chang, Jun; Ren, Wei

2017-06-01

We demonstrated a novel trace gas sensing method based on fiber-ring laser intracavity photoacoustic spectroscopy. This spectroscopic technique is a merging of photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) with a fiber-ring cavity for sensitive and all-fiber gas detection. A transmission-type PAS gas cell (resonant frequency f0=2.68  kHz) was placed inside the fiber-ring laser to fully utilize the intracavity laser power. The PAS signal was excited by modulating the laser wavelength at f0/2 using a custom-made fiber Bragg grating-based modulator. We used this spectroscopic technique to detect acetylene (C2H2) at 1531.6 nm as a proof of principle. With a low Q-factor (4.9) of the PAS cell, our sensor achieved a good linear response (R2=0.996) to C2H2 concentration and a minimum detection limit of 390 ppbv at 2-s response time.

Monolithic femtosecond Yb-fiber laser with photonic crystal fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

We demonstrate a monolithic stable SESAM-modelocked self-starting Yb-fiber laser. A novel PM all-solid photonic bandgap fiber is used for intra-cavity of dispersion management. The ex-cavity final pulse compression is performed in a spliced-on PM hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The laser...... directly delivers 9 nJ pulses of 275 fs duration with pulse repetition of 26.7MHz....

Ultra-short pulse delivery at high average power with low-loss hollow core fibers coupled to TRUMPF's TruMicro laser platforms for industrial applications

Science.gov (United States)

Baumbach, S.; Pricking, S.; Overbuschmann, J.; Nutsch, S.; Kleinbauer, J.; Gebs, R.; Tan, C.; Scelle, R.; Kahmann, M.; Budnicki, A.; Sutter, D. H.; Killi, A.

2017-02-01

Multi-megawatt ultrafast laser systems at micrometer wavelength are commonly used for material processing applications, including ablation, cutting and drilling of various materials or cleaving of display glass with excellent quality. There is a need for flexible and efficient beam guidance, avoiding free space propagation of light between the laser head and the processing unit. Solid core step index fibers are only feasible for delivering laser pulses with peak powers in the kW-regime due to the optical damage threshold in bulk silica. In contrast, hollow core fibers are capable of guiding ultra-short laser pulses with orders of magnitude higher peak powers. This is possible since a micro-structured cladding confines the light within the hollow core and therefore minimizes the spatial overlap between silica and the electro-magnetic field. We report on recent results of single-mode ultra-short pulse delivery over several meters in a lowloss hollow core fiber packaged with industrial connectors. TRUMPF's ultrafast TruMicro laser platforms equipped with advanced temperature control and precisely engineered opto-mechanical components provide excellent position and pointing stability. They are thus perfectly suited for passive coupling of ultra-short laser pulses into hollow core fibers. Neither active beam launching components nor beam trackers are necessary for a reliable beam delivery in a space and cost saving packaging. Long term tests with weeks of stable operation, excellent beam quality and an overall transmission efficiency of above 85 percent even at high average power confirm the reliability for industrial applications.

Fiber Laser Array

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Simpson, Thomas

2002-01-01

...., field-dependent, loss within the coupled laser array. During this program, Jaycor focused on the construction and use of an experimental apparatus that can be used to investigate the coherent combination of an array of fiber lasers...

Status of fiber lasers study of on ytterbium doped fiber laser and laser spectroscopy of doped fibers; Etat de l`art des lasers a fibre, etude d`un laser a fibre dopee ytterbium et spectroscopie laser de fibres dopees

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Magne, S

1994-07-01

This work shows all the advantages and drawbacks of the rare-earth-doped fiber lasers and fiber optical amplifiers, pointing out their potential use for instrumentation and optical fiber sensor technology. The theory of light propagation in optical fibers is presented in order to understand the manufacturing methods. A comparative study of preform surface and concentration analysis is performed. The gain behaviour is also thoroughly examined. A synthesis of all technological parameters of the fiber laser is then established and all technologies of the constituting integrated components are reviewed and compared. The experimental techniques mainly involve: site selective excitation tunability, cooperative luminescence, oxidation state changes induced by gamma irradiation, ytterbium-doped mono-mode continuous wave tunable three-level fiber laser. (TEC). 622 refs., 176 figs.

Study of silica coatings degradation under laser irradiation and in controlled environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, S.

2006-11-01

Performances of optical components submitted to high laser intensities are usually determined by their laser-induced damage threshold. This value represents the highest density of energy (fluence) sustainable by the component before its damage. When submitted to laser fluences far below this threshold, optical performances may also decrease with time. The degradation processes depend on laser characteristics, optical materials, and environment around the component. Silica being the most used material in optics, the aim of this study was to describe and analyse the physical-chemical mechanisms responsible for laser-induced degradation of silica coatings in controlled environment. Experimental results show that degradation is due to the growth of a carbon deposit in the irradiated zone. From these results, a phenomenological model has been proposed and validated with numerical simulations. Then, several technological solutions have been tested in order to reduce the laser-induced contamination of silica coatings. (author)

A IR-Femtosecond Laser Hybrid Sensor to Measure the Thermal Expansion and Thermo-Optical Coefficient of Silica-Based FBG at High Temperatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Litong; Lv, Dajuan; Yang, Minghong; Xiong, Liangming; Luo, Jie

2018-01-26

In this paper, a hybrid sensor was fabricated using a IR-femtosecond laser to measure the thermal expansion and thermo-optical coefficient of silica-based fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The hybrid sensor was composed of an inline fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) cavity and a type-II FBG. Experiment results showed that the type-II FBG had three high reflectivity resonances in the wavelength ranging from 1100 to 1600 nm, showing the peaks in 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5 μm, respectively. The thermal expansion and thermo-optical coefficient (1.3 μm, 1.5 μm) of silica-based FBG, under temperatures ranging from 30 to 1100 °C, had been simultaneously calculated by measuring the wavelength of the type-II FBG and FFPI cavity length.

FIBER LASER CONSTRUCTION AND THEORY INCLUDING FIBER BRAGG GRATINGS Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs) and applications of gas filled PCFs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sutton, Jacob O. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-03-08

The principles used in fiber lasers have been around for a while but it is only within the past few years that fiber lasers have become commercially available and used in high power laser applications. This paper will focus on the basic design principles of fiber lasers, including fiber Bragg gratings, principles of operation, and forms of non-linear effects. It will describe the type and associated doping of the fiber used and difficult designs used to guide energy from the pump to the active medium. Topics covered include fiber laser design, fiber Bragg gratings, materials used, differences in quantum energy loss, thermo-optical effects, stimulated Raman scattering, Brillouin scattering, photonic crystal fibers and applications of gas filled Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs). Thanks to fiber lasers, the energy required to produce high power lasers has greatly dropped and as such we can now produce kW power using a standard 120V 15A circuit. High power laser applications are always requiring more power. The fiber laser can now deliver the greater power that these applications demand. Future applications requiring more power than can be combined using standard materials or configurations will need to be developed to overcome the high energy density and high non-linear optical scattering effects present during high power operations.

Controllable damping of high-Q violin modes in fused silica suspension fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Dmitriev, A. V.; Mescheriakov, S. D.; Tokmakov, K. V.; Mitrofanov, V. P.

2010-01-01

Fused silica fiber suspension of the test masses will be used in the interferometric gravitational wave detectors of the next generation. This allows a significant reduction of losses in the suspension and thermal noise associated with the suspension. Unfortunately, unwanted violin modes may be accidentally excited in the suspension fibers. The Q-factor of the violin modes also exceeds 108. They have a ring-down time that is too long and may complicate the stable control of the interferometer. Results of the investigation of a violin mode active damping system are described. An original sensor and actuator were especially developed to realize the effective coupling of a thin, optically transparent, non-conducting fused silica fiber with an electric circuit. The damping system allowed the changing of the violin mode's damping rate over a wide range.

Microring embedded hollow polymer fiber laser

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linslal, C. L., E-mail: linslal@gmail.com; Sebastian, S.; Mathew, S.; Radhakrishnan, P.; Nampoori, V. P. N.; Girijavallabhan, C. P.; Kailasnath, M. [International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin 22 (India)

2015-03-30

Strongly modulated laser emission has been observed from rhodamine B doped microring resonator embedded in a hollow polymer optical fiber by transverse optical pumping. The microring resonator is fabricated on the inner wall of a hollow polymer fiber. Highly sharp lasing lines, strong mode selection, and a collimated laser beam are observed from the fiber. Nearly single mode lasing with a side mode suppression ratio of up to 11.8 dB is obtained from the strongly modulated lasing spectrum. The microring embedded hollow polymer fiber laser has shown efficient lasing characteristics even at a propagation length of 1.5 m.

Fiber Lasers V

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kim P.; Olausson, Christina Bjarnal Thulin; Broeng, Jes

2008-01-01

laser system. We present the latest advancements within airclad fiber technology including a new 70 μm single-mode polarization-maintaining rod-type fiber capable of amplifying to MW power levels. Furthermore we describe the novel airclad based pump combiners and their use in a completely monolithic 350...

Laser absorption of carbon fiber reinforced polymer with randomly distributed carbon fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jun; Xu, Hebing; Li, Chao

2018-03-01

Laser processing of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is a non-traditional machining method which has many prospective applications. The laser absorption characteristics of CFRP are analyzed in this paper. A ray tracing model describing the interaction of the laser spot with CFRP is established. The material model contains randomly distributed carbon fibers which are generated using an improved carbon fiber placement method. It was found that CFRP has good laser absorption due to multiple reflections of the light rays in the material’s microstructure. The randomly distributed carbon fibers make the absorptivity of the light rays change randomly in the laser spot. Meanwhile, the average absorptivity fluctuation is obvious during movement of the laser. The experimental measurements agree well with the values predicted by the ray tracing model.

Development of high-average-power-laser medium based on silica glass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujimoto, Yasushi; Nakatsuka, Masahiro

2000-01-01

We have developed a high-average-power laser material based on silica glass. A new method using Zeolite X is effective for homogeneously dispersing rare earth ions in silica glass to get a high quantum yield. High quality medium, which is bubbleless and quite low refractive index distortion, must be required for realization of laser action, and therefore, we have carefully to treat the gelation and sintering processes, such as, selection of colloidal silica, pH value of for hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate, and sintering history. The quality of the sintered sample and the applications are discussed. (author)

In-fiber modal interferometer based on multimode and double cladding fiber segments for tunable fiber laser applications

Science.gov (United States)

Prieto-Cortés, P.; Álvarez-Tamayo, R. I.; Durán-Sánchez, M.; Castillo-Guzmán, A.; Salceda-Delgado, G.; Ibarra-Escamilla, B.; Kuzin, E. A.; Barcelata-Pinzón, A.; Selvas-Aguilar, R.

2018-02-01

We report an in-fiber structure based on the use of a multimode fiber segment and a double cladding fiber segment, and its application as spectral filter in an erbium-doped fiber laser for selection and tuning of the laser line wavelength. The output transmission of the proposed device exhibit spectrum modulation of the input signal with free spectral range of 21 nm and maximum visibility enhanced to more than 20 dB. The output spectrum of the in-fiber filter is wavelength displaced by bending application which allows a wavelength tuning of the generated laser line in a range of 12 nm. The use of the proposed in-fiber structure is demonstrated as a reliable, simple, and low-cost wavelength filter for tunable fiber lasers design and optical instrumentation applications.

Controllable damping of high-Q violin modes in fused silica suspension fibers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dmitriev, A V; Mescheriakov, S D; Mitrofanov, V P [Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); Tokmakov, K V, E-mail: dmitriev@hbar.phys.msu.r, E-mail: mitr@hbar.phys.msu.r [Present address: Department of Physics, SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG (United Kingdom)

2010-01-21

Fused silica fiber suspension of the test masses will be used in the interferometric gravitational wave detectors of the next generation. This allows a significant reduction of losses in the suspension and thermal noise associated with the suspension. Unfortunately, unwanted violin modes may be accidentally excited in the suspension fibers. The Q-factor of the violin modes also exceeds 10{sup 8}. They have a ring-down time that is too long and may complicate the stable control of the interferometer. Results of the investigation of a violin mode active damping system are described. An original sensor and actuator were especially developed to realize the effective coupling of a thin, optically transparent, non-conducting fused silica fiber with an electric circuit. The damping system allowed the changing of the violin mode's damping rate over a wide range.

Controllable damping of high-Q violin modes in fused silica suspension fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dmitriev, A V; Mescheriakov, S D; Mitrofanov, V P; Tokmakov, K V

2010-01-01

Fused silica fiber suspension of the test masses will be used in the interferometric gravitational wave detectors of the next generation. This allows a significant reduction of losses in the suspension and thermal noise associated with the suspension. Unfortunately, unwanted violin modes may be accidentally excited in the suspension fibers. The Q-factor of the violin modes also exceeds 10 8 . They have a ring-down time that is too long and may complicate the stable control of the interferometer. Results of the investigation of a violin mode active damping system are described. An original sensor and actuator were especially developed to realize the effective coupling of a thin, optically transparent, non-conducting fused silica fiber with an electric circuit. The damping system allowed the changing of the violin mode's damping rate over a wide range.

Electrically tunable Brillouin fiber laser based on a metal-coated single-mode optical fiber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.M. Popov

Full Text Available We explore tunability of the Brillouin fiber laser employing Joule heating. For this purpose, 10-m-length of a metal-coated single-mode optical cavity fiber has been directly included into an electrical circuit, like a conductor wire. With the current up to ∼3.5 A the laser tuning is demonstrated over a spectrum range of ∼400 MHz. The observed laser line broadening up to ∼2 MHz is explained by frequency drift and mode-hoping in the laser caused by thermal noise. Keywords: Brillouin fiber laser, Metal-coated optical fiber, Laser tuning, Fiber sensors

Waveguide-loaded silica fibers for coupling to high-index micro-resonators

Science.gov (United States)

Latawiec, P.; Burek, M. J.; Venkataraman, V.; Lončar, M.

2016-01-01

Tapered silica fibers are often used to rapidly probe the optical properties of micro-resonators. However, their low refractive index precludes phase-matching when coupling to high-index micro-resonators, reducing efficiency. Here, we demonstrate efficient optical coupling from tapered fibers to high-index micro-resonators by loading the fibers with an ancillary adiabatic waveguide-coupler fabricated via angled-etching. We demonstrate greatly enhanced coupling to a silicon multimode micro-resonator when compared to coupling via the bare fiber only. Signatures of resonator optical bistability are observed at high powers. This scheme can be applied to resonators of any size and material, increasing the functional scope of fiber coupling.

Fabrication and Characterization of Linear and Nonlinear Photonic Devices in Fused Silica by Femtosecond Laser Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Jason Clement

Femtosecond laser processing is a flexible, three-dimensional (3D) fabrication technique used to make integrated low-loss photonic devices in fused silica. My work expanded the suite of available optical devices through the design and optimization of linear optical components such as low-loss (70-nm spectral window. My work further complemented femtosecond laser processing with the development of nonlinear device capabilities. While thermal poling is a well known process, significant challenges had restricted the development of nonlinear devices in fused silica. The laser writing process would erase the induced nonlinearity (erasing) while a written waveguide core acted as a barrier to the thermal poling process (blocking). Using second harmonic (SH) microscopy, the effectiveness of thermal poling on laser-written waveguides was systematically analyzed leading to the technique of "double poling", which effectively overcomes the two challenges of erasing and blocking. In this new process the substrate is poled before and after waveguide writing to restore the induced nonlinearity within the vicinity of the waveguide to enable effective poling for inducing a second-order nonlinearity (SON) in fused silica. A new flexible, femtosecond laser based erasure process was also developed to enable quasi-phase matching and to form arbitrarily chirped gratings. Following this result, second harmonic generation (SHG) in a quasiphase-matched (QPM) femtosecond laser written waveguide device was demonstrated. SHG in a chirped QPM structure was also demonstrated to illustrate the flexibility of the femtosecond laser writing technique. These are the first demonstration of frequency doubling in an all-femtosecond-laser-written structure. A maximum SHG conversion efficiency of 1.3 +/- 0.1x10 -11/W-cm-2 was achieved for the fundamental wavelength of 1552.8 nm with a phase-matching bandwidth of 4.4 nm for a 10.0-mm-long waveguide. For a shorter sample, an effective SON of chi(2) = 0

All-PM monolithic fs Yb-fiber laser, dispersion-managed with all-solid photonic bandgap fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2009-01-01

All-in-fiber SESAM-modelocked self-starting fiber laser is demonstrated. Cavity dispersion is managed by a spliced-in PM all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. The laser directly delivers 1.25 nJ pulses of 280 fs duration.......All-in-fiber SESAM-modelocked self-starting fiber laser is demonstrated. Cavity dispersion is managed by a spliced-in PM all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. The laser directly delivers 1.25 nJ pulses of 280 fs duration....

Advanced ultrafast fiber laser sources enabled by fiber nonlinearities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Wei

2017-05-01

Development of high power/energy ultrafast fiber lasers for scientific research and industrial applications is one of the most exciting fields in ultrafast optics. This thesis demonstrated new means to improve two essential properties - which are indispensable for novel applications such as high-harmonic generation (HHG) and multiphoton microscopy (MPM) - of an ultrafast fiber laser system: energy scaling capability and wavelength tunability. High photon-flux extreme ultraviolet sources enabled by HHG desire high power (>100 W), high repetition-rate (>1 MHz) ultrafast driving laser sources. We have constructed from scratch a high-power Yb-fiber laser system using the well-known chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique. Such a CPA system capable of producing ∝200-W average power consists of a monolithic Yb-fiber oscillator, an all-fiber stretcher, a pre-amplifier chain, a main amplifier constructed from rode-type large pitch fiber, and a diffraction-grating based compressor. To increase the HHG efficiency, ultrafast pulses with duration 130-W average power. The amplified pulses are compressed to 60-fs pulses with 100-W average power, constituting a suitable HHG driving source. MPM is a powerful biomedical imaging tool, featuring larger penetration depth while providing the capability of optical sectioning. Although femtosecond solid-state lasers have been widely accepted as the standard option as MPM driving sources, fiber-based sources have received growing research efforts due to their superior performance. In the second part of this thesis, we both theoretically and experimentally demonstrated a new method of producing wavelength widely tunable femtosecond pulses for driving MPM. We employed self-phase modulation to broaden a narrowband spectrum followed by bandpass filters to select the rightmost/leftmost spectral lobes. Widely tunable in 820-1225 nm, the resulting sources generated nearly transform-limited, ∝100 fs pulses. Using short fibers with large

Thulium fiber laser lithotripsy using a muzzle brake fiber tip

Science.gov (United States)

Hutchens, Thomas C.; Gonzalez, David A.; Irby, Pierce B.; Fried, Nathaniel M.

2017-02-01

The Thulium fiber laser (TFL) is being explored as an alternative to Holmium:YAG laser for lithotripsy. TFL beam profile allows coupling of higher power into smaller fibers than multimode Holmium laser beam, without proximal fiber tip degradation. A smaller fiber provides more space in ureteroscope working channel for increased saline irrigation and allows maximum ureteroscope flexion. However, distal fiber tip burnback increases as fiber diameter decreases. Previous studies utilizing hollow steel sheaths around recessed distal fiber tips reduced fiber burnback, but increased retropulsion. In this study, a "fiber muzzle brake" was tested for reducing fiber burnback and stone retropulsion. TFL lithotripsy studies were performed at 1908 nm, 35 mJ, 500 μs, and 300 Hz using a 100-μm-core fiber. The optimal stainless steel muzzle brake tip tested consisted of a 1-cm-long, 560-μm-OD, 360-μm-ID tube with 275-μm thru hole located 250-μm from the distal end. The fiber tip was recessed a distance of 500 μm. Stone phantom retropulsion, fiber tip burnback, and calcium oxalate stone ablation studies were performed, ex vivo. Small stones with a mass of 40 +/- 4 mg and 4-mm-diameter were ablated over a 1.5-mm sieve in 25 +/- 4 s (n=10), without distal fiber tip burnback. Reduction in stone phantom retropulsion distance by 50% and 85% was observed when using muzzle brake tips versus 100-μm-core bare fibers and hollow steel tip fibers. The muzzle brake fiber tip provided efficient stone ablation, reduced stone retropulsion, and minimal fiber degradation during TFL lithotripsy.

Preparation and Properties of Nano Dy/TiO2 Films Supported on High Silica Fiber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HUANG Feng-ping

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the photocatalytic degradation performance and stability of nano TiO2, Dy doped TiO2 supported on high silica glass fiber was prepared by microwave-sol method combined with dip-coating method. The samples were analyzed by XRD,SEM,PL,EDS,XPS and other equipments for phase composition of films,surface topography, surface elements and the stability of films. And the effects of pretreatment solution and coating method on the high-silica fiber film were investigated.In addition, the photocatalytic performance of the sample has been investigated by degrading methylene blue. The results show that the catalytic stability of Dy doping TiO2 nanofilms supported on high silica glass fiber can be improved and the degradation of methyl orange can reach 94% in 30min after 5 times of coating treatment.

All-optical fiber anemometer based on laser heated fiber Bragg gratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shaorui; Zhang, A Ping; Tam, Hwa-Yaw; Cho, L H; Lu, Chao

2011-05-23

A fiber-optic anemometer based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is presented. A short section of cobalt-doped fiber was utilized to make a fiber-based "hot wire" for wind speed measurement. Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) were fabricated in the cobalt-doped fiber using 193 nm laser pulses to serve as localized temperature sensors. A miniature all-optical fiber anemometer is constructed by using two FBGs to determine the dynamic thermal equilibrium between the laser heating and air flow cooling through monitoring the FBGs' central wavelengths. It was demonstrated that the sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted through the power of pump laser or the coating on the FBG. Experimental results reveal that the proposed FBG-based anemometer exhibits very good performance for wind speed measurement. The resolution of the FBG-based anemometer is about 0.012 m/s for wind speed range between 2.0 m/s and 8.0 m/s.

2μm all fiber multi-wavelength Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Junhong; Jiang, Qiuxia; Wang, Xiaofa

2017-10-01

A 2 μm all fiber multi-wavelength Tm/Ho co-doped fiber laser based on a simple ring cavity is experimentally demonstrated. Compared with other 2 μm multi-wavelength Tm/Ho co-doped fiber lasers, the multi-wavelength fiber laser is obtained by the gain saturation effect and inhomogeneous broadening effect without any frequency selector component, filter component or polarization-dependent component. When the pump power is about 304 mW, the fiber laser enters into single-wavelength working state around 1967.76 nm. Further increasing the pump power to 455 mW, a stable dual-wavelength laser is obtained at room temperature. The bimodal power difference between λ1 and λ2 is 5.528 dB. The fluctuations of wavelength and power are less than 0.03 nm and 0.264 dB in an hour, which demonstrates that the multi-wavelength fiber laser works at a stable state. Furthermore, a research about the relationship between the pump power and the output spectra has been made.

Progress in Cherenkov femtosecond fiber lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Svane, Ask Sebastian; Lægsgaard, Jesper

2016-01-01

systems are highlighted—dependent on the realization scheme, the Cherenkov lasers can generate the femtosecond output tunable across the entire visible and even the UV range, and for certain designs more than 40% conversion efficiency from the pump to Cherenkov signal can be achieved. The femtosecond......We review the recent developments in the field of ultrafast Cherenkov fiber lasers. Two essential properties of such laser systems—broad wavelength tunability and high efficiency of Cherenkov radiation wavelength conversion are discussed. The exceptional performance of the Cherenkov fiber laser...... Cherenkov laser with all-fiber architecture is presented and discussed. Operating in the visible range, it delivers 100–200 fs wavelength-tunable pulses with multimilliwatt output power and exceptionally low noise figure an order of magnitude lower than the traditional wavelength tunable supercontinuumbased...

Advanced ultrafast fiber laser sources enabled by fiber nonlinearities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Wei

2017-05-15

Development of high power/energy ultrafast fiber lasers for scientific research and industrial applications is one of the most exciting fields in ultrafast optics. This thesis demonstrated new means to improve two essential properties - which are indispensable for novel applications such as high-harmonic generation (HHG) and multiphoton microscopy (MPM) - of an ultrafast fiber laser system: energy scaling capability and wavelength tunability. High photon-flux extreme ultraviolet sources enabled by HHG desire high power (>100 W), high repetition-rate (>1 MHz) ultrafast driving laser sources. We have constructed from scratch a high-power Yb-fiber laser system using the well-known chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique. Such a CPA system capable of producing ∝200-W average power consists of a monolithic Yb-fiber oscillator, an all-fiber stretcher, a pre-amplifier chain, a main amplifier constructed from rode-type large pitch fiber, and a diffraction-grating based compressor. To increase the HHG efficiency, ultrafast pulses with duration <60 fs are highly desired. We proposed and demonstrated a novel amplification technique, named as pre-chirp managed amplification (PCMA). We successfully constructed an Yb-fiber based PCMA system that outputs 75-MHz spectrally broadened pulses with >130-W average power. The amplified pulses are compressed to 60-fs pulses with 100-W average power, constituting a suitable HHG driving source. MPM is a powerful biomedical imaging tool, featuring larger penetration depth while providing the capability of optical sectioning. Although femtosecond solid-state lasers have been widely accepted as the standard option as MPM driving sources, fiber-based sources have received growing research efforts due to their superior performance. In the second part of this thesis, we both theoretically and experimentally demonstrated a new method of producing wavelength widely tunable femtosecond pulses for driving MPM. We employed self-phase modulation

Spatial beam shaping using a micro-structured optical fiber and all-fiber laser amplification system for large-scale laser facilities seeding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calvet, Pierre

2014-01-01

Spatial beam shaping is an important topic for the lasers applications. For various industrial areas (marking, drilling, laser-matter interaction, high-power laser seeding...) the optical beam has to be flattened. Currently, the state of the art of the beam shaping: 'free-space' solutions or highly multimode fibers, are not fully suitable. The first ones are very sensitive to any perturbations and the maintenance is challenging, the second ones cannot deliver a coherent beam. For this reason, we present in this manuscript a micro-structured optical single-mode fiber delivering a spatially flattened beam. This 'Top-Hat' fiber can shape any beam in a spatially coherent beam what is a progress with respect to the highly multimode fibers used in the state of the art. The optical fibers are easy to use and very robust, what is a strong benefit with respect to the 'free-space' solutions. Thanks to this fiber, we could realize an all-fiber multi-stage laser chain to amplify a 10 ns pulse to 100 μJ. Moreover the temporal, spectral and spatial properties were preserved. We adapted this 'Top-Hat' fiber to this multi-stage laser chain, we proved the capability and the interest of this fiber for the spatial beam shaping of the laser beams in highly performing and robust laser systems. (author) [fr

Microwave interrogated large core fused silica fiber Michelson interferometer for strain sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Liwei; Song, Yang; Huang, Jie; Lan, Xinwei; Li, Yanjun; Xiao, Hai

2015-08-20

A Michelson-type large core optical fiber sensor has been developed, which is designed based on the optical carrier-based microwave interferometry technique, and fabricated by using two pieces of 200-μm diameter fused silica core fiber as two arms of the Michelson interferometer. The interference fringe pattern caused by the optical path difference of the two arms is interrogated in the microwave domain, where the fringe visibility of 40 dB has easily been obtained. The strain sensing at both room temperature and high temperatures has been demonstrated by using such a sensor. Experimental results show that this sensor has a linear response to the applied strain, and also has relatively low temperature-strain cross talk. The dopant-free quality of the fused silica fiber provides high possibility for the sensor to have promising strain sensing performance in a high temperature environment.

1 Tb/s x km multimode fiber link combining WDM transmission and low-linewidth lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gasulla, I; Capmany, J

2008-05-26

We have successfully demonstrated an error-free transmission of 10 x 20 Gb/s 200 GHz-spaced ITU channels through a 5 km link of 62.5-microm core-diameter graded-index multimode silica fiber. The overall figure corresponds to an aggregate bit rate per length product of 1 Tb/s x km, the highest value ever reported to our knowledge. Successful transmission is achieved by a combination of low-linewidth DFB lasers and the central launch technique.

Advanced specialty fiber designs for high power fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Guancheng

The output power of fiber lasers has increased rapidly over the last decade. There are two major limiting factors, namely nonlinear effects and transverse mode instability, prohibiting the power scaling capability of fiber lasers. The nonlinear effects, originating from high optical intensity, primarily limit the peak power scaling. The mode instability, on the other hand, arises from quantum-defect driven heating, causing undesired mode coupling once the power exceeds the threshold and degradation of beam quality. The mode instability has now become the bottleneck for average output power scaling of fiber lasers. Mode area scaling is the most effective way to mitigate nonlinear effects. However, the use of large mode area may increase the tendency to support multiple modes in the core, resulting in lower mode instability threshold. Therefore, it is critical to maintain single mode operation in a large mode area fiber. Sufficient higher order mode suppression can lead to effective single-transverse-mode propagation. In this dissertation, we explore the feasibility of using specialty fiber to construct high power fiber lasers with robust single-mode output. The first type of fiber discussed is the resonantly-enhanced leakage channel fiber. Coherent reflection at the fiber outer boundary can lead to additional confinement especially for highly leaky HOM, leading to lower HOM losses than what are predicted by conventional finite element mothod mode solver considering infinite cladding. In this work, we conducted careful measurements of HOM losses in two leakage channel fibers (LCF) with circular and rounded hexagonal boundary shapes respectively. Impact on HOM losses from coiling, fiber boundary shapes and coating indexes were studied in comparison to simulations. This work demonstrates the limit of the simulation method commonly used in the large-mode-area fiber designs and the need for an improved approach. More importantly, this work also demonstrates that a

Next-generation fiber lasers enabled by high-performance components

Science.gov (United States)

Kliner, D. A. V.; Victor, B.; Rivera, C.; Fanning, G.; Balsley, D.; Farrow, R. L.; Kennedy, K.; Hampton, S.; Hawke, R.; Soukup, E.; Reynolds, M.; Hodges, A.; Emery, J.; Brown, A.; Almonte, K.; Nelson, M.; Foley, B.; Dawson, D.; Hemenway, D. M.; Urbanek, W.; DeVito, M.; Bao, L.; Koponen, J.; Gross, K.

2018-02-01

Next-generation industrial fiber lasers enable challenging applications that cannot be addressed with legacy fiber lasers. Key features of next-generation fiber lasers include robust back-reflection protection, high power stability, wide power tunability, high-speed modulation and waveform generation, and facile field serviceability. These capabilities are enabled by high-performance components, particularly pump diodes and optical fibers, and by advanced fiber laser designs. We summarize the performance and reliability of nLIGHT diodes, fibers, and next-generation industrial fiber lasers at power levels of 500 W - 8 kW. We show back-reflection studies with up to 1 kW of back-reflected power, power-stability measurements in cw and modulated operation exhibiting sub-1% stability over a 5 - 100% power range, and high-speed modulation (100 kHz) and waveform generation with a bandwidth 20x higher than standard fiber lasers. We show results from representative applications, including cutting and welding of highly reflective metals (Cu and Al) for production of Li-ion battery modules and processing of carbon fiber reinforced polymers.

Thulium distributed-feedback fiber lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agger, Søren Dyøe

2006-01-01

in silica and the fabri- cation, design and characterization of coherent Distributed Feed-Back (DFB) ber lasers incorporating thulium as the active laser medium. Our recent results have proved that single-frequency, single-polarization, narrow-linewidth (tens of kHz) operation of thulium doped DFB ber...... lasers is possible. Demonstrations of single-frequency lasers have, until now, been achieved at 1740 nm, 1984 nm and at a record-breaking 2090 nm. The 1740 nm laser has been boosted to 60 mW of output power with a linewidth of only 3 kHz and implemented in a plug-and-play turnkey system with SMF28-APC...

Properties of Fiber-Reinforced Mortars Incorporating Nano-Silica

OpenAIRE

Ahmed Ghazy; Mohamed T. Bassuoni; Eugene Maguire; Mark O’Loan

2016-01-01

Repair and rehabilitation of deteriorating concrete elements are of significant concern in many infrastructural facilities and remain a challenging task. Concerted research efforts are needed to develop repair materials that are sustainable, durable, and cost-effective. Research data show that fiber-reinforced mortars/concretes have superior performance in terms of volume stability and toughness. In addition, it has been recently reported that nano-silica particles can generally improve the m...

Electrically tunable liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olausson, Christina Bjarnal Thulin; Scolari, Lara; Wei, Lei

2010-01-01

We demonstrate electrical tunability of a fiber laser by using a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber. Tuning of the laser is achieved by combining the wavelength filtering effect of a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber device with an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. We fabricate an al...

Direct diode lasers with comparable beam quality to fiber, CO2, and solid state lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Robin K.; Chann, Bien; Burgess, James; Kaiman, Michael; Overman, Robert; Glenn, John D.; Tayebati, Parviz

2012-03-01

TeraDiode has produced kW-class ultra-high brightness fiber-coupled direct diode lasers. A fiber-coupled direct diode laser with a power level of 2,040 W from a 50 μm core diameter, 0.15 numerical aperture (NA) output fiber at a single center wavelength was demonstrated. This was achieved with a novel beam combining and shaping technique using COTS diode lasers. The fiber-coupled output corresponds to a Beam Parameter Product (BPP) of 3.75 mm-mrad and is the lowest BPP kW-class direct diode laser yet reported. This laser is suitable for industrial materials processing applications, including sheet metal cutting and welding. This 2-kW fiber-coupled direct diode laser has comparable brightness to that of industrial fiber lasers and CO2 lasers, and is over 10x brighter than state-of-the-art direct diode lasers.

Comparing the use of 4.6 um lasers versus 10.6 um lasers for mitigating damage site growth on fused silica surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, S T; Matthews, M J; Elhadj, S; Cooke, D; Guss, G M; Draggoo, V G; Wegner, P J

2010-10-21

The advantage of using mid-infrared (IR) 4.6 {micro}m lasers, versus far-infrared 10.6 {micro}m lasers, for mitigating damage growth on fused silica is investigated. In contrast to fused silica's high absorption at 10.6 {micro}m, silica absorption at 4.6 {micro}m is two orders of magnitude less. The much reduced absorption at 4.6 {micro}m enables deep heat penetration into fused silica when it is heated using the mid-IR laser, which in turn leads to more effective mitigation of damage sites with deep cracks. The advantage of using mid-IR versus far-IR laser for damage growth mitigation under non-evaporative condition is quantified by defining a figure of merit (FOM) that relates the crack healing depth to laser power required. Based on our FOM, we show that for damage cracks up to at least 500 {micro}m in depth, mitigation using a 4.6 {micro}m mid-IR laser is more efficient than mitigation using a 10.6 {micro}m far-IR laser.

Compact 84 GHz passive mode-locked fiber laser using dual-fiber coupled fused-quartz microresonator

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tze-An; Hsu, Yung; Chow, Chi-Wai; Chuang, Yi-Chen; Ting, Wei-Jo; Wang, Bo-Chun; Peng, Jin-Long; Chen, Guan-Hong; Chang, Yuan-Chia

2017-10-01

We propose and demonstrate a compact and portable-size 84-GHz passive mode-locked fiber laser, in which a dual-fiber coupled fused-quartz microresonator is employed as the intracavity optical comb filter as well as the optical nonlinear material for optical frequency comb generation. About eight coherent optical tones can be generated in the proposed fiber laser. The 20-dB bandwidth is larger than 588 GHz. The full-width half-maximum pulse-width of the proposed laser is 2.5 ps. We also demonstrate the feasibility of using the proposed passive mode-locked fiber laser to carry a 5-Gbit/s on-off-keying signal and transmit over 20-km standard single mode fiber. A 7% forward error correction requirement can be achieved, showing the proposed fiber laser can be a potential candidate for fiber-wireless applications.

Measurements of effective noise temperature in fused silica fiber violin modes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bilenko, I.A.; Lourie, S.L

2002-11-25

The results of measurements of the effective noise temperature in fused silica fiber violin modes are presented. In these measurements the fibers were stressed and value of the effective noise temperature was obtained by direct observation of oscillations in the fundamental violin modes of several samples. Measured values indicate that effective noise temperature does not exceed the room temperature significantly. This result is important for the design of the advanced gravitational wave antennae.

High power operation of cladding pumped holmium-doped silica fibre lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemming, Alexander; Bennetts, Shayne; Simakov, Nikita; Davidson, Alan; Haub, John; Carter, Adrian

2013-02-25

We report the highest power operation of a resonantly cladding-pumped, holmium-doped silica fibre laser. The cladding pumped all-glass fibre utilises a fluorine doped glass layer to provide low loss cladding guidance of the 1.95 µm pump radiation. The operation of both single mode and large-mode area fibre lasers was demonstrated, with up to 140 W of output power achieved. A slope efficiency of 59% versus launched pump power was demonstrated. The free running emission was measured to be 2.12-2.15 µm demonstrating the potential of this architecture to address the long wavelength operation of silica based fibre lasers with high efficiency.

Photonic crystal fibers for supercontinuum generation pumped by a gain-switched CW fiber laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Casper; Noordegraaf, Danny; Hansen, Kim P.

2012-01-01

Supercontinuum generation in photonics crystal fibers (PCFs) pumped by CW lasers yields high spectral power density and average power. However, such systems require very high pump power and long nonlinear fibers. By on/off modulating the pump diodes of the fiber laser, the relaxation oscillations...... of the laser can be exploited to enhance the broadening process. The physics behind the supercontinuum generation is investigated by sweeping the fiber length, the zero dispersion wavelength, and the fiber nonlinearity. We show that by applying gain-switching a high average output power of up to 30 W can...

Effect of low dose rate irradiation on doped silica core optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friebele, E.J.; Askins, C.G.; Gingerich, M.E.

1984-01-01

The optical attenuation induced in multimode doped silica core optical fiber waveguides by a year's exposure to low dose rate (1 rad/day) ionizing radiation was studied, allowing a characterization of fibers deployed in these environments and a determination of the permanent induced loss in the waveguides. Variations in the induced attenuation at 0.85 μm have been observed with changes in the dose rate between 1 rad/day and 9000 rads/min. These dose rate dependences have been found to derive directly from the recovery that occurs during the exposure; the recovery data predict little or no dose rate dependence of the damage at 1.3 μm. The low dose rate exposure has been found to induce significant permanent attenuation in the 0.7-1.7-μm spectral region in all fibers containing P in the core, whether doped uniformly across the diameter or constrained to a narrow spike on the centerline. Whereas permanent loss was induced at 0.85 μm in a P-free binary Ge-doped silica core fiber by the year's exposure, virtually no damage was observed at 1.3 μm

PM Raman fiber laser at 1679 nm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svane, Ask Sebastian; Rottwitt, Karsten

2012-01-01

We demonstrate a PM Raman fiber laser emitting light at 1679 nm. The laser has an slope efficiency of 67 % and an output power of more than 275mWwith a 27 pm linewidth.......We demonstrate a PM Raman fiber laser emitting light at 1679 nm. The laser has an slope efficiency of 67 % and an output power of more than 275mWwith a 27 pm linewidth....

Multipoint fiber-optic laser-ultrasonic actuator based on fiber core-opened tapers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jiajun; Dong, Xiaolong; Gao, Shimin; Yao, Yong

2017-11-27

In this study, a novel fiber-optic, multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator based on fiber core-opened tapers (COTs) is proposed and demonstrated. The COTs were fabricated by splicing single-mode fibers using a standard fiber splicer. A COT can effectively couple part of a core mode into cladding modes, and the coupling ratio can be controlled by adjusting the taper length. Such characteristics are used to obtain a multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator with balanced signal strength by reasonably controlling the taper lengths of the COTs. As a prototype, we constructed an actuator that generated ultrasound at four points with a balanced ultrasonic strength by connecting four COTs with coupling ratios of 24.5%, 33.01%, 49.51%, and 87.8% in a fiber link. This simple-to-fabricate, multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator with balanced ultrasound signal strength has potential applications in fiber-optic ultrasound testing technology.

Effects of curing type, silica fume fineness, and fiber length on the mechanical properties and impact resistance of UHPFRC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasan Şahan Arel

Full Text Available The effects of silica fume fineness and fiber aspect ratio on the compressive strength and impact resistance of ultra high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC are investigated experimentally. To this end, UHPFRC mixtures are manufactured by combining silica fumes with different fineness (specific surface areas: 17,200, 20,000, and 27,600 m2/kg and hooked-end steel fibers with various aspect ratios (lengths: 8, 13, and 16 mm. The samples are subjected to standard curing, steam curing, and hot-water curing. Compressive strength tests are conducted after 7-, 28-, 56-, and 90-day curing periods, and an impact resistance experiment is performed after the 90th day. A steam-cured mixture of silica fumes with a specific surface area of 27,600 m2/kg and 16-mm-long fibers produce better results than the other mixtures in terms of mechanical properties. Moreover, impact resistance increases with the fiber aspect ratio. Keywords: Curing, Fineness, UHPFRC, Mechanical properties, Fiber

Particle damage sources for fused silica optics and their mitigation on high energy laser systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bude, J; Carr, C W; Miller, P E; Parham, T; Whitman, P; Monticelli, M; Raman, R; Cross, D; Welday, B; Ravizza, F; Suratwala, T; Davis, J; Fischer, M; Hawley, R; Lee, H; Matthews, M; Norton, M; Nostrand, M; VanBlarcom, D; Sommer, S

2017-05-15

High energy laser systems are ultimately limited by laser-induced damage to their critical components. This is especially true of damage to critical fused silica optics, which grows rapidly upon exposure to additional laser pulses. Much progress has been made in eliminating damage precursors in as-processed fused silica optics (the advanced mitigation process, AMP3), and very high damage resistance has been demonstrated in laboratory studies. However, the full potential of these improvements has not yet been realized in actual laser systems. In this work, we explore the importance of additional damage sources-in particular, particle contamination-for fused silica optics fielded in a high-performance laser environment, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser system. We demonstrate that the most dangerous sources of particle contamination in a system-level environment are laser-driven particle sources. In the specific case of the NIF laser, we have identified the two important particle sources which account for nearly all the damage observed on AMP3 optics during full laser operation and present mitigations for these particle sources. Finally, with the elimination of these laser-driven particle sources, we demonstrate essentially damage free operation of AMP3 fused silica for ten large optics (a total of 12,000 cm 2 of beam area) for shots from 8.6 J/cm 2 to 9.5 J/cm 2 of 351 nm light (3 ns Gaussian pulse shapes). Potentially many other pulsed high energy laser systems have similar particle sources, and given the insight provided by this study, their identification and elimination should be possible. The mitigations demonstrated here are currently being employed for all large UV silica optics on the National Ignition Facility.

Poly(ethyleneimine) infused and functionalized Torlon®-silica hollow fiber sorbents for post-combustion CO2 capture

KAUST Repository

Li, Fuyue Stephanie

2014-03-01

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials functionalized with amine-containing reagents are emerging as an important class of materials for capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas. Polymeric silica hollow fiber sorbents are fabricated through the proven dry-jet/wet-quench spinning process. In our study, a new technique for functionalizing polymeric silica hollow fiber sorbents with poly(ethyleneimine), followed by a post-spinning infusion step was studied. This two step process introduces a sufficient amount of poly(ethyleneimine) to the polymeric silica hybrid material support to improve the CO2 sorption capacity due to the added amine groups. The poly(ethyleneimine) infused and functionalized hollow fiber sorbents are also characterized by a thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) to assess their CO2 sorption capacities. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of long ring Raman fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Sukhanov, Sergey V.; Melnikov, Leonid A.; Mazhirina, Yulia A.

2016-04-01

The numerical model for dynamics of long fiber ring Raman laser is proposed. The model is based on the transport equations and Courant-Isaacson-Rees numerical method. Different regimes of a long ring fiber Raman laser are investigated.

Self-induced laser line sweeping in double-clad Yb-doped fiber-ring lasers

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Peterka, Pavel; Navrátil, P.; Maria, J.; Dussardier, B.; Slavík, Radan; Honzátko, Pavel; Kubeček, V.

2012-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 6 (2012), s. 445-450 ISSN 1612-2011 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) ME10119 Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : fiber laser * tunable laser * ytterbium Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 7.714, year: 2012

All fiber cladding mode stripper with uniform heat distribution and high cladding light loss manufactured by CO2 laser ablation

Science.gov (United States)

Jebali, M. A.; Basso, E. T.

2018-02-01

Cladding mode strippers are primarily used at the end of a fiber laser cavity to remove high-power excess cladding light without inducing core loss and beam quality degradation. Conventional manufacturing methods of cladding mode strippers include acid etching, abrasive blasting or laser ablation. Manufacturing of cladding mode strippers using laser ablation consist of removing parts of the cladding by fused silica ablation with a controlled penetration and shape. We present and characterize an optimized cladding mode stripper design that increases the cladding light loss with a minimal device length and manufacturing time. This design reduces the localized heat generation by improving the heat distribution along the device. We demonstrate a cladding mode stripper written on a 400um fiber with cladding light loss of 20dB, with less than 0.02dB loss in the core and minimal heating of the fiber and coating. The manufacturing process of the designed component is fully automated and takes less than 3 minutes with a very high throughput yield.

Laser dynamics of asynchronous rational harmonic mode-locked fiber soliton lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jyu, Siao-Shan; Jiang, Guo-Hao; Lai, Yinchieh

2013-01-01

Laser dynamics of asynchronous rational harmonic mode-locked (ARHM) fiber soliton lasers are investigated in detail. In particular, based on the unique laser dynamics of asynchronous mode-locking, we have developed a new method for determining the effective active modulation strength in situ for ARHM lasers. By measuring the magnitudes of the slowly oscillating pulse timing position and central frequency, the effective phase modulation strength at the multiplication frequency of rational harmonic mode-locking can be accurately inferred. The method can be a very useful tool for developing ARHM fiber lasers. (paper)

Advances in high power linearly polarized fiber laser and its application

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Pu; Huang, Long; Ma, Pengfei; Xu, Jiangming; Su, Rongtao; Wang, Xiaolin

2017-10-01

Fiber lasers are now attracting more and more research interest due to their advantages in efficiency, beam quality and flexible operation. Up to now, most of the high power fiber lasers have random distributed polarization state. Linearlypolarized (LP) fiber lasers, which could find wide application potential in coherent detection, coherent/spectral beam combining, nonlinear frequency conversion, have been a research focus in recent years. In this paper, we will present a general review on the achievements of various kinds of high power linear-polarized fiber laser and its application. The recent progress in our group, including power scaling by using power amplifier with different mechanism, high power linearly polarized fiber laser with diversified properties, and various applications of high power linear-polarized fiber laser, are summarized. We have achieved 100 Watt level random distributed feedback fiber laser, kilowatt level continuous-wave (CW) all-fiber polarization-maintained fiber amplifier, 600 watt level average power picosecond polarization-maintained fiber amplifier and 300 watt level average power femtosecond polarization-maintained fiber amplifier. In addition, high power linearly polarized fiber lasers have been successfully applied in 5 kilowatt level coherent beam combining, structured light field and ultrasonic generation.

Evolution of Oxygen Deficiency Center on Fused Silica Surface Irradiated by Ultraviolet Laser and Posttreatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hai-Bing Lü

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Evolution of oxygen deficiency centers (ODCs on a fused silica surface irradiated using a 355 nm ultraviolet (UV laser beam in both vacuum and atmospheric conditions was quantitatively studied using photoluminescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When the fusedsilica surface was exposed to the UV laser in vacuum, the laser damage threshold was decreased whereas the concentration of the ODCs was increased. For the fuse silica operated under the high power lasers, creation of ODCs on their surface resulted from the UV laser irradiation, and this is more severe in a high vacuum. The laser fluence and/or laser intensity have significant effects on the increase of the ODCs concentration. The ODCs can be effectively repaired using postoxygen plasma treatment and UV laser irradiation in an excessive oxygen environment. Results also demonstrated that the “gain” and “loss” of oxygen at the silica surface is a reversible and dynamic process.

All-fiber polarization switch

Science.gov (United States)

Knape, Harald; Margulis, Walter

2007-03-01

We report an all-fiber polarization switch made out of silica-based microstructured fiber suitable for Q-switching all-fiber lasers. Nanosecond high-voltage pulses are used to heat and expand an internal electrode to cause λ/2-polarization rotation in less than 10 ns for 1.5 μm light. The 10 cm long component has an experimentally measured optical insertion loss of 0.2 dB and a 0-10 kHz repetition frequency capacity and has been durability tested for more than 109 pulses.

Quality and performance of laser cutting with a high power SM fiber laser

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Morten; Selchau, Jacob; Olsen, F. O.

2013-01-01

The introduction of high power single mode fiber lasers allows for a beam of high power and a good beam quality factor (M2 ” 1.2), compared to the multimode fiber lasers often utilised in macro laser metal cutting. This paper describes fundamental studies of macro laser metal cutting with a singl...

Single-mode fiber laser based on core-cladding mode conversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Shigeru; Schülzgen, Axel; Peyghambarian, N

2008-02-15

A single-mode fiber laser based on an intracavity core-cladding mode conversion is demonstrated. The fiber laser consists of an Er-doped active fiber and two fiber Bragg gratings. One Bragg grating is a core-cladding mode converter, and the other Bragg grating is a narrowband high reflector that selects the lasing wavelength. Coupling a single core mode and a single cladding mode by the grating mode converter, the laser operates as a hybrid single-mode laser. This approach for designing a laser cavity provides a much larger mode area than conventional large-mode-area step-index fibers.

Tunable Fiber Bragg Grating Ring Lasers using Macro Fiber Composite Actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Geddis, Demetris L.; Allison, Sidney G.; Shams, Qamar A.

2006-01-01

The research reported herein includes the fabrication of a tunable optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) fiber ring laser (FRL)1 from commercially available components as a high-speed alternative tunable laser source for NASA Langley s optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR) interrogator, which reads low reflectivity FBG sensors. A Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) actuator invented at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) was selected to tune the laser. MFC actuators use a piezoelectric sheet cut into uniaxially aligned rectangular piezo-fibers surrounded by a polymer matrix and incorporate interdigitated electrodes to deliver electric fields along the length of the piezo-fibers. This configuration enables MFC actuators to produce displacements larger than the original uncut piezoelectric sheet. The FBG filter was sandwiched between two MFC actuators, and when strained, produced approximately 3.62 nm of wavelength shift in the FRL when biasing the MFC actuators from 500 V to 2000 V. This tunability range is comparable to that of other tunable lasers and is adequate for interrogating FBG sensors using OFDR technology. Three different FRL configurations were studied. Configuration A examined the importance of erbium-doped fiber length and output coupling. Configuration B demonstrated the importance of the FBG filter. Configuration C added an output coupler to increase the output power and to isolate the filter. Only configuration C was tuned because it offered the best optical power output of the three configurations. Use of Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) FBG s holds promise for enhanced tunability in future research.

Fabrication Quality Analysis of a Fiber Optic Refractive Index Sensor Created by CO2 Laser Machining

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Te Wu

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the CO2 laser-stripped partial cladding of silica-based optic fibers with a core diameter of 400 μm, which enables them to sense the refractive index of the surrounding environment. However, inappropriate treatments during the machining process can generate a number of defects in the optic fiber sensors. Therefore, the quality of optic fiber sensors fabricated using CO2 laser machining must be analyzed. The results show that analysis of the fiber core size after machining can provide preliminary defect detection, and qualitative analysis of the optical transmission defects can be used to identify imperfections that are difficult to observe through size analysis. To more precisely and quantitatively detect fabrication defects, we included a tensile test and numerical aperture measurements in this study. After a series of quality inspections, we proposed improvements to the existing CO2 laser machining parameters, namely, a vertical scanning pathway, 4 W of power, and a feed rate of 9.45 cm/s. Using these improved parameters, we created optical fiber sensors with a core diameter of approximately 400 μm, no obvious optical transmission defects, a numerical aperture of 0.52 ± 0.019, a 0.886 Weibull modulus, and a 1.186 Weibull-shaped parameter. Finally, we used the optical fiber sensor fabricated using the improved parameters to measure the refractive indices of various solutions. The results show that a refractive-index resolution of 1.8 × 10−4 RIU (linear fitting R2 = 0.954 was achieved for sucrose solutions with refractive indices ranging between 1.333 and 1.383. We also adopted the particle plasmon resonance sensing scheme using the fabricated optical fibers. The results provided additional information, specifically, a superior sensor resolution of 5.73 × 10−5 RIU, and greater linearity at R2 = 0.999.

Analysis of the dependence of the guided mode field distribution on the silica bridges in hollow-core Bragg fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selleri, S.; Poli, F.; Foroni, M.

2007-01-01

The guiding properties of fabricated air-silica Bragg fibers with different geometric characteristics have been numerically investigated through a modal solver based on the finite element method. The method has been used to compute the dispersion curves, the loss spectra and the field distribution...... of the modes sustained by the Bragg fibers under investigation. In particular, the silica bridge influence on the fundamental mode has been analyzed, by considering structures with different cross sections, that is an ideal Bragg fiber, without the silica nonosupports, a squared air-hole one and, finally......, a rounded air-hole one, which better describes the real fiber transverse section. Results have shown.the presence of anti-crossing points in the effective index curves associated with the transition of the guided mode to a surface mode. Moreover, it has been verified that these surface modes are responsible...

Fiber facet gratings for high power fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Vanek, Martin; Vanis, Jan; Baravets, Yauhen; Todorov, Filip; Ctyroky, Jiri; Honzatko, Pavel

2017-12-01

We numerically investigated the properties of diffraction gratings designated for fabrication on the facet of an optical fiber. The gratings are intended to be used in high-power fiber lasers as mirrors either with a low or high reflectivity. The modal reflectance of low reflectivity polarizing grating has a value close to 3% for TE mode while it is significantly suppressed for TM mode. Such a grating can be fabricated on laser output fiber facet. The polarizing grating with high modal reflectance is designed as a leaky-mode resonant diffraction grating. The grating can be etched in a thin layer of high index dielectric which is sputtered on fiber facet. We used refractive index of Ta2O5 for such a layer. We found that modal reflectance can be close to 0.95 for TE polarization and polarization extinction ratio achieves 18 dB. Rigorous coupled wave analysis was used for fast optimization of grating parameters while aperiodic rigorous coupled wave analysis, Fourier modal method and finite difference time domain method were compared and used to compute modal reflectance of designed gratings.

A cladding-pumped, tunable holmium doped fiber laser.

Science.gov (United States)

Simakov, Nikita; Hemming, Alexander; Clarkson, W Andrew; Haub, John; Carter, Adrian

2013-11-18

We present a tunable, high power cladding-pumped holmium doped fiber laser. The laser generated >15 W CW average power across a wavelength range of 2.043 - 2.171 μm, with a maximum output power of 29.7 W at 2.120 μm. The laser also produced 18.2 W when operating at 2.171 µm. To the best of our knowledge this is the highest power operation of a holmium doped laser at a wavelength >2.15 µm. We discuss the significance of background losses and fiber design for achieving efficient operation in holmium doped fibers.

Improvement of a triple-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser using a Fabry–Perot laser diode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, P C; Hu, H L; Wang, J B

2013-01-01

This work demonstrates the feasibility of a simple construct of a tunable triple-wavelength fiber ring laser using a Fabry–Perot laser diode (FP-LD) and an optical tunable bandpass filter. An optical tunable bandpass filter is used within the cavity of an erbium-doped fiber laser to select the lasing wavelength. Because the Fabry–Perot laser diode is in combination with the tunable bandpass filter, the erbium-doped fiber laser can stably lase three wavelengths simultaneously. Moreover, this laser is easily tuned dynamically. This triple-wavelength output performs satisfactorily, with its optical side-mode-suppression-ratio (SMSR) exceeding 40 dB. Furthermore, the wavelength tuning range of this triple-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is greater than 27 nm. (paper)

Reverse spontaneous laser line sweeping in ytterbium fiber laser

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Navrátil, Petr; Peterka, Pavel; Honzátko, Pavel; Kubeček, V.

2017-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 3 (2017), č. článku 035102. ISSN 1612-2011 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-13306S Institutional support: RVO:67985882 ; RVO:68378271 Keywords : laser line sweeping * ytterbium * fiber lasers Subject RIV: BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers; BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers (FZU-D) OBOR OECD: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics); Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics) (FZU-D) Impact factor: 2.537, year: 2016

Strategy and method for nanoporous cladding formation on silica optical fiber

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chen, H.; Tian, F.; Liu, K.; Kaňka, Jiří; Du, H.

2016-01-01

Roč. 41, č. 12 (2016), s. 2831-2834 ISSN 0146-9592 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP205/12/G118 Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Fabrication strategies * Optical fiber fabrication * Silica Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 3.416, year: 2016

Optical characteristics of modified fiber tips in single fiber, laser Doppler flowmetry

Science.gov (United States)

Oberg, P. Ake; Cai, Hongming; Rohman, Hakan; Larsson, Sven-Erik

1994-02-01

Percutaneous laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and bipolar surface electromyography (EMG) were used simultaneously for measurement of skeletal muscle (trapezius) perfusion in relation to static load and fatigue. On-line computer (386 SX) processing of the LDF- and EMG- signals made possible interpretation of the relationship between the perfusion and the activity of the muscle. The single fiber laser Doppler technique was used in order to minimize the trauma. A ray-tracing program was developed in the C language by which the optical properties of the fiber and fiber ends could be simulated. Isoirradiance graphs were calculated for three fiber end types and the radiance characteristics were measured for each fiber end. The three types of fiber-tips were evaluated and compared in flow model measurements.

The effect of different dopant concentration of tailor-made silica fibers in radiotherapy dosimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Begum, Mahfuza; Mizanur Rahman, A. K. M.; Zubair, H. T.; Abdul-Rashid, H. A.; Yusoff, Z.; Begum, Mahbuba; Alkhorayef, M.; Alzimami, K.; Bradley, D. A.

2017-12-01

In thermoluminescence (TL) material dopant concentration has an important effect on their characteristics as a ;radiation-sensor;. The study investigates dosimetric properties of four different concentration (4 mol%, 5 mol%, 7 mol% and 25 mol%) tailor-made Ge-doped silica fibers. The intention is to seek development of alternative TL materials that offer exceptional advantages over existing passive systems of dosimetry, including improved spatial resolution, a water impervious nature and low cost. Photon beams (6 MV and 10 MV) from a clinical linear accelerator were used for irradiation of the fiber samples over radiation therapy doses, ranging from 0.5 Gy to 8 Gy. SEM-EDX analysis was also performed to investigate the homogeneity of distribution of Ge dopant concentration from the fiber samples. The results of measurement were also compared with two of the more commonly used standard TLDs, TLD-100 (LiF: Mg,Ti-7.5% 6LiF) and TLD-700 ((7LiF: Mg,Ti-99.9%7LiF) chips respectively. The TL intensity of the fiber samples was found to strongly depend on Ge dopant concentration, with samples showing enhanced TL yields with decreasing Ge dopant concentration. 4 mol% Ge-doped silica fiber provided the greatest response whereas the 25 mol% samples showed the least, indicative of the well-known concentration quenching effects All fiber TLDs provided linear dose response over the delivered radiotherapy dose-range, the fibers also showing a weak dependence on photon beam energies in comparing the TL yields at 6 and 10 MV. The fading behavior of the different concentration Ge doped TLD-materials were also measured over a period of thirty (30) days subsequent to irradiation. The relative sensitivity of the samples with respect to standard TLD-100 were found to be 0.37, 0.26, 0.13 and 0.02 in respect of the 4, 5, 7 and 25 mol% fibers. The primary dosimetry peak, which was by far the most prominent of any other feature covered by the glow curve, was found to be around 244 °C using

Visible high power fiber coupled diode lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Köhler, Bernd; Drovs, Simon; Stoiber, Michael; Dürsch, Sascha; Kissel, Heiko; Könning, Tobias; Biesenbach, Jens; König, Harald; Lell, Alfred; Stojetz, Bernhard; Löffler, Andreas; Strauß, Uwe

2018-02-01

In this paper we report on further development of fiber coupled high-power diode lasers in the visible spectral range. New visible laser modules presented in this paper include the use of multi single emitter arrays @ 450 nm leading to a 120 W fiber coupled unit with a beam quality of 44 mm x mrad, as well as very compact modules with multi-W output power from 405 nm to 640 nm. However, as these lasers are based on single emitters, power scaling quickly leads to bulky laser units with a lot of optical components to be aligned. We also report on a new approach based on 450 nm diode laser bars, which dramatically reduces size and alignment effort. These activities were performed within the German government-funded project "BlauLas": a maximum output power of 80 W per bar has been demonstrated @ 450 nm. We show results of a 200 μm NA0.22 fiber coupled 35 W source @ 450 nm, which has been reduced in size by a factor of 25 compared to standard single emitter approach. In addition, we will present a 200 μm NA0.22 fiber coupled laser unit with an output power of 135 W.

Low loss mid-IR transmission bands using silica hollow-core anisotropic anti-resonant fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Habib, Selim; Bang, Ole; Bache, Morten

2016-01-01

In this paper, a node-free anisotropic hollow-core anti-resonant fiber has been proposed to give low transmission loss in the near-IR to mid-IR spectral regime. The proposed silica-based fiber design shows transmission loss below 10 dB/km at 2.94 μm with multiple low loss transmission bands. Tran...

Self-stabilization of a mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser using a photonic bandgap fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2010-01-01

We demonstrate a self-stabilization mechanism of a semiconductor saturable absorber mode-locked linearcavity Yb-doped fiber laser using an intracavity photonic bandgap fiber. This mechanism relies on the spectral shift of the laser pulses to a spectral range of higher anomalous dispersion...... and higher loss of the photonic bandgap fiber, as a reaction to the intracavity power buildup. This, in particular, results in a smaller cavity loss for the stably mode-locked laser, as opposed to the Q-switched mode-locking scenario. The laser provides stable 39–49 pJ pulses of around 230 fs duration at 29...

Femtosecond Laser Structuring in Optical Fiber and Transparent Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Herman Peter R.

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Femtosecond laser processing is optimized for writing optical circuits, optical resonators, and microfluidic devices inside the cladding of single-mode optical fiber that couple efficiently with the fiber core waveguide. The laser processes open new directions towards Labon-a-Fiber.

High-Power ZBLAN Glass Fiber Lasers: Review and Prospect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiushan Zhu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available ZBLAN (ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF, considered as the most stable heavy metal fluoride glass and the excellent host for rare-earth ions, has been extensively used for efficient and compact ultraviolet, visible, and infrared fiber lasers due to its low intrinsic loss, wide transparency window, and small phonon energy. In this paper, the historical progress and the properties of fluoride glasses and the fabrication of ZBLAN fibers are briefly described. Advances of infrared, upconversion, and supercontinuum ZBLAN fiber lasers are addressed in detail. Finally, constraints on the power scaling of ZBLAN fiber lasers are analyzed and discussed. ZBLAN fiber lasers are showing promise of generating high-power emissions covering from ultraviolet to mid-infrared considering the recent advances in newly designed optical fibers, beam-shaped high-power pump diodes, beam combining techniques, and heat-dissipating technology.

Diode lasers optimized in brightness for fiber laser pumping

Science.gov (United States)

Kelemen, M.; Gilly, J.; Friedmann, P.; Hilzensauer, S.; Ogrodowski, L.; Kissel, H.; Biesenbach, J.

2018-02-01

In diode laser applications for fiber laser pumping and fiber-coupled direct diode laser systems high brightness becomes essential in the last years. Fiber coupled modules benefit from continuous improvements of high-power diode lasers on chip level regarding output power, efficiency and beam characteristics resulting in record highbrightness values and increased pump power. To gain high brightness not only output power must be increased, but also near field widths and far field angles have to be below a certain value for higher power levels because brightness is proportional to output power divided by beam quality. While fast axis far fields typically show a current independent behaviour, for broadarea lasers far-fields in the slow axis suffer from a strong current and temperature dependence, limiting the brightness and therefore their use in fibre coupled modules. These limitations can be overcome by carefully optimizing chip temperature, thermal lensing and lateral mode structure by epitaxial and lateral resonator designs and processing. We present our latest results for InGaAs/AlGaAs broad-area single emitters with resonator lengths of 4mm emitting at 976nm and illustrate the improvements in beam quality over the last years. By optimizing the diode laser design a record value of the brightness for broad-area lasers with 4mm resonator length of 126 MW/cm2sr has been demonstrated with a maximum wall-plug efficiency of more than 70%. From these design also pump modules based on 9 mini-bars consisting of 5 emitters each have been realized with 360W pump power.

Abrasion Properties of Steel Fiber Reinforced Silica Fume Concrete According to Los Angeles and Water Abrasion Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsan-Ching CHENG

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The current study mainly investigated the influence of different tests on the abrasion resistance of concrete mixed with steel fibers and silica fume. The abrasion resistance was assessed at 28, 56 and 91 days on concretes with water-binder ratios of 0.35 and 0.55 where in some mixes silica fume was substituted by 5 % of cement by weight. Steel fibers of 0.5 % and 1.0 % of concrete volume were also added into the test concrete by replacement of coarse and fine aggregates. The results showed that concrete with higher compressive strength in Los Angeles abrasion tests also had better abrasion resistance. The inclusion of steel fibers into test concrete with a water-binder ratio of 0.35 resulted in a significant increase in compressive strength. This concrete also displayed better abrasion resistance and splitting tensile strength than reference concrete; in the test sample with a water-binder ratio of 0.55, the added steel fibers was unable to effectively produce cementation with the concrete. The inclusion of silica fume improved the abrasion resistance of concretes. In water abrasion testing, the abrasion resistance of concrete containing steel fiber was worse than that of concrete without steel fibers. In the water abrasion testing, the surface of steel fiber reinforced concrete was eroded by water and steel balls, and the impact caused the steel fibers to separate from the concrete and led to higher wear loss. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.20.4.6460

Efficient Ho:YLF laser pumped by a Tm:fiber laser

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Koen, W

2013-10-01

Full Text Available A thulium fiber laser pumped Ho:YLF laser delivering 45.1 W in a near diffraction limited beam when pumped with 84.7 W is demonstrated. The optical-to-optical efficiency of 53 % compares favorably with similar Ho:YAG lasers....

Three-dimensional graphene based passively mode-locked fiber laser.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Y; Loeblein, M; Tsang, S H; Chow, K K; Teo, E H T

2014-12-15

We present an all-fiber passively mode-locked fiber laser incorporating three-dimensional (3D) graphene as a saturable absorber (SA) for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The 3D graphene is synthesized by template-directed chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The SA is then simply formed by sandwiching the freestanding 3D graphene between two conventional fiber connectors without any deposition process. It is demonstrated that such 3D graphene based SA is capable to produce high quality mode-locked pulses. A passively mode-locked fiber laser is constructed and stable output pulses with a fundamental repetition rate of ~9.9 MHz and a pulse width of ~1 ps are generated from the fiber laser. The average output power of the laser is ~10.5 mW while the output pulse is operating at single pulse region. The results imply that the freestanding 3D graphene can be applied as an effective saturable absorption material for passively mode-locked lasers.

Gain-switched all-fiber lasers and quasi-continuous wave supercontinuum generation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Casper

The extreme broadening phenomenon of supercontinuum (SC) generation in optical fibers is the basis of SC laser sources. These sources have numerous applications in areas, such as spectroscopy and microscopy due to the unique combination of extremely broad spectral bandwidths, high spectral power...... densities, and high spatial coherence. In this work the feasibility of applying gain-switched all-fiber lasers to SC generation is investigated. It is motivated by the simplicity of the architecture and the ability to scale the optical output power of such fiber lasers. The physics of fiber lasers......-switching of fiber lasers with a variety of different configurations are carried out. The peak power, pulse duration, bandwidth, and scaling with repetition rate are thoroughly described. General guidelines are submitted to enable designing of gainswitched fiber lasers with specifically tailored properties...

High Average Power, High Energy Short Pulse Fiber Laser System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Messerly, M J

2007-11-13

Recently continuous wave fiber laser systems with output powers in excess of 500W with good beam quality have been demonstrated [1]. High energy, ultrafast, chirped pulsed fiber laser systems have achieved record output energies of 1mJ [2]. However, these high-energy systems have not been scaled beyond a few watts of average output power. Fiber laser systems are attractive for many applications because they offer the promise of high efficiency, compact, robust systems that are turn key. Applications such as cutting, drilling and materials processing, front end systems for high energy pulsed lasers (such as petawatts) and laser based sources of high spatial coherence, high flux x-rays all require high energy short pulses and two of the three of these applications also require high average power. The challenge in creating a high energy chirped pulse fiber laser system is to find a way to scale the output energy while avoiding nonlinear effects and maintaining good beam quality in the amplifier fiber. To this end, our 3-year LDRD program sought to demonstrate a high energy, high average power fiber laser system. This work included exploring designs of large mode area optical fiber amplifiers for high energy systems as well as understanding the issues associated chirped pulse amplification in optical fiber amplifier systems.

Some Properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Magnetic Reactive Powder Concrete Containing Nano Silica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zain El-Abdin Raouf

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study involves the design of 24 mixtures of fiber reinforced magnetic reactive powder concrete containing nano silica. Tap water was used for 12 of these mixtures, while magnetic water was used for the others. The nano silica (NS with ratios (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 % by weight of cement, were used for all the mixtures. The results have shown that the mixture containing 2.5% NS gives the highest compressive strength at age 7 days. Many different other tests were carried out, the results have shown that the carbon fiber reinforced magnetic reactive powder concrete containing 2.5% NS (CFRMRPCCNS had higher compressive strength, modulus of rupture, splitting tension, stress in compression and strain in compression than the corresponding values for the carbon fiber reinforced nonmagnetic reactive powder concrete containing the same ratio of NS (CFRNRPCCNS. The percentage increase in these values for CFRMRPCCNS were (22.37, 17.96, 19.44, 6.44 and 25.8 % at 28 days respectively, as compared with the corresponding CFRNRPCCNS mixtures.

ytterbium- & erbium-doped silica for planar waveguide lasers & amplifiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dyndgaard, Morten Glarborg

2001-01-01

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate ytterbium doped planar components and investigate the possibilities of making erbium/ytterbium codoped planar waveguides in germano-silica glass. Furthermore, tools for modelling lasers and erbium/ytterbium doped amplifiers. The planar waveguides were...

Laser-Induced Damage Growth on Larger-Aperture Fused Silica Optical Components at 351 nm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wan-Qing, Huang; Wei, Han; Fang, Wang; Yong, Xiang; Fu-Quan, Li; Bin, Feng; Feng, Jing; Xiao-Feng, Wei; Wan-Guo, Zheng; Xiao-Min, Zhang

2009-01-01

Laser-induced damage is a key lifetime limiter for optics in high-power laser facility. Damage initiation and growth under 351 nm high-fluence laser irradiation are observed on larger-aperture fused silica optics. The input surface of one fused silica component is damaged most severely and an explanation is presented. Obscurations and the area of a scratch on it are found to grow exponentially with the shot number. The area of damage site grows linearly. Micrographs of damage sites support the micro-explosion damage model which could be used to qualitatively explain the phenomena

Miniature fiber-optic multiphoton microscopy system using frequency-doubled femtosecond Er-doped fiber laser.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Lin; Mills, Arthur K; Zhao, Yuan; Jones, David J; Tang, Shuo

2016-05-01

We report on a miniature fiber-optic multiphoton microscopy (MPM) system based on a frequency-doubled femtosecond Er-doped fiber laser. The femtosecond pulses from the laser source are delivered to the miniature fiber-optic probe at 1.58 µm wavelength, where a standard single mode fiber is used for delivery without the need of free-space dispersion compensation components. The beam is frequency-doubled inside the probe by a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 crystal. Frequency-doubled pulses at 786 nm with a maximum power of 80 mW and a pulsewidth of 150 fs are obtained and applied to excite intrinsic signals from tissues. A MEMS scanner, a miniature objective, and a multimode collection fiber are further used to make the probe compact. The miniature fiber-optic MPM system is highly portable and robust. Ex vivo multiphoton imaging of mammalian skins demonstrates the capability of the system in imaging biological tissues. The results show that the miniature fiber-optic MPM system using frequency-doubled femtosecond fiber laser can potentially bring the MPM imaging for clinical applications.

Femtosecond all-polarization-maintaining fiber laser operating at 1028 nm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsson, R.K.; Andersen, T.V.; Leick, Lasse

2008-01-01

We present an effective solution for an all-polarization-maintaining modelocked femtosecond fiber laser operating at the central wavelength of 1028 nm. The laser is based on an Yb-doped active fiber. Modelocking is enabled by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror, and the central wavelength i...... is enforced by a fiber Bragg grating. The laser is self-starting and demonstrates excellent stability gainst Q-switching. Pulse energies reach 13 nJ at 34 MHz repetition rate. External compression leads to near transform-limited pulses of 140 fs.......We present an effective solution for an all-polarization-maintaining modelocked femtosecond fiber laser operating at the central wavelength of 1028 nm. The laser is based on an Yb-doped active fiber. Modelocking is enabled by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror, and the central wavelength...

Multiwavelength ytterbium-Brillouin random Rayleigh feedback fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Han; Wang, Zinan; Fan, Mengqiu; Li, Jiaqi; Meng, Qingyang; Xu, Dangpeng; Rao, Yunjiang

2018-03-01

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate the multiwavelength ytterbium-Brillouin random fiber laser for the first time, in the half-open cavity formed by a fiber loop mirror and randomly distributed Rayleigh mirrors. With a cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber and a long TrueWave fiber, the narrow linewidth Brillouin pump can generate multiple Brillouin Stokes lines with hybrid ytterbium-Brillouin gain. Up to six stable channels with a spacing of about 0.06 nm are obtained. This work extends the operation wavelength of the multiwavelength Brillouin random fiber laser to the 1 µm band, and has potential in various applications.

The development of novel Ytterbium fiber lasers and their applications

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, Bai

The aim of my Ph.D. research is to push the fundamental limits holding back the development of novel Yb fiber lasers with high pulse energy and short pulse duration. The purpose of developing these lasers is to use them for important applications such as multiphoton microscopy and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. My first project was to develop a short-pulse high-energy ultrafast fiber laser for multiphoton microscopy. To achieve high multiphoton efficiency and depth resolved tissue imaging, ultrashort pulse duration and high pulse energy are required. In order to achieve this, an all-normal dispersion cavity design was adopted. Output performances of the built lasers were investigated by varying several cavity parameters, such as pump laser power, fiber length and intra-cavity spectral filter bandwidth. It was found that the length of the fiber preceding the gain fiber is critical to the laser performance. Generally, the shorter the fiber is, the broader the output spectrum is. The more interesting parameter is the intra-cavity spectral filter bandwidth. Counter intuitively, laser cavities using narrower bandwidth spectral filters generated much broader spectra. It was also found that fiber lasers with very narrow spectral filters produced laser pulses with parabolic profile, which are referred to as self-similar pulses or similaritons. This type of pulse can avoid wave-breaking and is an optimal approach to generate pulses with high pulse energy and ultrashort pulse duration. With a 3nm intra-cavity spectral filter, output pulses with about 20 nJ pulse energy were produced and compressed to about 41 fs full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) pulse duration. Due to the loss in the compression device, the peak power of the compressed pulses is about 250 kW. It was the highest peak power generated from a fiber oscillator when this work was published. This laser was used for multiphoton microscopy on living tissues like Drosophila larva and fruit fly wings. Several

Optical pulse generation using fiber lasers and integrated optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilcox, R.B.; Browning, D.F.; Burkhart, S.C.; VanWonterghem, B.W.

1995-01-01

We have demonstrated an optical pulse forming system using fiber and integrated optics, and have designed a multiple-output system for a proposed fusion laser facility. Our approach is an advancement over previous designs for fusion lasers, and an unusual application of fiber lasers and integrated optics

Spatial-mode switchable ring fiber laser based on low mode-crosstalk all-fiber mode MUX/DEMUX

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Fang; Yu, Jinyi; Wang, Jianping

2018-05-01

We report an all-fiber ring laser that emits linearly polarized (LP) modes based on the intracavity all-fiber mode multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX). Multiple LP modes in ring fiber laser are generated by taking advantage of mode MUX/DEMUX. The all-fiber mode MUX/DEMUX are composed of cascaded mode-selective couplers (MSCs). The output lasing mode of the ring fiber laser can be switched among the three lowest-order LP modes by employing combination of a mode MUX and a simple N × 1 optical switch. The slope efficiencies, optical spectra and mode profiles are measured.

Fiber optic muzzle brake tip for reducing fiber burnback and stone retropulsion during thulium fiber laser lithotripsy

Science.gov (United States)

Hutchens, Thomas C.; Gonzalez, David A.; Irby, Pierce B.; Fried, Nathaniel M.

2017-01-01

The experimental thulium fiber laser (TFL) is being explored as an alternative to the current clinical gold standard Holmium:YAG laser for lithotripsy. The near single-mode TFL beam allows coupling of higher power into smaller optical fibers than the multimode Holmium laser beam profile, without proximal fiber tip degradation. A smaller fiber is desirable because it provides more space in the ureteroscope working channel for increased saline irrigation rates and allows maximum ureteroscope deflection. However, distal fiber tip burnback increases as fiber diameter decreases. Previous studies utilizing hollow steel sheaths around recessed distal fiber tips reduced fiber burnback but increased stone retropulsion. A "fiber muzzle brake" was tested for reducing both fiber burnback and stone retropulsion by manipulating vapor bubble expansion. TFL lithotripsy studies were performed at 1908 nm, 35 mJ, 500 μs, and 300 Hz using a 100-μm-core fiber. The optimal stainless steel muzzle brake tip tested consisted of a 1-cm-long, 560-μm-outer-diameter, 360-μm-inner-diameter tube with a 275-μm-diameter through hole located 250 μm from the distal end. The fiber tip was recessed a distance of 500 μm. Stone phantom retropulsion, fiber tip burnback, and calcium oxalate stone ablation studies were performed ex vivo. Small stones with a mass of 40±4 mg and 4-mm-diameter were ablated over a 1.5-mm sieve in 25±4 s (n=10) without visible distal fiber tip burnback. Reduction in stone phantom retropulsion distance by 50% and 85% was observed when using muzzle brake tips versus 100-μm-core bare fibers and hollow steel tip fibers, respectively. The muzzle brake fiber tip simultaneously provided efficient stone ablation, reduced stone retropulsion, and minimal fiber degradation during TFL lithotripsy.

Pulsed laser damage to optical fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allison, S.W.; Gillies, G.T.; Magnuson, D.W.; Pagano, T.S.

1985-01-01

This paper describes some observations of pulsed laser damage to optical fibers with emphasis on a damage mode characterized as a linear fracture along the outer core of a fiber. Damage threshold data are presented which illustrate the effects of the focusing lens, end-surface preparation, and type of fiber. An explanation based on fiber-beam misalignment is given and is illustrated by a simple experiment and ray trace

Coherent fiber supercontinuum laser for nonlinear biomedical imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tu, Haohua; Liu, Yuan; Liu, Xiaomin

2012-01-01

Nonlinear biomedical imaging has not benefited from the well-known techniques of fiber supercontinuum generation for reasons such as poor coherence (or high noise), insufficient controllability, low spectral power intensity, and inadequate portability. Fortunately, a few techniques involving...... nonlinear fiber optics and femtosecond fiber laser development have emerged to overcome these critical limitations. These techniques pave the way for conducting point-of-care nonlinear biomedical imaging by a low-maintenance cost-effective coherent fiber supercontinuum laser, which covers a broad emission...... wavelength of 350-1700 nm. A prototype of this laser has been demonstrated in label-free multimodal nonlinear imaging of cell and tissue samples.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only....

A Robust Fiber Bragg Grating Hydrogen Gas Sensor Using Platinum-Supported Silica Catalyst Film

OpenAIRE

Marina Kurohiji; Seiji Ichiriyama; Naoki Yamasaku; Shinji Okazaki; Naoya Kasai; Yusuke Maru; Tadahito Mizutani

2018-01-01

A robust fiber Bragg grating (FBG) hydrogen gas sensor for reliable multipoint-leakage monitoring has been developed. The sensing mechanism is based on shifts of center wavelength of the reflection spectra due to temperature change caused by catalytic combustion heat. The sensitive film which consists of platinum-supported silica (Pt/SiO2) catalyst film was obtained using sol-gel method. The precursor solution was composed of hexachloroplatinic acid and commercially available silica precursor...

Solid-phase microextraction Ni-Ti fibers coated with functionalised silica particles immobilized in a sol-gel matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Azenha, Manuel; Ornelas, Mariana; Fernando Silva, A

2009-03-20

One of the possible approaches for the development of novel solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibers is the physical deposition of porous materials onto a support using high-temperature epoxy glue. However, a major drawback arises from decomposition of epoxy glue at temperatures below 300 degrees C and instability in some organic solvents. This limitation motivated us to explore the possibility of replacing the epoxy glue with a sol-gel film, thermally more stable and resistant to organic solvents. We found that functionalised silica particles could be successfully attached to a robust Ni-Ti wire by using a UV-curable sol-gel film. The particles were found to be more important than the sol-gel layer during the microextraction process, as shown by competitive extraction trials and by the different extraction profiles observed with differently functionalised particles. If a quality control microscopic-check aiming at the rejection of fibers exhibiting unacceptably low particle load was conducted, acceptable (6-14%) reproducibility of preparation of C(18)-silica fibers was observed, and a strong indication of the durability of the fibers was also obtained. A cyclohexyldiol-silica fiber was used, as a simple example of applicability, for the successful determination of benzaldehyde, acetophenone and dimethylphenol at trace level in spiked tap water. Recoveries: 95-109%; limits of detection: 2-7 microg/L; no competition effects within the studied range (

Fiber-distributed feedback lasers for high-speed wavelength-division multiplexed networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sejka, Milan; Hübner, Jörg; Varming, Poul

1996-01-01

Summary form only given. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that fiber DFB lasers constitute an excellent alternative to commercially available semiconductor DFB lasers. We have also shown that two fiber DFB lasers can be spliced together without any BER power penalty. Therefore, we suggest...... the possibility of using a single pump source for pumping a WDM laser array consisting of a number of fiber lasers spliced in series....

Comparison of laser-based mitigation of fused silica surface damage using mid- versus far-infrared lasers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, S T; Matthews, M J; Elhadj, S; Cooke, D; Guss, G M; Draggoo, V G; Wegner, P J

2009-12-16

Laser induced growth of optical damage can limit component lifetime and therefore operating costs of large-aperture fusion-class laser systems. While far-infrared (IR) lasers have been used previously to treat laser damage on fused silica optics and render it benign, little is known about the effectiveness of less-absorbing mid-IR lasers for this purpose. In this study, they quantitatively compare the effectiveness and efficiency of mid-IR (4.6 {micro}m) versus far-IR (10.6 {micro}m) lasers in mitigating damage growth on fused silica surfaces. The non-linear volumetric heating due to mid-IR laser absorption is analyzed by solving the heat equation numerically, taking into account the temperature-dependent absorption coefficient {alpha}(T) at {lambda} = 4.6 {micro}m, while far-IR laser heating is well-described by a linear analytic approximation to the laser-driven temperature rise. In both cases, the predicted results agree well with surface temperature measurements based on infrared radiometry, as well as sub-surface fictive temperature measurements based on confocal Raman microscopy. Damage mitigation efficiency is assessed using a figure of merit (FOM) relating the crack healing depth to laser power required, under minimally-ablative conditions. Based on their FOM, they show that for cracks up to at least 500 {micro}m in depth, mitigation with a 4.6 {micro}m mid-IR laser is more efficient than mitigation with a 10.6 {micro}m far-IR laser. This conclusion is corroborated by direct application of each laser system to the mitigation of pulsed laser-induced damage possessing fractures up to 225 {micro}m in depth.

All-fiber radially/azimuthally polarized lasers based on mode coupling of tapered fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Dong; He, Zhiwen; Lu, Hua; Li, Mingkun; Zhang, Wending; Cui, Xiaoqi; Jiang, Biqiang; Zhao, Jianlin

2018-04-01

We demonstrate a mode converter with an insertion loss of 0.36 dB based on mode coupling of tapered single-mode and two-mode fibers, and realize all-fiber flexible cylindrical vector lasers at 1550 nm. Attributing to the continuous distribution of a tangential electric field at taper boundaries, the laser is switchable between the radially and azimuthally polarized states by adjusting the input polarization. In the temporal domain, the operation is controllable among continuous-wave, Q-switched, and mode-locked statuses by changing the saturable absorber or pump strength. The duration of Q-switched radially/azimuthally polarized laser spans from 10.4/10.8 to 6/6.4 μs at the pump range of 38 to 58 mW, while that of the mode-locked pulse varies from 39.2/31.9 to 5.6/5.2 ps by controlling the laser bandwidth. The proposed laser combines the features of a cylindrical vector beam, a fiber laser, and an ultrafast pulse, providing a special and cost-effective source for practical applications.

Nano-Welding of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Silicon and Silica Surface by Laser Irradiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanping Yuan

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In this study, a continuous fiber laser (1064 nm wavelength, 30 W/cm2 is used to irradiate multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs on different substrate surfaces. Effects of substrates on nano-welding of MWCNTs are investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM. For MWCNTs on silica, after 3 s irradiation, nanoscale welding with good quality can be achieved due to breaking C–C bonds and formation of new graphene layers. While welding junctions can be formed until 10 s for the MWCNTs on silicon, the difference of irradiation time to achieve welding is attributed to the difference of thermal conductivity for silica and silicon. As the irradiation time is prolonged up to 12.5 s, most of the MWCNTs are welded to a silicon substrate, which leads to their frameworks of tube walls on the silicon surface. This is because the accumulation of absorbed energy makes the temperature rise. Then chemical reactions among silicon, carbon and nitrogen occur. New chemical bonds of Si–N and Si–C achieve the welding between the MWCNTs and silicon. Vibration modes of Si3N4 appear at peaks of 363 cm−1 and 663 cm−1. There are vibration modes of SiC at peaks of 618 cm−1, 779 cm−1 and 973 cm−1. The experimental observation proves chemical reactions and the formation of Si3N4 and SiC by laser irradiation.

Nano-Welding of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Silicon and Silica Surface by Laser Irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Yanping; Chen, Jimin

2016-01-01

In this study, a continuous fiber laser (1064 nm wavelength, 30 W/cm2) is used to irradiate multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on different substrate surfaces. Effects of substrates on nano-welding of MWCNTs are investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). For MWCNTs on silica, after 3 s irradiation, nanoscale welding with good quality can be achieved due to breaking C–C bonds and formation of new graphene layers. While welding junctions can be formed until 10 s for the MWCNTs on silicon, the difference of irradiation time to achieve welding is attributed to the difference of thermal conductivity for silica and silicon. As the irradiation time is prolonged up to 12.5 s, most of the MWCNTs are welded to a silicon substrate, which leads to their frameworks of tube walls on the silicon surface. This is because the accumulation of absorbed energy makes the temperature rise. Then chemical reactions among silicon, carbon and nitrogen occur. New chemical bonds of Si–N and Si–C achieve the welding between the MWCNTs and silicon. Vibration modes of Si3N4 appear at peaks of 363 cm−1 and 663 cm−1. There are vibration modes of SiC at peaks of 618 cm−1, 779 cm−1 and 973 cm−1. The experimental observation proves chemical reactions and the formation of Si3N4 and SiC by laser irradiation. PMID:28344293

Effects of ionizing radiation on various core/clad ratio step index pure silica fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenwell, R.A.; Barnes, C.E.; Nelson, G.W.

1988-01-01

Radiation testing was performed on polyimide-coated pure-silica-core step-index fibers fabricated from different preform core/clad ratios. Preliminary results indicate that the smaller the core/clad ratio, the better the radiation response of the fiber. These results are fortuitous for space applications, since the polyimide coating is also a low-outgassing wide-temperature-range small-size fiber coating material. The variations in radiation response may be due to a postdrawing anneal occurring during coating cure, which minimizes drawing-induced defects. 8 references

Random fiber lasers based on artificially controlled backscattering fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Daru; Wang, Xiaoliang; She, Lijuan; Qiang, Zexuan; Yu, Zhangwei

2017-10-01

The random fiber laser (RFL) which is a milestone in laser physics and nonlinear optics, has attracted considerable attention recently. Most previous RFLs are based on distributed feedback of Rayleigh scattering amplified through stimulated Raman/Brillouin scattering effect in single mode fibers, which required long-distance (tens of kilometers) single mode fibers and high threshold up to watt-level due to the extremely small Rayleigh scattering coefficient of the fiber. We proposed and demonstrated a half-open cavity RFL based on a segment of a artificially controlled backscattering SMF(ACB-SMF) with a length of 210m, 310m or 390m. A fiber Bragg grating with the central wavelength of 1530nm and a segment of ACB-SMF forms the half-open cavity. The proposed RFL achieves the threshold of 25mW, 30mW and 30mW, respectively. Random lasing at the wavelength of 1530nm and the extinction ratio of 50dB is achieved when a segment of 5m EDF is pumped by a 980nm LD in the RFL. Another half-open cavity RFL based on a segment of a artificially controlled backscattering EDF(ACBS-EDF) is also demonstrated without an ACB-SMF. The 3m ACB-EDF is fabricated by using the femtosecond laser with pulse energy of 0.34mJ which introduces about 50 reflectors in the EDF. Random lasing at the wavelength of 1530nm is achieved with the output power of 7.5mW and the efficiency of 1.88%. Two novel RFLs with much short cavities have been achieved with low threshold and high efficiency.

Structural changes in femtosecond laser modified regions inside fused silica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juodkazis, Saulius; Kohara, Shinji; Ohishi, Yasuo; Hirao, Norihisa; Vailionis, Arturas; Mizeikis, Vygantas; Saito, Akira; Rode, Andrei

2010-01-01

Structural characterization of photomodified microvolumes formed by tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses inside silica glass was carried out using synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The observed distinct separation between the O–O and Si–Si pair correlation peaks can be interpreted as a phase separation induced by microexplosions at the focal volume. The mechanisms of structural transitions induced by femtosecond laser pulses inside dielectrics are discussed

kW-level commercial Yb-doped aluminophosphosilicate ternary laser fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Shihao; Zhan, Huan; Li, Yuwei; Liu, Shuang; Jiang, Jiali; Peng, Kun; Wang, Yuying; Ni, Li; Wang, Xiaolong; Jiang, Lei; Yu, Juan; Liu, Gang; Lu, Pengfei; Wang, Jianjun; Jing, Feng; Lin, Aoxiang

2018-03-01

Based on a master oscillator power amplifier configuration, laser performance of commercial Nufern-20/400-8M Ybdoped aluminophosphosilicate ternary laser fiber was investigated. Pumped by 976 nm laser diodes, 982 W laser output power was obtained with a slope efficiency of 84.9%. Spectrum of output was centered at 1066.56nm with 3dB bandwidth less than 0.32 nm, and the nonlinearity suppression ratio was more than 39dB. Beam quality of Mx2 and M2y were 1.55 and 1.75 at 982 W, respectively. The laser performance indicated that Nufern-20/400-8M Yb-doped aluminophosphosilicate ternary laser fiber is highly competitive for industry fiber laser use.

Femtosecond laser inscription of asymmetric directional couplers for in-fiber optical taps and fiber cladding photonics.

Science.gov (United States)

Grenier, Jason R; Fernandes, Luís A; Herman, Peter R

2015-06-29

Precise alignment of femtosecond laser tracks in standard single mode optical fiber is shown to enable controllable optical tapping of the fiber core waveguide light with fiber cladding photonic circuits. Asymmetric directional couplers are presented with tunable coupling ratios up to 62% and bandwidths up to 300 nm at telecommunication wavelengths. Real-time fiber monitoring during laser writing permitted a means of controlling the coupler length to compensate for micron-scale alignment errors and to facilitate tailored design of coupling ratio, spectral bandwidth and polarization properties. Laser induced waveguide birefringence was harnessed for polarization dependent coupling that led to the formation of in-fiber polarization-selective taps with 32 dB extinction ratio. This technology enables the interconnection of light propagating in pre-existing waveguides with laser-formed devices, thereby opening a new practical direction for the three-dimensional integration of optical devices in the cladding of optical fibers and planar lightwave circuits.

High-power random distributed feedback fiber laser: From science to application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Xueyuan [College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073 (China); Naval Academy of Armament, Beijing 100161 (China); Zhang, Hanwei; Xiao, Hu; Ma, Pengfei; Wang, Xiaolin; Zhou, Pu; Liu, Zejin [College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073 (China)

2016-10-15

A fiber laser based on random distributed feedback has attracted increasing attention in recent years, as it has become an important photonic device and has found wide applications in fiber communications or sensing. In this article, recent advances in high-power random distributed feedback fiber laser are reviewed, including the theoretical analyses, experimental approaches, discussion on the practical applications and outlook. It is found that a random distributed feedback fiber laser can not only act as an information photonics device, but also has the feasibility for high-efficiency/high-power generation, which makes it competitive with conventional high-power laser sources. In addition, high-power random distributed feedback fiber laser has been successfully applied for midinfrared lasing, frequency doubling to the visible and high-quality imaging. It is believed that the high-power random distributed feedback fiber laser could become a promising light source with simple and economic configurations. (copyright 2016 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Observation of a rainbow of visible colors in a near infrared cascaded Raman fiber laser and its novel application as a diagnostic tool for length resolved spectral analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Aparanji, Santosh; Balaswamy, V.; Arun, S.; Supradeepa, V. R.

2018-02-01

In this work, we report and analyse the surprising observation of a rainbow of visible colors, spanning 390nm to 620nm, in silica-based, Near Infrared, continuous-wave, cascaded Raman fiber lasers. The cascaded Raman laser is pumped at 1117nm at around 200W and at full power we obtain 100 W at 1480nm. With increasing pump power at 1117nm, the fiber constituting the Raman laser glows in various hues along its length. From spectroscopic analysis of the emitted visible light, it was identified to be harmonic and sum-frequency components of various locally propagating wavelength components. In addition to third harmonic components, surprisingly, even 2nd harmonic components were observed. Despite being a continuous-wave laser, we expect the phase-matching occurring between the core-propagating NIR light with the cladding-propagating visible wavelengths and the intensity fluctuations characteristic of Raman lasers to have played a major role in generation of visible light. In addition, this surprising generation of visible light provides us a powerful non-contact method to deduce the spectrum of light propagating in the fiber. Using static images of the fiber captured by a standard visible camera such as a DSLR, we demonstrate novel, image-processing based techniques to deduce the wavelength component propagating in the fiber at any given spatial location. This provides a powerful diagnostic tool for both length and power resolved spectral analysis in Raman fiber lasers. This helps accurate prediction of the optimal length of fiber required for complete and efficient conversion to a given Stokes wavelength.

Fabrication and characterization of special microstructured fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Kobelke, J.; Schuster, K.; Schwuchow, A.; Litzkendorf, D.; Spittel, R.; Kirchhof, J.; Bartelt, H.

2011-05-01

Microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) as a novel type of light guiding media typically combine structural elements with very different chemical and optical behavior, e.g. silica - air, silica - high refractive index glasses. The applicative potential is very manifold: devices for telecommunication, nonlinear optics, sensing devices, fiber based gas lasers, etc. We report about preparation and characterization of selected total internal reflection (TIR) guiding MOFs: Air Clad Fiber, Suspended Core Fiber and heavy metal oxide (HMO) glass core MOFs. We fabricated Air Clad Fibers with extreme air fraction. The bridge width of about 0.13 μm corresponds to a numerical aperture (NA) of about 0.6. Suspended core fibers for evanescent sensing were prepared by pressurized drawing of arrangements of three and four capillaries. By inflating the cavities the NA was increased up to 0.68. Material combined MOFs were prepared for nonlinear application (e.g. supercontinuum generation) with lanthanum aluminum silicate glass core. Thermochemical and optical behaviors of high nonlinear core glass candidates were investigated for alumina concentration up to 20 mol% and lanthanum oxide concentration up to 24 mol% in silica matrix. The manufactured HMO glass core MOF with a La2O3 concentration of 10 mol% shows a similar background loss level like the unstructured HMO glass fiber about 1 dB/m.

Laser Processing of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics - Release of Carbon Fiber Segments During Short-pulsed Laser Processing of CFRP

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Juergen; Brodesser, Alexander; Hustedt, Michael; Bluemel, Sven; Jaeschke, Peter; Kaierle, Stefan

Cutting and ablation using short-pulsed laser radiation are promising technologies to produce or repair CFRP components with outstanding mechanical properties e.g. for automotive and aircraft industry. Using sophisticated laser processing strategies and avoiding excessive heating of the workpiece, a high processing quality can be achieved. However, the interaction of laser radiation and composite material causes a notable release of hazardous substances from the process zone, amongst others carbon fiber segments or fibrous particles. In this work, amounts and geometries of the released fiber segments are analyzed and discussed in terms of their hazardous potential. Moreover, it is investigated to what extent gaseous organic process emissions are adsorbed at the fiber segments, similar to an adsorption of volatile organic compounds at activated carbon, which is typically used as filter material.

A novel fiber laser development for photoacoustic microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Yavas, Seydi; Aytac-Kipergil, Esra; Arabul, Mustafa U.; Erkol, Hakan; Akcaalan, Onder; Eldeniz, Y. Burak; Ilday, F. Omer; Unlu, Mehmet B.

2013-03-01

Photoacoustic microscopy, as an imaging modality, has shown promising results in imaging angiogenesis and cutaneous malignancies like melanoma, revealing systemic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, tracing drug efficiency and assessment of therapy, monitoring healing processes such as wound cicatrization, brain imaging and mapping. Clinically, photoacoustic microscopy is emerging as a capable diagnostic tool. Parameters of lasers used in photoacoustic microscopy, particularly, pulse duration, energy, pulse repetition frequency, and pulse-to-pulse stability affect signal amplitude and quality, data acquisition speed and indirectly, spatial resolution. Lasers used in photoacoustic microscopy are typically Q-switched lasers, low-power laser diodes, and recently, fiber lasers. Significantly, the key parameters cannot be adjusted independently of each other, whereas microvasculature and cellular imaging, e.g., have different requirements. Here, we report an integrated fiber laser system producing nanosecond pulses, covering the spectrum from 600 nm to 1100 nm, developed specifically for photoacoustic excitation. The system comprises of Yb-doped fiber oscillator and amplifier, an acousto-optic modulator and a photonic-crystal fiber to generate supercontinuum. Complete control over the pulse train, including generation of non-uniform pulse trains, is achieved via the AOM through custom-developed field-programmable gate-array electronics. The system is unique in that all the important parameters are adjustable: pulse duration in the range of 1-3 ns, pulse energy up to 10 μJ, repetition rate from 50 kHz to 3 MHz. Different photocoustic imaging probes can be excited with the ultrabroad spectrum. The entire system is fiber-integrated; guided-beam-propagation rendersit misalignment free and largely immune to mechanical perturbations. The laser is robust, low-cost and built using readily available components.

Study of distributed fiber-optic laser-ultrasound generation based on ghost-mode of tilted fiber Bragg gratings

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jiajun; Zhang, Qi; Han, Ming

2013-05-01

Fiber-optic ultrasonic transducers are an important component of an active ultrasonic testing system for structural health monitoring. Fiber-optic transducers have several advantages such as small size, light weight, and immunity to electromagnetic interference that make them much more attractive than the current available piezoelectric transducers, especially as embedded and permanent transducers in active ultrasonic testing for structural health monitoring. In this paper, a distributed fiber-optic laser-ultrasound generation based on the ghost-mode of tilted fiber Bragg gratings is studied. The influences of the laser power and laser pulse duration on the laser-ultrasound generation are investigated. The results of this paper are helpful to understand the working principle of this laser-ultrasound method and improve the ultrasonic generation efficiency.

Fiber-integrated tungsten disulfide saturable absorber (mirror) for pulsed fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hao; Li, Irene Ling; Ruan, Shuangchen; Guo, Tuan; Yan, Peiguang

2016-08-01

We propose two schemes for achieving tungsten disulfide (WS2)-based saturable absorber (SA) and saturable absorber mirror (SAM). By utilizing the pulsed laser deposition method, we grow the WS2 film on microfiber to form an evanescent field interaction SA device. Incorporating this SA device into a common ring-cavity erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser, stably passive mode-locking can be achieved with pulse duration of 395 fs and signal-to-noise ratio of 64 dB. We also produce a fiber tip integrated WS2-SAM by utilizing the magnetron sputtering technique (MST). This new type of SAM combines the WS2 layer as SA and gold mirror as high reflective mirror. By employing the WS2-SAM, we construct the linear-cavity EDF lasers, and achieve passive mode-locking operation with pulse duration of ˜1 ns and SNR of ˜61 dB. We further achieve stably passive Q-switching operation with pulse duration of ˜160 ns and pulse energy of 54.4 nJ. These fiber-integrated SAs and SAMs have merits of compactness and reliability, paving the way for the development of new photonic devices such as SAs for pulsed laser technology.

All-fiber femtosecond Cherenkov laser at visible wavelengths

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Møller, Uffe Visbech

2013-01-01

-matching condition [1]. The resonant ultrafast wave conversion via the fiber-optic CR mechanism is instrumental for applications in biophotonics such as bio-imaging and microscopy [2]. In this work, we demonstrate a highly-stable all-fiber, fully monolithic CR system based on an Yb-fiber femtosecond laser, producing...... to be as low as -103 dBc/Hz. This is 2 orders of magnitudes lower noise as compared to spectrally-sliced supercontinuum, which is the current standard of ultrafast fiber-optic generation at visible wavelength. The layout of the laser system is shown in Fig. 1(a). The system consists of two parts: an all-fiber......Fiber-optic Cherenkov radiation (CR), also known as dispersive wave generation or non-solitonic radiation, is produced in small-core photonic crystal fibers (PCF) when a soliton perturbed by fiber higher-order dispersion co-propagates with a dispersive wave fulfilling a certain phase...

Highly scalable, resonantly cladding-pumped, Er-doped fiber laser with record efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubinskii, M; Zhang, J; Ter-Mikirtychev, V

2009-05-15

We report the performance of a resonantly cladding-pumped, Yb-free, Er-doped fiber laser. We believe this is the first reported resonantly cladding-pumped fiber-Bragg-grating-based, Er-doped, large-mode-area (LMA) fiber laser. The laser, pumped by fiber-coupled InGaAsP/InP laser diode modules at 1,532.5 nm, delivers approximately 48 W of cw output at 1,590 nm. It is believed to be the highest power ever reported from a Yb-free Er-doped LMA fiber. This fully integrated laser also has the optical-to-optical efficiency of approximately 57%, to the best of our knowledge, the highest efficiency reported for cladding-pumped unidirectionally emitting Er-doped laser.

Polarization dependence of laser interaction with carbon fibers and CFRP.

Science.gov (United States)

Freitag, Christian; Weber, Rudolf; Graf, Thomas

2014-01-27

A key factor for laser materials processing is the absorptivity of the material at the laser wavelength, which determines the fraction of the laser energy that is coupled into the material. Based on the Fresnel equations, a theoretical model is used to determine the absorptivity for carbon fiber fabrics and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). The surface of each carbon fiber is considered as multiple layers of concentric cylinders of graphite. With this the optical properties of carbon fibers and their composites can be estimated from the well-known optical properties of graphite.

Performance and safety of holmium: YAG laser optical fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Knudsen, Bodo E; Glickman, Randolph D; Stallman, Kenneth J; Maswadi, Saher; Chew, Ben H; Beiko, Darren T; Denstedt, John D; Teichman, Joel M H

2005-11-01

Lower-pole ureteronephroscopy requires transmission of holmium:YAG energy along a deflected fiber. Current ureteroscopes are capable of high degrees of deflection, which may stress laser fibers beyond safe limits during lower-pole use. We hypothesized that optical fiber and safety measures differ among manufacturers. Small (200-273-microm) and medium-diameter (300-400-microm) Ho:YAG fibers were tested in a straight and 180 degrees bent configuration. Energy transmission was measured by an energy detector. Fiber durability was assessed by firing the laser in sequentially tighter bending diameters. The fibers were bent to 180 degrees with a diameter of 6 cm and run at 200- to 4000-mJ pulse energy to determine the minimum energy required to fracture the fiber. The bending diameter was decreased by 1-cm increments and testing repeated until a bending diameter of 1 cm was reached. The maximum deflection of the ACMI DUR-8E ureteroscope with each fiber in the working channel was recorded. The flow rate through the working channel of the DUR-8E was measured for each fiber. The mean energy transmission differed among fibers (P < 0.001). The Lumenis SL 200 and the InnovaQuartz 400 were the best small and medium-diameter fibers, respectively, in resisting thermal breakdown (P < 0.01). The Dornier Lightguide Super 200 fractured repeatedly at a bend diameter of 2 cm and with the lowest energy (200 mJ). The other small fibers fractured only at a bend diameter of 1 cm. The Sharplan 200 and InnovaQuartz Sureflex 273T were the most flexible fibers, the Lumenis SL 365 the least. The flow rate was inversely proportional to four times the power of the diameter of the fiber. Optical performance and safety differ among fibers. Fibers transmit various amounts of energy to their cladding when bent. During lower-pole nephroscopy with the fiber deflected, there is a risk of fiber fracture from thermal breakdown and laser-energy transmission to the endoscope. Some available laser fibers

New generation all-silica based optical elements for high power laser systems

Science.gov (United States)

Tolenis, T.; GrinevičiÅ«tÄ--, L.; Melninkaitis, A.; Selskis, A.; Buzelis, R.; MažulÄ--, L.; Drazdys, R.

2017-08-01

Laser resistance of optical elements is one of the major topics in photonics. Various routes have been taken to improve optical coatings, including, but not limited by, materials engineering and optimisation of electric field distribution in multilayers. During the decades of research, it was found, that high band-gap materials, such as silica, are highly resistant to laser light. Unfortunately, only the production of anti-reflection coatings of all-silica materials are presented to this day. A novel route will be presented in materials engineering, capable to manufacture high reflection optical elements using only SiO2 material and GLancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) method. The technique involves the deposition of columnar structure and tailoring the refractive index of silica material throughout the coating thickness. A numerous analysis indicate the superior properties of GLAD coatings when compared with standard methods for Bragg mirrors production. Several groups of optical components are presented including anti-reflection coatings and Bragg mirrors. Structural and optical characterisation of the method have been performed and compared with standard methods. All researches indicate the possibility of new generation coatings for high power laser systems.

Continued advances in high brightness fiber-coupled laser modules for efficient pumping of fiber and solid-state lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Hemenway, M.; Chen, Z.; Urbanek, W.; Dawson, D.; Bao, L.; Kanskar, M.; DeVito, M.; Martinsen, R.

2018-02-01

Both the fibber laser and diode-pumped solid-state laser market continue to drive advances in pump diode module brightness. We report on the continued progress by nLIGHT to develop and deliver the highest brightness diode-laser pumps using single-emitter technology. Continued advances in multimode laser diode technology [13] and fiber-coupling techniques have enabled higher emitter counts in the element packages, enabling us to demonstrate 305 W into 105 μm - 0.16 NA. This brightness improvement is achieved by leveraging our prior-reported package re-optimization, allowing an increase in the emitter count from two rows of nine emitters to two rows of twelve emitters. Leveraging the two rows off twelve emitter architecture,, product development has commenced on a 400 W into 200 μm - 00.16 NA package. Additionally, the advances in pump technology intended for CW Yb-doped fiber laser pumping has been leveraged to develop the highest brightness 793 nm pump modules for 2 μm Thulium fiber laser pumping, generating 150 W into 200 μm - 0.18 NA and 100 W into 105 μm - 0.15 NA. Lastly, renewed interest in direct diode materials processing led us to experiment with wavelength multiplexing our existing state of the art 200 W, 105 μm - 00.15 NA package into a combined output of 395 WW into 105 μm - 0.16 NA.

Development of fiber lasers and devices for coherent Raman scattering microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, Erin Stranford

As ultrafast laser technology has found expanding application in machining, spectroscopy, microscopy, surgery, and numerous other areas, the desire for inexpensive and robust laser sources has grown. Until recently, nonlinear effects in fiber systems due to the tight confinement of the light in the core have limited their performance. However, with advances in managing nonlinearity through pulse propagation physics and the use of large core fibers, the performance of fiber lasers can compete with that of their solid-state counterparts. As specific applications, such as coherent Raman scattering microscopy, emerge that stand to benefit from fiber technology, new performance challenges in areas such as laser noise are anticipated. This thesis studies nonlinear pulse propagation in fiber lasers and fiber parametric devices. Applications of dissipative solitons and self-similar pulse propagation to low-repetition rate oscillators that have the potential to simplify short-pulse amplification schemes will be examined. The rest of this thesis focuses on topics relevant to fiber laser development for coherent Raman scattering microscopy sources. Coherent pulse division and recombination inside the laser cavity will be introduced as an energy-scaling mechanism and demonstrated for a fiber soliton laser. The relative intensity noise properties of mode-locked fiber lasers, with a particular emphasis on normal dispersion lasers, will be explored in simulation and experiment. A fiber optical parametric oscillator will be studied in detail for low noise frequency conversion of picosecond pulses, and its utility for coherent Raman imaging will be demonstrated. Spectral compression of femtosecond pulses is used to generate picosecond pulses to pump this device, and this technique provides a route to future noise reduction in the system. Furthermore, this device forms a multimodal source capable of providing the picosecond pulses for coherent Raman scattering microscopy and the

Influence of thermal cycling on flexural properties of composites reinforced with unidirectional silica-glass fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Meriç, Gökçe; Ruyter, I Eystein

2008-08-01

The purpose was to investigate the effect of water storage and thermal cycling on the flexural properties of differently sized unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) containing different quantities of fibers. The effect of fiber orientation on the thermal expansion of FRCs as well as how the stresses in the composites can be affected was considered. An experimental polymeric base material was reinforced with silica-glass fibers. The cleaned and silanized fibers were sized with either linear PBMA-size or crosslinked PMMA-size. For the determination of flexural properties and water uptake, specimens were processed with various quantities of differently sized unidirectional fibers. Water uptake of FRC was measured. Water immersed specimens were thermally cycled for 500 and 12,000 cycles (5 degrees C/55 degrees C). Flexural properties of "dry" and wet specimens with and without thermal cycling were determined by a three-point bending test. The linear coefficients of thermal expansion (LCTE) for FRC samples with different fiber orientations were determined using a thermomechanical analyzer. Water uptake of the FRC specimens increased with a decrease in fiber content of the FRC. Flexural properties of FRCs improved with increasing fiber content, whereas the flexural properties were not influenced significantly by water and thermal cycling. Fiber orientation had different effects on LCTE of FRCs. Unidirectional FRCs had two different LCTE in longitudinal and transverse directions whereas bidirectional FRCs had similar LCTE in two directions and a higher one in the third direction. The results of the study suggest that the surface-treated unidirectional silica-glass FRC can be used for long-term clinical applications in the oral cavity.

Silica-air photonic crystal fiber design that permits waveguiding by a true photonic bandgap effect

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barkou, Stig Eigil; Broeng, Jes; Bjarklev, Anders Overgaard

1999-01-01

A theoretical investigation of a novel type of optical fiber is presented. The operation of the fiber relies entirely on wave guidance through the photonic bandgap effect and not on total internal reflection, thereby distinguishing that fiber from all other known fibers, including recently studied...... photonic crystal fibers. The novel fiber has a central low-index core region and a cladding consisting of a silica background material with air holes situated within a honeycomb lattice structure. We show the existence of photonic bandgaps for the silica–air cladding structure and demonstrate how light can...... be guided at the central low-index core region for a well-defined frequency that falls inside the photonic bandgap region of the cladding structure....

Toward single-mode UV to near-IR guidance using hollow-core anti-resonant silica fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Habib, Md Selim; Antonio-Lopez, Jose Enrique; Van Newkirk, Amy

2017-01-01

Hollow-core anti-resonant (HC-AR) fibers with a “negative-curvature” of the core-cladding boundary have been extensively studied over the past few years owing to their low loss and wide transmission bandwidths. The key unique feature of the HC-AR fiber is that the coupling between the core and cl...... a silica HC-AR fiber having a single ring of 7 non-touching capillaries, designed to have effectively single-mode operation and low loss from UV to near-IR....

Dual frequency comb metrology with one fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Xin; Takeshi, Yasui; Zheng, Zheng

2016-11-01

Optical metrology techniques based on dual optical frequency combs have emerged as a hotly studied area targeting a wide range of applications from optical spectroscopy to microwave and terahertz frequency measurement. Generating two sets of high-quality comb lines with slightly different comb-tooth spacings with high mutual coherence and stability is the key to most of the dual-comb schemes. The complexity and costs of such laser sources and the associated control systems to lock the two frequency combs hinder the wider adoption of such techniques. Here we demonstrate a very simple and rather different approach to tackle such a challenge. By employing novel laser cavity designs in a mode-locked fiber laser, a simple fiber laser setup could emit dual-comb pulse output with high stability and good coherence between the pulse trains. Based on such lasers, comb-tooth-resolved dual-comb optical spectroscopy is demonstrated. Picometer spectral resolving capability could be realized with a fiber-optic setup and a low-cost data acquisition system and standard algorithms. Besides, the frequency of microwave signals over a large range can be determined based on a simple setup. Our results show the capability of such single-fiber-laser-based dual-comb scheme to reduce the complexity and cost of dual-comb systems with excellent quality for different dual-comb applications.

Fiber laser master oscillators for optical synchronization systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winter, A.

2008-04-01

New X-ray free electron lasers (e.g. the European XFEL) require a new generation of synchronization system to achieve a stability of the FEL pulse, such that pump-probe experiments can fully utilize the ultra-short pulse duration (50 fs). An optical synchronization system has been developed based on the distribution of sub-ps optical pulses in length-stabilized fiber links. The synchronization information is contained in the precise repetition frequency of the optical pulses. In this thesis, the design and characterization of the laser serving as laser master oscillator is presented. An erbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser was chosen. Amplitude and phase noise were measured and record-low values of 0.03 % and 10 fs for the frequency range of 1 kHz to the Nyquist frequency were obtained. Furthermore, an initial proof-of-principle experiment for the optical synchronization system was performed in an accelerator environment. In this experiment, the fiber laser wase phase-locked to a microwave reference oscillator and a 500 meter long fiber link was stabilized to 12 fs rms over a range of 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz. RF signals were obtained from a photodetector without significant degradation at the end of the link. Furthermore, the laser master oscillator for FLASH was designed and is presently in fabrication and the initial infrastructure for the optical synchronization system was setup. (orig.)

Fiber laser master oscillators for optical synchronization systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winter, A.

2008-04-15

New X-ray free electron lasers (e.g. the European XFEL) require a new generation of synchronization system to achieve a stability of the FEL pulse, such that pump-probe experiments can fully utilize the ultra-short pulse duration (50 fs). An optical synchronization system has been developed based on the distribution of sub-ps optical pulses in length-stabilized fiber links. The synchronization information is contained in the precise repetition frequency of the optical pulses. In this thesis, the design and characterization of the laser serving as laser master oscillator is presented. An erbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser was chosen. Amplitude and phase noise were measured and record-low values of 0.03 % and 10 fs for the frequency range of 1 kHz to the Nyquist frequency were obtained. Furthermore, an initial proof-of-principle experiment for the optical synchronization system was performed in an accelerator environment. In this experiment, the fiber laser wase phase-locked to a microwave reference oscillator and a 500 meter long fiber link was stabilized to 12 fs rms over a range of 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz. RF signals were obtained from a photodetector without significant degradation at the end of the link. Furthermore, the laser master oscillator for FLASH was designed and is presently in fabrication and the initial infrastructure for the optical synchronization system was setup. (orig.)

2 micron femtosecond fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jian; Wan, Peng; Yang, Lihmei

2014-07-29

Methods and systems for generating femtosecond fiber laser pulses are disclose, including generating a signal laser pulse from a seed laser oscillator; using a first amplifier stage comprising an input and an output, wherein the signal laser pulse is coupled into the input of the first stage amplifier and the output of the first amplifier stage emits an amplified and stretched signal laser pulse; using an amplifier chain comprising an input and an output, wherein the amplified and stretched signal laser pulse from the output of the first amplifier stage is coupled into the input of the amplifier chain and the output of the amplifier chain emits a further amplified, stretched signal laser pulse. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

All-fiber Yb-doped fiber laser passively mode-locking by monolayer MoS2 saturable absorber

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yue; Zhu, Jianqi; Li, Pingxue; Wang, Xiaoxiao; Yu, Hua; Xiao, Kun; Li, Chunyong; Zhang, Guangyu

2018-04-01

We report on an all-fiber passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped (Yb-doped) fiber laser with monolayer molybdenum disulfide (ML-MoS2) saturable absorber (SA) by three-temperature zone chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The modulation depth, saturation fluence, and non-saturable loss of this ML-MoS2 are measured to be 3.6%, 204.8 μJ/cm2 and 6.3%, respectively. Based on this ML-MoS2SA, a passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser has been achieved at 979 nm with pulse duration of 13 ps and repetition rate of 16.51 MHz. A mode-locked fiber laser at 1037 nm is also realized with a pulse duration of 475 ps and repetition rate of 26.5 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that the ML-MoS2 SA is used in an all-fiber Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser at 980 nm. Our work further points the excellent saturable absorption ability of ML-MoS2 in ultrafast photonic applications.

Nanographene-Based Saturable Absorbers for Ultrafast Fiber Lasers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsin-Hui Kuo

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The generation of femtosecond pulse laser in the erbium-doped fiber laser system is presented by integrating of the nanographene-based saturable absorbers (SAs. A simplified method of dispersed nanographene-based SAs side-polished fiber device with controllable polished length and depth was also developed. The dependence of geometry of a graphene-deposited side-polished fiber device on optical nonlinear characteristics and on the performance of the MLFL was screened. We found that the 10 mm polished length with 1.68 dB insertion loss had the highest modulation depth (MD of 1.2%. A stable MLFL with graphene-based SAs employing the optimized side-polished fiber device showed a pulse width, a 3 dB bandwidth, a time-bandwidth product (TBP, a repetition rate, and pulse energy of 523 fs, 5.4 nm, 0.347, 16.7 MHz, and 0.18 nJ, respectively, at fundamental soliton-like operation. The femtosecond pulse laser is achieved by evanescent field coupling through graphene-deposited side-polished fiber devices in the laser cavity. This study demonstrates that the polished depth is the key fabrication geometric parameter affecting the overall optical performance and better results exist within the certain polished range.

Investigations on birefringence effects in polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Xiaolian; Saez-Rodriguez, D.; Bang, Ole

2014-01-01

Step-index polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) and microstructured polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (mPOFBGs) present several attractive features, especially for sensing purposes. In comparison to FBGs written in silica fibers, they are more sensitive to temperature and pressure...... because of the larger thermo-optic coefficient and smaller Young's modulus of polymer materials. (M)POFBGs are most often photowritten in poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) materials using a continuous-wave 325 nm HeCd laser. For the first time to the best of our knowledge, we study photoinduced...... birefringence effects in (m)POFBGs. To achieve this, highly reflective gratings were inscribed with the phase mask technique. They were then monitored in transmission with polarized light. For this, (m)POF sections a few cm in length containing the gratings were glued to angled silica fibers. Polarization...

DFB fiber laser as source for optical communication systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Varming, Poul; Hübner, Jörg; Kristensen, Martin

1997-01-01

The results demonstrate that DFB fiber lasers are an attractive alternative as sources in telecommunication systems. The lasers show excellent long-term stability with very high signal to noise ratio and a reasonable output power, combined with exceptional temperature stability and inherent fiber...

Fiber-based laser MOPA transmitter packaging for space environment

Science.gov (United States)

Stephen, Mark; Yu, Anthony; Chen, Jeffrey; Numata, Kenji; Wu, Stewart; Gonzales, Brayler; Han, Lawrence; Fahey, Molly; Plants, Michael; Rodriguez, Michael; Allan, Graham; Abshire, James; Nicholson, Jeffrey; Hariharan, Anand; Mamakos, William; Bean, Brian

2018-02-01

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has been developing lidar to remotely measure CO2 and CH4 in the Earth's atmosphere. The ultimate goal is to make space-based satellite measurements with global coverage. We are working on maturing the technology readiness of a fiber-based, 1.57-micron wavelength laser transmitter designed for use in atmospheric CO2 remote-sensing. To this end, we are building a ruggedized prototype to demonstrate the required power and performance and survive the required environment. We are building a fiber-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser transmitter architecture. The laser is a wavelength-locked, single frequency, externally modulated DBR operating at 1.57-micron followed by erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. The last amplifier stage is a polarization-maintaining, very-large-mode-area fiber with 1000 μm2 effective area pumped by a Raman fiber laser. The optical output is single-frequency, one microsecond pulses with >450 μJ pulse energy, 7.5 KHz repetition rate, single spatial mode, and < 20 dB polarization extinction.

Nonlinear frequency conversion in fiber lasers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svane, Ask Sebastian

The concept of nonlinear frequency conversion entails generating light at new frequencies other than those of the source light. The emission wavelength of typical fiber laser systems, relying on rare-earth dopants, are constrained within specific bands of the infrared region. By exploiting...... nonlinear processes, light from these specific wavelength bands can be used to generate light at new frequencies otherwise not obtainable by rare-earth elements. This thesis describes work covering Raman fiber lasers (RFLs) and amplifiers for nonlinear frequency down-conversion, and also the method...... of fiberoptic Cherenkov radiation (FCR) using ultrafast pulses as a means for generating tunable visible (VIS) light at higher frequencies. Two different polarization maintaining (PM) RFL cavities are studied with an emphasis on stability and spectral broadening. The cavities are formed by inscription of fiber...

Surface modification of silica particles with gold nanoparticles as an augmentation of gold nanoparticle mediated laser perforation

Science.gov (United States)

Kalies, Stefan; Gentemann, Lara; Schomaker, Markus; Heinemann, Dag; Ripken, Tammo; Meyer, Heiko

2014-01-01

Gold nanoparticle mediated (GNOME) laser transfection/perforation fulfills the demands of a reliable transfection technique. It provides efficient delivery and has a negligible impact on cell viability. Furthermore, it reaches high-throughput applicability. However, currently only large gold particles (> 80 nm) allow successful GNOME laser perforation, probably due to insufficient sedimentation of smaller gold nanoparticles. The objective of this study is to determine whether this aspect can be addressed by a modification of silica particles with gold nanoparticles. Throughout the analysis, we show that after the attachment of gold nanoparticles to silica particles, comparable or better efficiencies to GNOME laser perforation are reached. In combination with 1 µm silica particles, we report laser perforation with gold nanoparticles with sizes down to 4 nm. Therefore, our investigations have great importance for the future research in and the fields of laser transfection combined with plasmonics. PMID:25136494

Planar waveguide amplifiers and laser in erbium doped silica

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guldberg-Kjær, Søren Andreas; Kristensen, Martin

1999-01-01

with UV-light and that permanent Bragg-gratings can be induced. Planar waveguide lasers with integrated Bragg-gratings are manufactured and characterised. It is shown that linewidths below 125 kHz and output powers around 0.5 mW can be obtained, and that the manufactured lasers are resistant to mechanical...... lightwave circuits, as well as provide the gain medium for integrated planar waveguide lasers. The work and the obtained results are presented in this thesis: The manufacturing of silica thin films is described and it is shown that the refractive index o fthe films can be controlled by germanium co...... as well as thermal influence. A simple method for producing an array of planar waveguide lasers is presented and it is shown that the difference in output wavelength of the individual lasers can be controlled with great accuracy....

Multi-parameter sensor based on random fiber lasers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanping Xu

2016-09-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate a concept of utilizing random fiber lasers to achieve multi-parameter sensing. The proposed random fiber ring laser consists of an erbium-doped fiber as the gain medium and a random fiber grating as the feedback. The random feedback is effectively realized by a large number of reflections from around 50000 femtosecond laser induced refractive index modulation regions over a 10cm standard single mode fiber. Numerous polarization-dependent spectral filters are formed and superimposed to provide multiple lasing lines with high signal-to-noise ratio up to 40dB, which gives an access for a high-fidelity multi-parameter sensing scheme. The number of sensing parameters can be controlled by the number of the lasing lines via input polarizations and wavelength shifts of each peak can be explored for the simultaneous multi-parameter sensing with one sensing probe. In addition, the random grating induced coupling between core and cladding modes can be potentially used for liquid medical sample sensing in medical diagnostics, biology and remote sensing in hostile environments.

Fiber laser front end for high energy petawatt laser systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dawson, J W; Messerly, M J; Phan, H; Mitchell, S; Drobshoff, A; Beach, R J; Siders, C; Lucianetti, A; Crane, J K; Barty, C J

2006-01-01

We are developing a fiber laser front end suitable for high energy petawatt laser systems on large glass lasers such as NIF. The front end includes generation of the pulses in a fiber mode-locked oscillator, amplification and pulse cleaning, stretching of the pulses to >3ns, dispersion trimming, timing, fiber transport of the pulses to the main laser bay and amplification of the pulses to an injection energy of 150 (micro)J. We will discuss current status of our work including data from packaged components. Design detail such as how the system addresses pulse contrast, dispersion trimming and pulse width adjustment and impact of B-integral on the pulse amplification will be discussed. A schematic of the fiber laser system we are constructing is shown in figure 1 below. A 40MHz packaged mode-locked fiber oscillator produces ∼1nJ pulses which are phase locked to a 10MHz reference clock. These pulses are down selected to 100kHz and then amplified while still compressed. The amplified compressed pulses are sent through a non-linear polarization rotation based pulse cleaner to remove background amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The pulses are then stretched by a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) and then sent through a splitter. The splitter splits the signal into two beams. (From this point we follow only one beam as the other follows an identical path.) The pulses are sent through a pulse tweaker that trims dispersion imbalances between the final large optics compressor and the CFBG. The pulse tweaker also permits the dispersion of the system to be adjusted for the purpose of controlling the final pulse width. Fine scale timing between the two beam lines can also be adjusted in the tweaker. A large mode area photonic crystal single polarization fiber is used to transport the pulses from the master oscillator room to the main laser bay. The pulses are then amplified a two stage fiber amplifier to 150mJ. These pulses are then launched into the main amplifier

Stable C-band fiber laser with switchable multi-wavelength output using coupled microfiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, H.; Jasim, A. A.

2017-07-01

A compact coupled microfiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (CM-MZI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for C-band region multi-wavelength tuning and switching in a fiber laser. The CM-MZI is fabricated using a 9 μm single tapered silica optical microfiber fabricated by flame-drawing technique and exploits multi-mode interference to produce spatial mode beating and suppress mode competition of the homogeneous gain medium. The output wavelength spacing is immune to changes in the external environment, but can be changed from 1.5 nm to 1.4 nm by slightly modifying the path-length difference of the CM-MZI. The proposed laser is capable of generating single, dual, triple, quintuple, and sextuple stabilize wavelengths outputs over a range of more than 32 nm using polarization rotation (PR) and macro-bending. The lasers having a 3 dB line-width of less than ∼30 pm and peak-to-floor of about 55 dB at a pump power of 38 mW.

Random laser emission from a Rhodamine B-doped GPTS/TEOS-derived organic/silica monolithic xerogel

Science.gov (United States)

Abegão, Luis M. G.; Manoel, D. S.; Otuka, A. J. G.; Ferreira, P. H. D.; Vollet, D. R.; Donatti, D. A.; De Boni, L.; Mendonça, C. R.; De Vicente, F. S.; Rodrigues, J. J., Jr.; Alencar, M. A. R. C.

2017-06-01

A Rhodamine B-doped 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS)/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)-derived organic/silica monolithic xerogel with excellent optical properties was prepared and its potential as a random laser host investigated. This hybrid material has a non-porous organic/inorganic morphology with silica-rich nanoparticles of less than 10 nm in diameter homogeneously dispersed within the matrix. Random laser emission with incoherent feedback, centered at 618 nm, was observed from Rhodamine B incorporated into the monolithic xerogel when excited by a 532 nm pulsed laser. This hybrid system is shown to be very promising for the development of a new class of random laser-based integrated devices, with applications ranging from optical bio-imaging to sensing.

Future prospects of laser diodes and fiber lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueda, Ken-ichi

2000-01-01

For the next century we should develop new concepts for coherent control of light generation and propagation. Owing to the recent development of ultra fine structures in semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers, and various kinds of waveguide structure, we can make optical devices which control the light propagation artificially. But, the phase locking and phase control of multiple laser oscillators are one of the most important directions of laser science and technology. The coherent summation has been a dream of laser since 1960. Is it possible to solve this old and quite challenging problem for laser science? This is also a very basic concept because the laser action based on the stimulated emission is the process of coherent summation of huge number of photons emitted from individual atoms. In this paper, I discuss the fundamental direction of laser research in the next ten or twenty years. The active optics and laser technology should be combined intrinsically in near future. (author)

Extremely high-brightness kW-class fiber coupled diode lasers with wavelength stabilization

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Robin K.; Chann, Bien; Glenn, John D.

2011-06-01

TeraDiode has produced ultra-high brightness fiber-coupled direct diode lasers. A fiber-coupled direct diode laser with a power level of 1,040 W from a 200 μm core diameter, 0.18 numerical aperture (NA) output fiber at a single center wavelength was demonstrated. This was achieved with a novel beam combining and shaping technique using COTS diode lasers. The fiber-coupled output corresponds to a Beam Parameter Product (BPP) of 18 mm-mrad and is the lowest BPP kW-class direct diode laser yet reported. The laser has been used to demonstrate laser cutting and welding of steel sheet metal up to 6.65 mm thick. Higher brightness fiber-coupled diode lasers, including a module with 418 W of power coupled to a 100 μm, 0.15 NA fiber, have also been demonstrated.

Nitric Oxide-Releasing Silica Nanoparticle-Doped Polyurethane Electrospun Fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Ahyeon; Carpenter, Alexis W.; Slomberg, Danielle L.; Schoenfisch, Mark H.

2013-01-01

Electrospun polyurethane fibers doped with nitric oxide (NO)-releasing silica particles are presented as novel macromolecular scaffolds with prolonged NO-release and high porosity. Fiber diameter (119–614 nm) and mechanical strength (1.7–34.5 MPa of modulus) were varied by altering polyurethane type and concentration, as well as the NO-releasing particle composition, size, and concentration. The resulting NO-releasing electrospun nanofibers exhibited ~83% porosity with flexible plastic or elastomeric behavior. The use of N-diazeniumdiolate- or S-nitrosothiol-modified particles yielded scaffolds exhibiting a wide range of NO release totals and durations (7.5 nmol mg−1–0.12 μmol mg−1 and 7 h to 2 weeks, respectively). The application of NO-releasing porous materials as coating for subcutaneous implants may improve tissue biocompatibility by mitigating the foreign body response and promoting cell integration. PMID:23915047

Tunable and switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber and polarization controllers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, X M; Lin, A; Zhao, W; Lu, K Q; Wang, Y S; Zhang, T Y; Chung, Y

2008-01-01

We have proposed a novel multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser by using two polarization controllers and a sampled chirped fiber Bragg grating(SC-FBG). On the assistance of SC-FBG, the proposed fiber lasers with excellent stability and uniformity are tunable and switchable by adjusting the polarization controllers. Our laser can stably lase two waves and up to eight waves simultaneously at room temperature

Fiber-Based Lasers as an Option for GRACE Follow-On Light Source

Science.gov (United States)

Camp, Jordan

2010-01-01

Fiber based lasers offer a number of attractive characteristics for space application: state of the art laser technology, leverage of design and reliability from the substantial investments of the telecon industry, and convenient redundancy of higher risk components through fiber splicing. At NASA/Goddard we are currently investigating three GFO fiber-based laser options: a fiber oscillator built in our laboratory; an effort to space qualify a commercial design that uses a proprietary high-gain fiber cavity; and the space qualification of a promising new commercial external cavity laser, notable for its low-mass, compact design. In my talk I will outline these efforts, and suggest that the GFO Project may soon have the option of a US laser vendor for its light source.

High-power fiber laser cutting parameter optimization for nuclear Decommissioning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Beatriz Lopez

2017-06-01

Full Text Available For more than 10 years, the laser process has been studied for dismantling work; however, relatively few research works have addressed the effect of high-power fiber laser cutting for thick sections. Since in the nuclear sector, a significant quantity of thick material is required to be cut, this study aims to improve the reliability of laser cutting for such work and indicates guidelines to optimize the cutting procedure, in particular, nozzle combinations (standoff distance and focus position, to minimize waste material. The results obtained show the performance levels that can be reached with 10 kW fiber lasers, using which it is possible to obtain narrower kerfs than those found in published results obtained with other lasers. Nonetheless, fiber lasers appear to show the same effects as those of CO2 and ND:YAG lasers. Thus, the main factor that affects the kerf width is the focal position, which means that minimum laser spot diameters are advised for smaller kerf widths.

High-power fiber laser cutting parameter optimization for nuclear decommissioning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lopez, Ana Beatriz; Assuncao, Eurico; Quintino, Luisa [IDMEC, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa (Portugal); Khan, Ali; Blackbun, Jonathan [TWI Ltd., Cambridge (United States)

2017-06-15

For more than 10 years, the laser process has been studied for dismantling work; however, relatively few research works have addressed the effect of high-power fiber laser cutting for thick sections. Since in the nuclear sector, a significant quantity of thick material is required to be cut, this study aims to improve the reliability of laser cutting for such work and indicates guidelines to optimize the cutting procedure, in particular, nozzle combinations (standoff distance and focus position), to minimize waste material. The results obtained show the performance levels that can be reached with 10 kW fiber lasers, using which it is possible to obtain narrower kerfs than those found in published results obtained with other lasers. Nonetheless, fiber lasers appear to show the same effects as those of CO{sub 2} and ND:YAG lasers. Thus, the main factor that affects the kerf width is the focal position, which means that minimum laser spot diameters are advised for smaller kerf widths.

Preparation of silica-sustained electrospun polyvinylpyrrolidone fibers with uniform mesopores via oxidative removal of template molecules by H2O2 treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Haigang; Zhu, Yihua; Shen, Jianhua; Yang, Xiaoling; Chen, Cheng; Cao, Huimin; Li, Chungzhong

2010-01-01

Silica-sustained electrospun PVP fibers with uniform mesopores were synthesized via facile oxidative removal of template molecules by H 2 O 2 extraction. Tetraethyl orthosilicate, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and triblock poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) copolymer pluronic P 123 compose the electrospinning sol to fabricate the silica-sustained PVP hybrid fibers. The effect of different post-treatment methods on the pore size distribution was investigated by calcination and extraction, respectively. Experimental results showed that oxidative removal of structure-directing agent P 123 in the hybrid fibers by H 2 O 2 treatment can easily form narrow pore size distribution, and the incorporation of 3D silica skeleton built by hot steam aging facilitated preserving the original cylindrical morphology of fibers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectra and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the hybrid fibers. The hybrid fibers can be expected to have potential applications in drug release or tissue engineering because of their suitable pore size, large surface area and good biocompatibility.

Evaluating the beam quality of double-cladding fiber lasers in applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Ping; Wang, Xuejiao; Gong, Mali; Xiao, Qirong

2016-08-10

We put forward a new βFL factor, which is used exclusively in fiber lasers and is suitable to assess beam quality and choose the LP01 mode as the new suitable ideal beam. We present a new simple measurement method and verify the reasonability of the βFL factor in experiment in a 20/400 μm fiber laser. Furthermore, we use the βFL factor to evaluate the beam quality of a 3-kW-level fiber laser. It can be concluded that βFL is a key factor not only for assessing the performance of the high-power fiber laser that is our main focus, but also for the simple measurement.

Efficient Tm-Fiber-Pumped Ho:YLF Laser System for Coherent LIDAR Applications, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to employ a recently developed, efficient, high-power, heavily-doped Tm:silica-fiber technology as a high-gain fiber pre-amplifier and as a...

Impact of environmental contamination on laser induced damage of silica optics in Laser MegaJoule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bien-Aime, K.

2009-11-01

Laser induced damage impact of molecular contamination on fused polished silica samples in a context of high power laser fusion facility, such as Laser MegaJoule (LMJ) has been studied. One of the possible causes of laser induced degradation of optical component is the adsorption of molecular or particular contamination on optical surfaces. In the peculiar case of LMJ, laser irradiation conditions are a fluence of 10 J/cm 2 , a wavelength of 351 nm, a pulse duration of 3 ns for a single shot/days frequency. Critical compounds have been identified thanks to environmental measurements, analysis of material outgassing, and identification of surface contamination in the critical environments. Experiments of controlled contamination involving these compounds have been conducted in order to understand and model mechanisms of laser damage. Various hypotheses are proposed to explain the damage mechanism. (author)

All-fiber nonlinearity- and dispersion-managed dissipative soliton nanotube mode-locked laser

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Z. [Department of Physics, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara (Turkey); Nanjing University of Posts and Communications, Nanjing 210003 (China); Popa, D., E-mail: dp387@cam.ac.uk; Wittwer, V. J.; Milana, S.; Hasan, T.; Jiang, Z.; Ferrari, A. C. [Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA (United Kingdom); Ilday, F. Ö. [Department of Physics, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara (Turkey); Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara (Turkey)

2015-12-14

We report dissipative soliton generation from an Yb-doped all-fiber nonlinearity- and dispersion-managed nanotube mode-locked laser. A simple all-fiber ring cavity exploits a photonic crystal fiber for both nonlinearity enhancement and dispersion compensation. The laser generates stable dissipative solitons with large linear chirp in the net normal dispersion regime. Pulses that are 8.7 ps long are externally compressed to 118 fs, outperforming current nanotube-based Yb-doped fiber laser designs.

CO2-laser-assisted processing of glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites

Science.gov (United States)

Brecher, Christian; Emonts, Michael; Schares, Richard Ludwig; Stimpfl, Joffrey

2013-02-01

To fully exploit the potential of fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (FRTC) and to achieve a broad industrial application, automated manufacturing systems are crucial. Investigations at Fraunhofer IPT have proven that the use of laser system technology in processing FRTC allows to achieve high throughput, quality, flexibility, reproducibility and out-of-autoclave processing simultaneously. As 90% of the FRP in Europe1 are glass fiber-reinforced a high impact can be achieved by introducing laser-assisted processing with all its benefits to glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (GFRTC). Fraunhofer IPT has developed the diode laser-assisted tape placement (laying and winding) to process carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTC) for years. However, this technology cannot be transferred unchanged to process milky transparent GFRTC prepregs (preimpregnated fibers). Due to the short wavelength (approx. 980 nm) and therefore high transmission less than 20% of the diode laser energy is absorbed as heat into non-colored GFRTC prepregs. Hence, the use of a different wave length, e.g. CO2-laser (10.6 μm) with more than 90% laser absorption, is required to allow the full potential of laser-assisted processing of GFRTC. Also the absorption of CO2-laser radiation at the surface compared to volume absorption of diode laser radiation is beneficial for the interlaminar joining of GFRTC. Fraunhofer IPT is currently developing and investigating the CO2-laser-assisted tape placement including new system, beam guiding, process and monitoring technology to enable a resource and energy efficient mass production of GFRP composites, e.g. pipes, tanks, masts. The successful processing of non-colored glass fiber-reinforced Polypropylene (PP) and Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) has already been proven.

Medical Application of Free Electron Laser Trasmittance using Hollow Optical Fiber

CERN Document Server

Suzuki, Sachiko; Ishii, Katsonuri

2004-01-01

Mid-infrared Free Electron Laser (FEL) is expected as new application for biomedical surgery. However, delivery of MIR-FEL into the body is difficult because the common glass optical fibers have strong absorption at MIR region. A good operational and flexible line for FEL is required at medical field. A Hollow optical fiber is developed for IR laser and high-power laser delivery. We evaluated the fiber for FEL transmission line. This fiber is coated with cyclic olefin polymer (COP) and silver thin film on the inside of glass capillary tube. It is 700 μm-bore and 1m in lengths. The fiber transmission loss of the measured wavelength region of 5.5 μm to 12 μm is less than 1dB/m when the fiber is straight and 1.2 dB/m when bent to radius of 20 cm. Additionally, the output beam profile and the pulse structure is not so different form incidence beam. In conclusion, the fiber is suitable for delivery of the FEL energy for applications in medical and laser surgery.

Single-longitudinal mode distributed-feedback fiber laser with low-threshold and high-efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Man; Zhou, Pu; Gu, Xijia

2018-01-01

Single-frequency fiber laser has attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to its numerous application potentials in telecommunications, LIDAR, high resolution sensing, atom frequency standard, etc. Phosphate glass fiber is one of the candidates for building compact high gain fiber lasers because of its capability of high-concentration of rare-earth ions doping in fiber core. Nevertheless, it is challenging for the integration of UV-written intra-core fiber Bragg gratings into the fiber laser cavity due to the low photosensitivity of phosphate glass fiber. The research presented in this paper will focus on demonstration of UV-written Bragg gratings in phosphate glass fiber and its application in direct-written short monolithic single-frequency fiber lasers. Strong π-phase shift Bragg grating structure is direct-inscribed into the Er/Yb co-doped gain fiber using an excimer laser, and a 5-cm-long phase mask is used to inscribe a laser cavity into the Er/Yb co-doped phosphate glass fibers. The phase mask is a uniform mask with a 50 μm gap in the middle. The fiber laser device emits output power of 10.44 mW with a slope efficiency of 21.5% and the threshold power is about 42.8 mW. Single-longitudinal mode operation is validated by radio frequency spectrum measurement. Moreover, the output spectrum at the highest power shows an excellent optical signal to noise ratio of about 70 dB. These results, to the best of our knowledge, show the lowest power threshold and highest efficiency among the reports that using the same structure to achieve single-longitudinal mode laser output.

Temperature Sensor Using a Multiwavelength Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Diaz

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A novel temperature sensor is presented based on a multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser. The laser is comprised of fiber Bragg grating reflectors as the oscillation wavelength selecting filters. The performance of the temperature sensor in terms of both wavelength and laser output power was investigated, as well as the application of this system for remote temperature measurements.

All fiber passively mode locked zirconium-based erbium-doped fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, H.; Awang, N. A.; Paul, M. C.; Pal, M.; Latif, A. A.; Harun, S. W.

2012-04-01

All passively mode locked erbium-doped fiber laser with a zirconium host is demonstrated. The fiber laser utilizes the Non-Linear Polarization Rotation (NPR) technique with an inexpensive fiber-based Polarization Beam Splitter (PBS) as the mode-locking element. A 2 m crystalline Zirconia-Yttria-Alumino-silicate fiber doped with erbium ions (Zr-Y-Al-EDF) acts as the gain medium and generates an Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) spectrum from 1500 nm to 1650 nm. The generated mode-locked pulses have a spectrum ranging from 1548 nm to more than 1605 nm, as well as a 3-dB bandwidth of 12 nm. The mode-locked pulse train has an average output power level of 17 mW with a calculated peak power of 1.24 kW and energy per pulse of approximately 730 pJ. The spectrum also exhibits a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of 50 dB as well as a repetition rate of 23.2 MHz. The system is very stable and shows little power fluctuation, in addition to being repeatable.

A narrow linewidth tunable single longitudinal mode Ga-EDF fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamed Halip, N. H.; Abu Bakar, M. H.; Latif, A. A.; Muhd-Yasin, S. Z.; Zulkifli, M. I.; Mat-Sharif, K. A.; Omar, N. Y. M.; Mansoor, A.; Abdul-Rashid, H. A.; Mahdi, M. A.

2018-05-01

A tunable ring cavity single longitudinal mode (SLM) fiber laser incorporating Gallium-Erbium co-doped fiber (Ga-EDF) gain medium and several mode filtration techniques is demonstrated. With Ga-EDF, high emission power was accorded in short fiber length, allowing shorter overall cavity length and wider free spectral range. Tunable bandpass filter, sub-ring structure, and cascaded dissimilar fiber taper were utilized to filter multi-longitudinal modes. Each of the filter mechanism was tested individually within the laser cavity to assess its performance. Once the performance of each filter was obtained, all of them were deployed into the laser system. Ultimately, the 1561.47 nm SLM laser achieved a narrow linewidth laser, optical signal-to-noise ratio, and power fluctuation of 1.19 kHz, 61.52 dB and 0.16 dB, respectively. This work validates the feasibility of Ga-EDF to attain a stable SLM output in simple laser configuration.

Monolithic Highly Stable Yb-Doped Femtosecond Fiber Lasers for Applications in Practical Biophotonics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2012-01-01

in the development of all-fiber nonlinear-optical laser control schemes, which resulted in the demonstration of highly stable monolithic, i.e., not containing any free-space elements, lasers with direct fiber-end delivery of femtosecond pulses. This paper provides an overview of the progress in the development...... of such all-fiber mode-locked lasers based on Yb-fiber as gain medium, operating at the wavelength around 1 $\\mu$m, and delivering femtosecond pulses reaching tens of nanojoules of energy.......Operational and environmental stability of ultrafast laser systems is critical for their applications in practical biophotonics. Mode-locked fiber lasers show great promise in applications such as supercontinuum sources or multiphoton microscopy systems. Recently, substantial progress has been made...

Design of fiber optic probes for laser light scattering

Science.gov (United States)

Dhadwal, Harbans S.; Chu, Benjamin

1989-01-01

A quantitative analysis is presented of the role of optical fibers in laser light scattering. Design of a general fiber optic/microlens probe by means of ray tracing is described. Several different geometries employing an optical fiber of the type used in lightwave communications and a graded index microlens are considered. Experimental results using a nonimaging fiber optic detector probe show that due to geometrical limitations of single mode fibers, a probe using a multimode optical fiber has better performance, for both static and dynamic measurements of the scattered light intensity, compared with a probe using a single mode fiber. Fiber optic detector probes are shown to be more efficient at data collection when compared with conventional approaches to measurements of the scattered laser light. Integration of fiber optic detector probes into a fiber optic spectrometer offers considerable miniaturization of conventional light scattering spectrometers, which can be made arbitrarily small. In addition static and dynamic measurements of scattered light can be made within the scattering cell and consequently very close to the scattering center.

Optical Fiber Sensors Based on Fiber Ring Laser Demodulation Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Wen-Ge; Zhang, Ya-Nan; Wang, Peng-Zhao; Wang, Jian-Zhang

2018-02-08

A review for optical fiber sensors based on fiber ring laser (FRL) demodulation technology is presented. The review focuses on the principles, main structures, and the sensing performances of different kinds of optical fiber sensors based on FRLs. First of all, the theory background of the sensors has been discussed. Secondly, four different types of sensors are described and compared, which includes Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) typed sensors, Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) typed sensors, Sagnac typed sensors, and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) typed sensors. Typical studies and main properties of each type of sensors are presented. Thirdly, a comparison of different types of sensors are made. Finally, the existing problems and future research directions are pointed out and analyzed.

Diode-Pumped Thulium (Tm)/Holmium (Ho) Composite Fiber 2.1-Micrometers Laser

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-01

Schematic of the 800-nm diode pumped Tm/Ho composite fiber laser 8 Under quasi-continuous wave (Q- CW ) pumping conditions of 1-ms duration and a...Fig. 9 (Top) Schematic of the 800-nm diode -pumped Tm/Ho composite fiber laser with outcoupler. (Left) Q- CW laser performance of the Tm/Ho composite...ARL-TR-7452 ● SEP 2015 US Army Research Laboratory Diode -Pumped Thulium (Tm)/Holmium (Ho) Composite Fiber 2.1-μm Laser by G

Welding with high power fiber lasers - A preliminary study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quintino, L.; Costa, A.; Miranda, R.; Yapp, D.; Kumar, V.; Kong, C.J.

2007-01-01

The new generation of high power fiber lasers presents several benefits for industrial purposes, namely high power with low beam divergence, flexible beam delivery, low maintenance costs, high efficiency and compact size. This paper presents a brief review of the development of high power lasers, and presents initial data on welding of API 5L: X100 pipeline steel with an 8 kW fiber laser. Weld bead geometry was evaluated and transition between conduction and deep penetration welding modes was investigated

Laser beam uniformity and stability using homogenizer-based fiber optic launch method: square core fiber delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Lizotte, Todd E.

2011-03-01

Over the years, technological achievements within the laser medical diagnostic, treatment, and therapy markets have led to ever increasing requirements for greater control of critical laser beam parameters. Increased laser power/energy stabilization, temporal and spatial beam shaping and flexible laser beam delivery systems with ergonomic focusing or imaging lens systems are sought by leading medical laser system producers. With medical procedures that utilize laser energy, there is a constant emphasis on reducing adverse effects that come about by the laser itself or its optical system, but even when these variables are well controlled the medical professional will still need to deal with the multivariate nature of the human body. Focusing on the variables that can be controlled, such as accurate placement of the laser beam where it will expose a surface being treated as well as laser beam shape and uniformity is critical to minimizing adverse conditions. This paper covers the use of fiber optic beam delivery as a means of defining the beam shape (intensity/power distribution uniformity) at the target plane as well as the use of fiber delivery as a means to allow more flexible articulation of the laser beam over the surface being treated. The paper will present a new concept of using a square core fiber beam delivery design utilizing a unique micro lens array (MLA) launch method that improves the overall stability of the system, by minimizing the impact of the laser instability. The resulting performance of the prototype is presented to demonstrate its stability in comparison to simple lens launch techniques, with an emphasis on homogenization and articulated fiber delivery.

Remote Fiber Laser Cutting System for Dismantling Glass Melter - 13071

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitsui, Takashi; Miura, Noriaki [IHI Corporation, 1 Shin-Nakahara-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa (Japan); Oowaki, Katsura; Kawaguchi, Isao [IHI Inspection and Instrumentation Co., Ltd, 1 Shin-Nakahara-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa (Japan); Miura, Yasuhiko; Ino, Tooru [Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited, 4-108, Aza Okitsuke, Oaza Obuchi, Rokkasho-Mura, Kamikita-gun, Aomori (Japan)

2013-07-01

Since 2008, the equipment for dismantling the used glass melter has been developed in High-level Liquid Waste (HLW) Vitrification Facility in the Japanese Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (RRP). Due to the high radioactivity of the glass melter, the equipment requires a fully-remote operation in the vitrification cell. The remote fiber laser cutting system was adopted as one of the major pieces of equipment. An output power of fiber laser is typically higher than other types of laser and so can provide high-cutting performance. The fiber laser can cut thick stainless steel and Inconel, which are parts of the glass melter such as casings, electrodes and nozzles. As a result, it can make the whole of the dismantling work efficiently done for a shorter period. Various conditions of the cutting test have been evaluated in the process of developing the remote fiber cutting system. In addition, the expected remote operations of the power manipulator with the laser torch have been fully verified and optimized using 3D simulations. (authors)

Crystal-free Formation of Non-Oxide Optical Fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Nabors, Sammy A.

2015-01-01

Researchers at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have devised a method for the creation of crystal-free nonoxide optical fiber preforms. Non-oxide fiber optics are extensively used in infrared transmitting applications such as communication systems, chemical sensors, and laser fiber guides for cutting, welding and medical surgery. However, some of these glasses are very susceptible to crystallization. Even small crystals can lead to light scatter and a high attenuation coefficient, limiting their usefulness. NASA has developed a new method of non-oxide fiber formation that uses axial magnetic fields to suppress crystallization. The resulting non-oxide fibers are crystal free and have lower signal attenuation rates than silica based optical fibers.

High pulse energy sub-nanosecond Tm-doped fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Cserteg, Andras; Guillemet, Sebastien; Hernandez, Yves; Giannone, Domenico

2012-02-01

We report a core pumped thulium-doped fiber amplifier that generates 1.4 μJ pulses at 1980 nm with a repetition rate of 3.6 MHz preserving the original spectral bandwidth of the oscillator. The amplifier chain is seeded by a passively modelocked fiber laser with 5 mW output power and the pulses are stretched to 800 picoseconds. The amplifier is core pumped by a single mode erbium fiber laser. The slope efficiency is 35%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of sub nanosecond pulses with energies higher than 1 μJ coming out of a thulium-doped fiber amplifier.

Alteration of the soliton behavior in silica-fibers doped with passive resonant atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres-Cisneros, G. E.; Nabiev, R.F.

1991-01-01

We have numerically studied for the first time the full dynamics describing the pulse propagation phenomenon in single-mode-silica-fibers doped with passive resonant two level atoms. For the specific case of a 3-order soliton we show that the inclusion of the resonant nonlinearities destroys the fundamental characteristics of the pulse soliton behavior. (Author)

Study of silica coatings degradation under laser irradiation and in controlled environment; Etude de la degradation de couches minces de silice sous flux laser et en environnement controle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Becker, S

2006-11-15

Performances of optical components submitted to high laser intensities are usually determined by their laser-induced damage threshold. This value represents the highest density of energy (fluence) sustainable by the component before its damage. When submitted to laser fluences far below this threshold, optical performances may also decrease with time. The degradation processes depend on laser characteristics, optical materials, and environment around the component. Silica being the most used material in optics, the aim of this study was to describe and analyse the physical-chemical mechanisms responsible for laser-induced degradation of silica coatings in controlled environment. Experimental results show that degradation is due to the growth of a carbon deposit in the irradiated zone. From these results, a phenomenological model has been proposed and validated with numerical simulations. Then, several technological solutions have been tested in order to reduce the laser-induced contamination of silica coatings. (author)

Fiber Pulling Apparatus

Science.gov (United States)

Workman, Gary L.; Smith, Guy A.; OBrien, Sue; Adcock, Leonard

1998-01-01

The fiber optics industry has grown into a multi-billion marketplace that will continue to grow into the 21st century. Optical fiber communications is currently dominated by silica glass technology. Successful efforts to improve upon the low loss transmission characteristics of silica fibers have propelled the technology into the forefront of the communications industry. However, reaching the theoretical transmission capability of silica fiber through improved processing has still left a few application areas in which other fiber systems can provide an influential role due to specific characteristics of high theoretical transmission in the 2 - 3 micron wavelength region. One of the other major materials used for optical fibers is the systems based upon Heavy Metal Fluoride Glass (HMFG). Commercial interest is driven primarily by the potential for low loss repeaterless infrared fibers. An example of the major communications marketplace which would benefit from the long distance repeaterless capability of infrared fibers is the submarine cables which link the continents. When considering commercial interests, optical fiber systems provide a healthy industrial position which continues to expand. Major investments in the systems used for optical fiber communications have continued to increase each year and are predicted to continue well into the next century. Estimates of 8.5% compounded annually are predicted through 1999 for the North American market and 1 1 % worldwide. The growth for the optical fiber cable itself is expected to continue between 44 and 50 per cent of the optical fiber communications budget through 1999. The total budget in 1999 world-wide is expected to be in the neighborhood of $9 billion. Another survey predicts that long haul telecommunications represents 15% of a world-wide fiber optics market in 1998. The actual amount allotted to cable was not specified. However, another market research had predicted that the cable costs alone represents more

Experimental studies for improvement of thermal effects in a high-power fiber-coupled diode laser module operating at 808 nm

Science.gov (United States)

El-Sherif, Ashraf F.; Hussein, Khalid; Hassan, Mahmoud F.; Talat, Mahmoud M.

2012-03-01

High power diode laser module operating at 808 nm is required for different applications, such as developing an efficient high power Nd3+-doped solid state laser and Tm3+ -doped silica fiber laser, industrial, medical and military applications. Optical and thermal images characterization for a fiber-coupled high power diode laser module is presented experimentally for 6.6 Watt output optical power .An external temperature controller system was designed, which stabilizes the central wavelength at 808 nm at 25°C over a wide range of diode laser driving current from 1A to 6 A. without this cooling system, the wavelength changes by 0.35nm/°C for temperature changes from 20°C to 40°C at the same range of the driving current. In this paper we have present a methodology for temperature reduction of a 808 nm high power diode laser module, based on dynamically thermal control, which is known as dynamic thermal management. Stabilization of the output wavelength has been done by using proportional speed control (PSC) of a CPU cooling fan with certain scheme of straight fins heat sink. Two electronic circuits based on pulse width modulation (PWM) in microcontroller and comparators IC have been used. This technique can be considered as an effective mechanism for reducing temperature and power dissipation to make stabilization of the diode laser output wavelength by preventing heat accumulation from the thermo electric cooling (TEC) inside the diode laser module confirmed by thermal images.

CO2 laser-fabricated cladding light strippers for high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyd, Keiron; Simakov, Nikita; Hemming, Alexander; Daniel, Jae; Swain, Robert; Mies, Eric; Rees, Simon; Andrew Clarkson, W; Haub, John

2016-04-10

We present and characterize a simple CO2 laser processing technique for the fabrication of compact all-glass optical fiber cladding light strippers. We investigate the cladding light loss as a function of radiation angle of incidence and demonstrate devices in a 400 μm diameter fiber with cladding losses of greater than 20 dB for a 7 cm device length. The core losses are also measured giving a loss of cladding light stripping of a 300 W laser diode with minimal heating of the fiber coating and packaging adhesives.

Ultra-high brightness wavelength-stabilized kW-class fiber coupled diode laser

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Robin K.; Chann, Bien; Glenn, John D.

2011-03-01

TeraDiode has produced a fiber-coupled direct diode laser with a power level of 1,040 W from a 200 μm core diameter, 0.18 numerical aperture (NA) output fiber at a single center wavelength. This was achieved with a novel beam combining and shaping technique using COTS diode lasers. The fiber-coupled output corresponds to a Beam Parameter Product (BPP) of 18 mm-mrad and is the lowest BPP kW-class direct diode laser yet reported. The laser has been used to demonstrate laser cutting and welding of steel sheet metal up to 6.65 mm thick. Further advances of these ultra-bright lasers are also projected.

Laser sensor with Bragg gratings of fiber optics to physics parameter measuring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vazquez, R.; Garcia, C.; May, M.; Camas, J.

2009-01-01

We present the operation of a fiber laser sensor made by an Erbium Doped Fiber pumped at 980nm, an 4.23 km passive fiber and two fiber Bragg gratings placed at the ends of the laser cavity. Under normal conditions, the Bragg gratings have different reflection wavelengths and laser emission is not generated. The two Bragg gratings can be placed at the same reflection wavelength when the Bragg grating with the lowest reflective wavelength increases their temperature which can be used as a sensor element. The laser generation thus shows that the Bragg grating is increasing their temperature. We used a Peltier cell for to change gradually the temperature. (Author)

Self-swept holmium fiber laser near 2100 nm

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Aubrecht, Jan; Peterka, Pavel; Koška, Pavel; Podrazký, Ondřej; Todorov, Filip; Honzátko, Pavel; Kašík, Ivan

2017-01-01

Roč. 25, č. 4 (2017), s. 4120-4125 ISSN 1094-4087 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-13306S Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Fiber lasers * Fourier transform infrared spectrometer * Laser wavelength Subject RIV: BH - Optics , Masers, Lasers OBOR OECD: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics ) Impact factor: 3.307, year: 2016

Modeling laser-induced surface cracks in silica at 355 nm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feit, M.D.

1997-01-01

Starting from the absorption of laser energy at a subsurface nanoparticle in fused silica, we simulate the consequent buildup of stresses and resulting mechanical material damage . The simulation indicates the formation of micropits with size comparable to a wavelength, similar to experimental observation. Possible mechanisms for enhanced local light absorbtion are discussed

Coatings influencing thermal stress in photonic crystal fiber laser

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Dongqing; Li, Yan; Li, Yao; Hu, Minglie

2018-06-01

We studied how coating materials influence the thermal stress in the fiber core for three holding methods by simulating the temperature distribution and the thermal stress distribution in the photonic-crystal fiber laser. The results show that coating materials strongly influence both the thermal stress in the fiber core and the stress differences caused by holding methods. On the basis of the results, a two-coating PCF was designed. This design reduces the stress differences caused by variant holding conditions to zero, then the stability of laser operations can be improved.

Post-processing of fused silica and its effects on damage resistance to nanosecond pulsed UV lasers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Hui; Li, Yaguo; Zhang, Qinghua; Wang, Wei; Yuan, Zhigang; Wang, Jian; Xu, Qiao

2016-04-10

HF-based (hydrofluoric acid) chemical etching has been a widely accepted technique to improve the laser damage performance of fused silica optics and ensure high-power UV laser systems at designed fluence. Etching processes such as acid concentration, composition, material removal amount, and etching state (etching with additional acoustic power or not) may have a great impact on the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of treated sample surfaces. In order to find out the effects of these factors, we utilized the Taguchi method to determine the etching conditions that are helpful in raising the LIDT. Our results show that the most influential factors are concentration of etchants and the material etched away from the viewpoint of damage performance of fused silica optics. In addition, the additional acoustic power (∼0.6  W·cm-2) may not benefit the etching rate and damage performance of fused silica. Moreover, the post-cleaning procedure of etched samples is also important in damage performances of fused silica optics. Different post-cleaning procedures were, thus, experiments on samples treated under the same etching conditions. It is found that the "spraying + rinsing + spraying" cleaning process is favorable to the removal of etching-induced deposits. Residuals on the etched surface are harmful to surface roughness and optical transmission as well as laser damage performance.

Optical fiber configurations for transmission of laser energy over great distances

Science.gov (United States)

Rinzler, Charles C; Zediker, Mark S

2013-10-29

There are provided optical fiber configurations that provide for the delivery of laser energy, and in particular, the transmission and delivery of high power laser energy over great distances. These configurations further are hardened to protect the optical fibers from the stresses and conditions of an intended application. The configurations provide means for determining the additional fiber length (AFL) need to obtain the benefits of such additional fiber, while avoiding bending losses.

Mode profiling of optical fibers at high laser powers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Peter Carøe; Pedersen, David Bue; Simonsen, R.B.

2008-01-01

of the focused spot can be determined. The analyser is based on the principle of a rotating wire being swept though the laser beam, while the reflected signal is recorded [1]. By changing the incident angle of the rotating rod from 0° to 360° in relation to the fiber, the full profile of the laser beam...... is obtained. Choosing a highly reflective rod material and a sufficiently high rotation speed, these measurements can be done with high laser powers, without any additional optical elements between the fiber and analyzer. The performance of the analyzer was evaluated by coupling laser light into different...

Advances in Single-Crystal Fibers and Thin Rods Grown by Laser Heated Pedestal Growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gisele Maxwell

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Single-crystal fibers are an intermediate between laser crystals and doped glass fibers. They have the advantages of both guiding laser light and matching the efficiencies found in bulk crystals, which is making them ideal candidates for high-power laser and fiber laser applications. This work focuses on the growth of a flexible fiber with a core of dopant (Er, Nd, Yb, etc. and a polycrystalline clad of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG that will exhibit good wave guiding properties. Direct growth or a combination of growth and cladding experiments are described. Scattering loss measurements at visible wavelengths, along with dopant profile characterization with damage threshold results, are also presented. For single-pass amplification, a single-pass linear gain of 7.4 was obtained for 29 nJ pulses of 5 ns duration at 1 MHz repetition rate. We also obtained a laser efficiency of over 58% in a diode-pumped configuration. These results confirm the potential for single-crystal fibers to overcome the limitations of the glass fibers commonly used in fiber lasers, making them prime candidates for high-power compact fiber lasers and amplifiers.

Characteristics of plasma plume in fiber laser welding of aluminum alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gao, Ming; Chen, Cong; Hu, Ming; Guo, Lianbo; Wang, Zemin, E-mail: zmwang@mail.hust.edu.cn; Zeng, Xiaoyan

2015-01-30

Highlights: • Spectroscopic properties of fiber laser induced Al plasma plume are measured. • The plume is usually a metal vapor dominated weakly ionized plasma. • The plume is a strongly ionized plasma after laser power is higher than 5 kW. • Plasma shielding effect must be considered after laser power reaches 5 kW. • Plasma shielding effect is dominated by inverse bremsstrahlung absorption. - Abstract: To understand the laser–matter interaction in fiber laser welding of aluminum alloys, the effects of laser power on the characteristics of fiber laser induced plasma plume were studied by emission spectroscopic analysis firstly. The plasma characteristic parameters including electron temperature, electron density, ionization degree, and inverse bremsstrahlung linear absorption coefficient were computed according to the spectral data. It was found that the laser power of 5 kW is a turning point. After the laser power reaches 5 kW, the plume changes from a metal vapor dominated weakly ionized plasma to a strongly ionized plasma. The corresponding phenomena are the dramatic increase of the value of characteristic parameters and the appearance of strong plasma shielding effect. The calculation of effective laser power density demonstrated that the plasma shielding effect is dominated by inverse bremsstrahlung absorption. The finding suggested the plasma shielding effect must be considered in fiber laser welding of aluminum alloys, rather than is ignored as claimed in previous view.

Dynamic compressive properties and failure mechanism of glass fiber reinforced silica hydrogel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Jie; Li Shukui; Yan Lili; Huo Dongmei; Wang Fuchi

2010-01-01

The dynamic compressive properties of glass fiber reinforced silica (GFRS) hydrogel were investigated using a spilt Hopkinson pressure bar. Failure mechanism of GFRS hydrogel was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Result showed that dynamic compressive stresses were much higher than the quasi-static compressive stresses at the same strain. The dynamic compressive strength was directly proportional to the strain rate with same sample dimensions. The dynamic compressive strength was directly proportional to the sample basal area at same strain rate. Dynamic compressive failure strain was small. At high strain rates, glass fibers broke down and separated from the matrix, pores shrank rapidly. Failure resulted from the increase of lateral tensile stress in hydrogel under dynamic compression.

Short-wavelength multiline erbium-doped fiber ring laser by a broadband long-period fiber grating inscribed in a taper transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anzueto-Sánchez, G; Martínez-Rios, A

2014-01-01

A stable multiwavelength all-fiber erbium-doped fiber ring laser (EDFRL) based on a broadband long-period fiber grating (LPFG) inscribed in a fiber taper transition is presented. The LPFG’s characteristics were engineered to provide a higher loss at the natural lasing wavelength of the laser cavity. The LPFG inscribed on a taper transition provided a depth greater than 25 dB, and posterior chemical etching provided a broad notch band to inhibit laser generation on the long-wavelength side of the EDF gain. Up to four simultaneous laser wavelengths are generated in the range of 1530–1535 nm. (paper)

High Power Fiber Laser Test Bed

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — This facility, unique within DoD, power-combines numerous cutting-edge fiber-coupled laser diode modules (FCLDM) to integrate pumping of high power rare earth-doped...

Gain-switched all-fiber laser with narrow bandwidth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Casper; Giesberts, M.; Nyga, S.

2013-01-01

pulse energy is 20 μJ in a duration of 135 ns at 7 kHz. The bandwidth increases for a higher pump pulse energy and repetition rate, and this sets the limit of the output pulse energy. A single power amplifier is added to raise the peak power to the kW-level and the pulse energy to 230 μJ while keeping......Gain-switching of a CW fiber laser is a simple and cost-effective approach to generate pulses using an all-fiber system. We report on the construction of a narrow bandwidth (below 0.1 nm) gain-switched fiber laser and optimize the pulse energy and pulse duration under this constraint. The extracted...

Fiber Optic Cables for Transmission of High-Power Laser Pulses in Spaceflight Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Thomes, W. J., Jr.; Ott, M. N.; Chuska, R. F.; Switzer, R. C.; Blair, D. E.

2010-01-01

Lasers with high peak power pulses are commonly used in spaceflight missions for a wide range of applications, from LIDAR systems to optical communications. Due to the high optical power needed, the laser has to be located on the exterior of the satellite or coupled through a series of free space optics. This presents challenges for thermal management, radiation resistance, and mechanical design. Future applications will require multiple lasers located close together, which further complicates the design. Coupling the laser energy into a fiber optic cable allows the laser to be relocated to a more favorable position on the spacecraft. Typical fiber optic termination procedures are not sufficient for injection of these high-power laser pulses without catastrophic damage to the fiber endface. In the current study, we will review the causes of fiber damage during high-power injection and discuss our new manufacturing procedures that overcome these issues to permit fiber use with high reliability in these applications. We will also discuss the proper methods for launching the laser pulses into the fiber to avoid damage and how this is being implemented for current spaceflight missions.

Fiber optic cables for transmission of high-power laser pulses in spaceflight applications

Science.gov (United States)

Thomes, W. J.; Ott, M. N.; Chuska, R. F.; Switzer, R. C.; Blair, D. E.

2017-11-01

Lasers with high peak power pulses are commonly used in spaceflight missions for a wide range of applications, from LIDAR systems to optical communications. Due to the high optical power needed, the laser has to be located on the exterior of the satellite or coupled through a series of free space optics. This presents challenges for thermal management, radiation resistance, and mechanical design. Future applications will require multiple lasers located close together, which further complicates the design. Coupling the laser energy into a fiber optic cable allows the laser to be relocated to a more favorable position on the spacecraft. Typical fiber optic termination procedures are not sufficient for injection of these high-power laser pulses without catastrophic damage to the fiber endface. In the current study, we will review the causes of fiber damage during high-power injection and discuss our new manufacturing procedures that overcome these issues to permit fiber use with high reliability in these applications. We will also discuss the proper methods for launching the laser pulses into the fiber to avoid damage and how this is being implemented for current spaceflight missions.

Growth behavior of laser-induced damage on fused silica optics under UV, ns laser irradiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Negres, Raluca A; Norton, Mary A; Cross, David A; Carr, Christopher W

2010-09-13

The growth behavior of laser-induced damage sites is affected by a large number of laser parameters as well as site morphology. Here we investigate the effects of pulse duration on the growth rate of damage sites located on the exit surface of fused silica optics. Results demonstrate a significant dependence of the growth parameters on laser pulse duration at 351 nm from 1 ns to 15 ns, including the observation of a dominant exponential versus linear, multiple-shot growth behavior for long and short pulses, respectively. These salient behaviors are tied to the damage morphology and suggest a shift in the fundamental growth mechanisms for pulses in the 1-5 ns range.

Solar-pumped fiber laser with transverse-excitation geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Masuda, Taizo; Iyoda, Mitsuhiro; Yasumatu, Yuta; Yamashita, Tomohiro; Sasaki, Kiyoto; Endo, Masamori

2018-02-01

In this paper, we demonstrate an extremely low-concentrated solar-pumped laser (SPL) that uses a transversely excited fiber laser geometry. To eliminate the need for precise solar tracking with an aggressive cooling system and to considerably increase the number of laser applications, low-concentration factors in SPLs are highly desired. We investigate the intrinsic low-loss property of SiO2 optical fibers; this property can be used to compensate for the extremely low gain coefficient of the weakly-pumped active medium by sunlight. As part of the experimental setup, a 40-m long Nd3+-doped SiO2 fiber coil was packed in a ring-shaped chamber filled with a sensitizer solution; this solution functioned as a down-shifter. The dichroic top window of the chamber transmitted a wide range of sunlight and reflected the down-shifted photons, confining them to the highly-reflective chamber until they were absorbed by the Nd3+ ions in the active fiber. We demonstrated a lasing threshold that is 10 times the concentration of natural sunlight and two orders of magnitude smaller than that of conventional SPLs.

Development of laser surface cladding through energy transmission over optical fiber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirano, Kenji; Morishige, Norio; Irisawa, Toshio

1990-01-01

Much attention has recently been paid to laser cladding techniques as an approach in controlling the composition and structure of the metal surface. If YAG laser is used as the cladding method, the flexibility of laser cladding process increases extremely because YAG laser beam is transmitted through an optical fiber, and enabling cladding on pipes installed in actual plants. So experiments on YAG laser cladding through energy transmission over an optical fiber were performed to prevent stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steel pipes. In order to build a cladding layer, mixed metal powder were pre-placed on the inner surface of the pipe using organic binder and the pre-placed powder beds were melted with YAG laser beam transmitted using an optical fiber. This paper introduces the method of building a cladding layer on pipes in actual nuclear plants. (author)

Monolithic all-PM femtosecond Yb-fiber laser stabilized with a narrow-band fiber Bragg grating and pulse-compressed in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turchinovich, Dmitry; Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper

2008-01-01

. The laser output is compressed in a spliced-on hollow-core PM photonic crystal fiber, thus providing direct end-of-the-fiber delivery of pulses of around 370 fs duration and 4 nJ energy with high mode quality. Tuning the pump power of the end amplifier of the laser allows for the control of output pulse......We report on an environmentally stable self-starting monolithic (i.e. without any free-space coupling) all-polarization-maintaining (PM) femtosecond Yb-fiber laser, stabilized against Q-switching by a narrow-band fiber Bragg grating and modelocked using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror...

Components for monolithic fiber chirped pulse amplification laser systems

Science.gov (United States)

Swan, Michael Craig

The first portion of this work develops techniques for generating femtosecond-pulses from conventional fabry-perot laser diodes using nonlinear-spectral-broadening techniques in Yb-doped positive dispersion fiber ampliers. The approach employed an injection-locked fabry-perot laser diode followed by two stages of nonlinear-spectral-broadening to generate sub-200fs pulses. This thesis demonstrated that a 60ps gain-switched fabry-perot laser-diode can be injection-locked to generate a single-longitudinal-mode pulse and compressed by nonlinear spectral broadening to 4ps. Two problems have been identified that must be resolved before moving forward with this approach. First, gain-switched pulses from a standard diode-laser have a number of characteristics not well suited for producing clean self-phase-modulation-broadened pulses, such as an asymmetric temporal shape, which has a long pulse tail. Second, though parabolic pulse formation occurs for any arbitrary temporal input pulse profile, deviation from the optimum parabolic input results in extensively spectrally modulated self-phase-modulation-broadened pulses. In conclusion, the approach of generating self-phase-modulation-broadened pulses from pulsed laser diodes has to be modified from the initial approach explored in this thesis. The first Yb-doped chirally-coupled-core ber based systems are demonstrated and characterized in the second portion of this work. Robust single-mode performance independent of excitation or any other external mode management techniques have been demonstrated in Yb-doped chirally-coupled-core fibers. Gain and power efficiency characteristics are not compromised in any way in this novel fiber structure up to the 87W maximum power achieved. Both the small signal gain at 1064nm of 30.3dB, and the wavelength dependence of the small signal gain were comparable to currently deployed large-mode-area-fiber technology. The efficiencies of the laser and amplifier were measured to be 75% and 54

Latest development of high-power fiber lasers in SPI

Science.gov (United States)

Norman, Stephen; Zervas, Mikhail N.; Appleyard, Andrew; Durkin, Michael K.; Horley, Ray; Varnham, Malcolm P.; Nilsson, Johan; Jeong, Yoonchan

2004-06-01

High Power Fiber Lasers (HPFLs) and High Power Fiber Amplifiers (HPFAs) promise a number of benefits in terms of their high optical efficiency, degree of integration, beam quality, reliability, spatial compactness and thermal management. These benefits are driving the rapid adoption of HPFLs in an increasingly wide range of applications and power levels ranging from a few Watts, in for example analytical applications, to high-power >1kW materials processing (machining and welding) applications. This paper describes SPI"s innovative technologies, HPFL products and their performance capabilities. The paper highlights key aspects of the design basis and provides an overview of the applications space in both the industrial and aerospace domains. Single-fiber CW lasers delivering 1kW output power at 1080nm have been demonstrated and are being commercialized for aerospace and industrial applications with wall-plug efficiencies in the range 20 to 25%, and with beam parameter products in the range 0.5 to 100 mm.mrad (corresponding to M2 = 1.5 to 300) tailored to application requirements. At power levels in the 1 - 200 W range, SPI"s proprietary cladding-pumping technology, GTWaveTM, has been employed to produce completely fiber-integrated systems using single-emitter broad-stripe multimode pump diodes. This modular construction enables an agile and flexible approach to the configuration of a range of fiber laser / amplifier systems for operation in the 1080nm and 1550nm wavelength ranges. Reliability modeling is applied to determine Systems martins such that performance specifications are robustly met throughout the designed product lifetime. An extensive Qualification and Reliability-proving programme is underway to qualify the technology building blocks that are utilized for the fiber laser cavity, pump modules, pump-driver systems and thermo-mechanical management. In addition to the CW products, pulsed fiber lasers with pulse energies exceeding 1mJ with peak pulse

Ring mirror fiber laser gyroscope

Science.gov (United States)

Shalaby, Mohamed Y.; Khalil, Kamal; Afifi, Abdelrahman E.; Khalil, Diaa

2017-02-01

In this work we present a new architecture for a laser gyroscope based on the use of a Sagnac fiber loop mirror. The proposed system has the unique property that its scale factor can be increased by increasing the gain of the optical amplifier used in the system as demonstrated experimentally using standard single mode fiber and explained physically by the system operation. The proposed gyroscope system is also capable of identifying the direction of rotation. This new structure opens the door for a new category of low cost optical gyroscopes.

Ytterbium-Phosphate Glass for Microstructured Fiber Laser

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryszard Stępień

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In the paper, we report on the development of a synthesis and melting method of phosphate glasses designed for active microstructured fiber manufacturing. Non-doped glass synthesized in a P2O5-Al2O3-BaO-ZnO-MgO-Na2O oxide system served as the matrix material; meanwhile, the glass was doped with 6 mol% (18 wt% of Yb2O3, as fiber core. The glasses were well-fitted in relation to optical (refractive index and thermal proprieties (thermal expansion coefficient, rheology. The fiber with the Yb3+-doped core, with a wide internal photonic microstructure for a laser pump, as well as with a high relative hole size in the photonic outer air-cladding, was produced. The laser built on the basis of this fiber enabled achieving 8.07 W of output power with 20.5% slope efficiency against the launched pump power, in single-mode operation M2 = 1.59, from a 53 cm-long cavity.

Detecting mode hopping in single-longitudinal-mode fiber ring lasers based on an unbalanced fiber Michelson interferometer.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Mingxiang; Hu, Zhengliang; Xu, Pan; Wang, Wei; Hu, Yongming

2012-10-20

A method of detecting mode hopping for single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) fiber ring lasers has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The method that is based on an unbalanced Michelson interferometer (MI) utilizing phase generated carrier modulation instantly transforms mode-hopping dynamics into steep phase changes of the interferometer. Multiform mode hops in an SLM erbium-doped fiber ring laser with an 18.6 MHz mode spacing have been detected exactly in real-time domain and discussed in detail. Numerical results show that the MI-based method has a high testing sensitivity for identifying mode hopping, which will play a significant role in evaluating the output stability of SLM fiber lasers.

Mid-Infrared Fiber Lasers (Les fibres laser infrarouge moyen)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-01

Marcel Poulain, Université de Rennes / Le Verre Fluoré, France Fluoride Fiber Sources: Problems and Prospects Prof. Marcel Poulain from Rennes...currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES...Les fibres laser infrarouge moyen (RTO-MP-SET-171) Synthèse Les sources laser en infrarouge moyen sont nécessaires aux systèmes actifs de

High-power diode laser bars as pump sources for fiber lasers and amplifiers (Invited Paper)

Science.gov (United States)

Bonati, G.; Hennig, P.; Wolff, D.; Voelckel, H.; Gabler, T.; Krause, U.; T'nnermann, A.; Reich, M.; Limpert, J.; Werner, E.; Liem, A.

2005-04-01

Fiber lasers are pumped by fibercoupled, multimode single chip devices at 915nm. That"s what everybody assumes when asked for the type of fiber laser pumps and it was like this for many years. Coming up as an amplifier for telecom applications, the amount of pump power needed was in the range of several watts. Highest pump powers for a limited market entered the ten watts range. This is a range of power that can be covered by highly reliable multimode chips, that have to survive up to 25 years, e.g. in submarine applications. With fiber lasers entering the power range and the application fields of rod and thin disc lasers, the amount of pump power needed raised into the area of several hundred watts. In this area of pump power, usually bar based pumps are used. This is due to the much higher cost pressure of the industrial customers compared to telecom customers. We expect more then 70% of all industrial systems to be pumped by diode laser bars. Predictions that bar based pumps survive for just a thousand hours in cw-operation and fractions of this if pulsed are wrong. Bar based pumps have to perform on full power for 10.000h on Micro channel heat sinks and 20.000h on passive heatsinks in industrial applications, and they do. We will show a variety of data, "real" long time tests and statistics from the JENOPTIK Laserdiode as well as data of thousands of bars in the field, showing that bar based pumps are not just well suitable for industrial applications on high power levels, but even showing benefits compared to chip based pumps. And it"s reasonable, that the same objectives of cost effectiveness, power and lifetime apply as well to thin disc, rod and slab lasers as to fiber lasers. Due to the pumping of fiber lasers, examples will be shown, how to utilize bars for high brightness fiber coupling. In this area, the automation is on its way to reduce the costs on the fibercoupling, similar to what had been done in the single chip business. All these efforts are

Laser ablation of toluene liquid for surface micro-structuring of silica glass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niino, H.; Kawaguchi, Y.; Sato, T.; Narazaki, A.; Gumpenberger, T.; Kurosaki, R.

2006-01-01

Microstructures with well-defined micropatterns were fabricated on the surfaces of silica glass using a laser-induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) method by diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) UV laser at the repetition rate of 10 kHz. For a demonstration of flexible rapid prototyping as mask-less exposure system, the focused laser beam was directed to the sample by galvanometer-based point scanning system. Additionally, a diagnostics study of plume propagation in the ablated products of toluene solid film was carried out with an intensified CCD (ICCD) camera

Final Scientific and Technical Report - Practical Fiber Delivered Laser Ignition Systems for Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yalin, Azer [Seaforth, LLC

2014-03-30

Research has characterized advanced kagome fiber optics for their use in laser ignition systems. In comparison to past fibers used in laser ignition, these fibers have the important advantage of being relatively bend-insensitivity, so that they can be bent and coiled without degradation of output energy or beam quality. The results are very promising for practical systems. For pulse durations of ~12 ns, the fibers could deliver >~10 mJ pulses before damage onset. A study of pulse duration showed that by using longer pulse duration (~20 – 30 ns), it is possible to carry even higher pulse energy (by factor of ~2-3) which also provides future opportunities to implement longer duration sources. Beam quality measurements showed nearly single-mode output from the kagome fibers (i.e. M2 close to 1) which is the optimum possible value and, combined with their high pulse energy, shows the suitability of the fibers for laser ignition. Research has also demonstrated laser ignition of an engine including reliable (100%) ignition of a single-cylinder gasoline engine using the laser ignition system with bent and coiled kagome fiber. The COV of IMEP was <2% which is favorable for stable engine operation. These research results, along with the continued reduction in cost of laser sources, support our commercial development of practical laser ignition systems.

Suppression of dynamic laser speckle signals in multimode fibers of various lengths

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petoukhova, Anna; Cleven, Ester; de Mul, F.F.M.; Steenbergen, Wiendelt

2004-01-01

The effects of fiber coupling and fiber length on photocurrent fluctuations are studied when the light of a laser diode transmitted to and from a dynamic turbid medium by a step-index multimode fiber is studied. When the laser light is coupled asymmetrically, filling only the higher-order modes, the

Neodymium-doped phosphate fiber lasers with an all-solid microstructured inner cladding.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guang; Zhou, Qinling; Yu, Chunlei; Hu, Lili; Chen, Danping

2012-06-15

We report on high-power fiber lasers based on index-guiding, all-solid neodymium-doped (Nd-doped) phosphate photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a hexagonal-shaped inner cladding. The optimum fiber laser with a 36 cm length active fiber, generated up to 7.92 W output power at 1053 nm, which benefited from a high absorption coefficient for pump power due to its noncircular inner cladding. The guiding properties of the all-solid PCF were also investigated. A stable mode with a donut-shaped profile and a power-dependent laser beam quality have been observed experimentally and analyzed.

Nonlinear High-Energy Pulse Propagation in Graded-Index Multimode Optical Fibers for Mode-Locked Fiber Lasers

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-23

power kW at nm in a C-GIMF segment in the lowest order mode ; this pulse can be ob- tained from a typical titanium –sapphire mode-locked laser . A much...single- andmulticore double- clad and PCF lasers . He was a Senior Research Scientist at Corning Inc. from 2005 to 2008. He is currently an Assistant...High-Energy Pulse Propagation in Graded-Index Multimode Optical Fibers for Mode-Locked Fiber Lasers 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-12-1

Radial-firing optical fiber tip containing conical-shaped air-pocket for biomedical applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seung Ho; Ryu, Yong-Tak; Son, Dong Hoon; Jeong, Seongmook; Kim, Youngwoong; Ju, Seongmin; Kim, Bok Hyeon; Han, Won-Taek

2015-08-10

We report a novel radial-firing optical fiber tip containing a conical-shaped air-pocket fabricated by deforming a hollow optical fiber using electric arc-discharge process. The hollow optical fiber was fusion spliced with a conventional optical fiber, simultaneously deforming into the intagliated conical-shaped region along the longitudinal fiber-axis of the fiber due to the gradual collapse of the cavity of the hollow optical fiber. Then the distal-end of the hollow optical fiber was sealed by the additional arc-discharge in order to obstruct the inflow of an external bio-substance or liquid to the inner air surface during the surgical operations, resulting in the formation of encased air-pocket in the silica glass fiber. Due to the total internal reflection of the laser beam at the conical-shaped air surface, the laser beam (λ = 632.8 nm) was deflected to the circumferential direction up to 87 degree with respect to the fiber-axis.

Efficient, High-Power Mid-Infrared Laser for National Securityand Scientific Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kiani, Leily S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-11-02

The LLNL fiber laser group developed a unique short-wave-infrared, high-pulse energy, highaverage- power fiber based laser. This unique laser source has been used in combination with a nonlinear frequency converter to generate wavelengths, useful for remote sensing and other applications in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR). Sources with high average power and high efficiency in this MWIR wavelength region are not yet available with the size, weight, and power requirements or energy efficiency necessary for future deployment. The LLNL developed Fiber Laser Pulsed Source (FiLPS) design was adapted to Erbium doped silica fibers for 1.55 μm pumping of Cadmium Silicon Phosphide (CSP). We have demonstrated, for the first time optical parametric amplification of 2.4 μm light via difference frequency generation using CSP with an Erbium doped fiber source. In addition, for efficiency comparison purposes, we also demonstrated direct optical parametric generation (OPG) as well as optical parametric oscillation (OPO).

High-efficiency 2 μm Tm-doped fiber laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dvornikov, D.

2013-01-01

Full text: Tm doped fiber laser operating in so called 'eye safe' wavelength region and designed in a MOPA configuration has been demonstrated. Large-mode-area fiber design and availability of high-brightness, high-power pump diodes at 795 nm made possible maximum output power of 25 W achieved at incident pump power of 72 W resulting in optical conversion efficiency about 35%. An important factor that led to an interest in 2 μm Tm-doped lasers is significantly broader spectral tunability of Tm-doped fibers compared to Yb-doped fibers, spanning wavelengths from below 1850 nm to beyond 2100 nm, corresponding to more than 200 nm of available bandwidth. This wavelength region covers the water absorption peaks around 1940 nm, making these lasers a valuable tool for precise medical procedures including noninvasive surgery, as well as several atmospheric transmission windows that are useful for remote sensing, laser radar and range-finding. This work was carried out as part of the EU funded Joint Operational Programme 'Black Sea Basin 2007-2013' and project 2.2.1.74459.339, MIS-ETC 1443 'Research networking for the environmental monitoring and mitigation of adverse ecological effects in the Black Sea Basin (BSB Net-Eco)'.

Comment on "Design of a broadband highly dispersive pure silica photonic crystal fiber"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Niels Asger

2008-01-01

In a recent paper, Subbaraman et al. [Appl. Opt. 46, 3263–3268 (2007)] reported a theoretical and numerical study of highly dispersive pure silica photonic crystal fiber supporting group-velocity dispersion exceeding −2 × 104 ps=nm=km. This Comment argues that the authors consider only one of two...... sides of the same coin by not taking the corresponding beating length into account....

Photonic crystal fiber technology for compact fiber-delivered high-power ultrafast fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Triches, Marco; Michieletto, Mattia; Johansen, Mette M.; Jakobsen, Christian; Olesen, Anders S.; Papior, Sidsel R.; Kristensen, Torben; Bondue, Magalie; Weirich, Johannes; Alkeskjold, Thomas T.

2018-02-01

Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) technology has radically impacted the scientific and industrial ultrafast laser market. Reducing platform dimensions are important to decrease cost and footprint while maintaining high optical efficiency. We present our recent work on short 85 μm core ROD-type fiber amplifiers that maintain single-mode performance and excellent beam quality. Robust long-term performance at 100 W average power and 250 kW peak power in 20 ps pulses at 1030 nm wavelength is presented, exceeding 500 h with stable performance in terms of both polarization and power. In addition, we present our recent results on hollow-core ultrafast fiber delivery maintaining high beam quality and polarization purity.

Optical fiber laser sensor with a cavity of 8.6 Km formed by two fiber Bragg gratings used as mirrors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

May A, M.; Kuzin, E.A.; Vazquez S, R.A. [Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica, A. P. 51 y 216, C.P. 72000 Puebla (Mexico); Basurto P, M.A. [Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad No. 1001, Col. Chamilpa, C.P. 62210 Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico); Shlyagin, M.G.; Marquez B, I. [Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Ensenanza Superior de Ensenada, C.P. 22860 Ensenada, Baja California (Mexico)

2002-07-01

We report the operation of a fiber laser sensor made by an Erbium Doped Fiber pumped at 980 nm, an 8.67 km passive fiber and two fiber Bragg gratings placed at the ends of the laser cavity. Under normal conditions, the Bragg gratings have different reflection wavelengths and laser emission is not generated. The two Bragg gratings can be placed at the same reflection wavelength when the Bragg grating with the lowest reflective wavelength is strained which can be used as a sensor element. The laser generation thus shows that the Bragg grating is under strain. Furthermore, our configuration give us the possibility for knowing the distance between two Bragg gratings when the laser beating frequency is measured. A measurement precision better than 25 m in 8.67 Km is shown to be feasible. (Author)

Optical fiber laser sensor with a cavity of 8.6 Km formed by two fiber Bragg gratings used as mirrors

CERN Document Server

May, M; Vázquez, R A; Basurto, M A; Shlyagin, M G; Márquez, I

2002-01-01

We report the operation of a fiber laser sensor made by an Erbium Doped Fiber pumped at 980 nm, an 8.67 km passive fiber and two fiber Bragg gratings placed at the ends of the laser cavity. Under normal conditions, the Bragg gratings have different reflection wavelengths and laser emission is not generated. The two Bragg gratings can be placed at the same reflection wavelength when the Bragg grating with the lowest reflective wavelength is strained which can be used as a sensor element. The laser generation thus shows that the Bragg grating is under strain. Furthermore, our configuration give us the possibility for knowing the distance between two Bragg gratings when the laser beating frequency is measured. A measurement precision better than 25 m in 8.67 Km is shown to be feasible. (Author)

Estimating optical feedback from a chalcogenide fiber in mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Jumpertz

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The amount of optical feedback originating from a chalcogenide fiber used to couple light from a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser is evaluated experimentally. Threshold reduction measurements on the fibered laser, combined with an analytical study of a rate equations model of the laser under optical feedback, allow estimating the feedback strength between 11% and 15% depending on the fiber cleavage quality. While this remains below the frontier of the chaotic regime, it is sufficient to deeply modify the optical spectrum of a quantum cascade laser. Hence for applications such as gas spectroscopy, where the shape of the optical spectrum is of prime importance, the use of mid-infrared optical isolators may be necessary for fibered quantum cascade lasers to be fully exploited.

Fiber fuse behavior in kW-level continuous-wave double-clad field laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Jun-Yi; Xiao Qi-Rong; Li Dan; Wang Xue-Jiao; Zhang Hai-Tao; Gong Ma-Li; Yan Ping

2016-01-01

In this study, original experimental data for fiber fuse in kW-level continuous-wave (CW) high power double-clad fiber (DCF) laser are reported. The propagating velocity of the fuse is 9.68 m/s in a 3.1-kW Yb-doped DCF laser. Three other cases in Yb-doped DCF are also observed. We think that the ignition of fiber fuse is caused by thermal mechanism, and the formation of bullet-shaped tracks is attributed to the optical discharge and temperature gradient. The inducements of initial fuse and formation of bullet-shaped voids are analyzed. This investigation of fiber fuse helps better understand the fiber fuse behavior, in order to avoid the catastrophic destruction caused by fiber fuse in high power fiber laser. (paper)

Compact Birefringent Waveplates Photo-Induced in Silica by Femtosecond Laser

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthieu Lancry

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Recently, we showed that femtosecond laser induced “nanogratings” consist of thin regions with a low refractive index (Δn = −0.15, due to the formation of nanoporous silica surrounded by regions with a positive index change. In this paper, we investigate a wide range of laser parameters to achieve very high retardance within a single layer; as much as 350 nm at λ = 546 nm but also to minimize the competing losses. We show that the total retardance depends on the number of layers present and can be accumulated in the direction of laser propagation to values higher than 1600 nm. This opens the door to using these nanostructures as refined building blocks for novel optical elements based on strong retardance.

Practical Method for engineering Erbium-doped fiber lasers from step-like pulse excitations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Causado-Buelvas, J D; Gomez-Cardona, N D; Torres, P

2011-01-01

A simple method, known as 'easy points', has been applied to the characterization of Erbium-doped fibers, aiming for the engineering of fiber lasers. Using low- optical-power flattop pulse excitations it has been possible to determine both the attenuation coefficients and the intrinsic saturation powers of doped single-mode fibers at 980 and 1550 nm. Laser systems have been projected for which the optimal fiber length and output power have been determined as a function of the input power. Ring and linear laser cavities have been set up, and the characteristics of the output laser have been obtained and compared with the theoretical predictions based on the 'easy points' parameters.

Q-switched oscillation in thulium-doped fiber lasers using preloaded dynamic microbending technique

Science.gov (United States)

Sakata, H.; Takahashi, N.; Ushiro, Y.

2018-01-01

We demonstrate Q-switched pulse generation in thulium-doped fiber lasers by introducing piezoelectric-driven microbend with preloaded stress. We employed a pair of corrugated chips each attached on piezoelectric actuators (PAs) to clamp the fiber in a ring laser resonator. The thulium-doped fiber is pumped by a laser diode emitting at 1.63 μm and generates the Q-switched laser pulses at around 1.9 μm by switching off the PAs. The laser pulse performance is improved by optimizing the preload and switch-off period for the PAs. The Q-switched pulses with a peak power of 2.8 W and a pulsewidth of 900 ns are observed for a launched pump power of 161 mW. We expect that the in-fiber Q-switching technique will provide efficient laser systems for environmental sensing and medical applications.

Measurement and modeling of low-wavelength losses in silica fibers and their impact at communication Wavelengths

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Anders Tegtmeier; Grüner-Nielsen, Lars; Rottwitt, Karsten

2009-01-01

Using the cutback technique, the attenuation of four different silica step-index fibers is measured in the very wide wavelength range of 190-1700 nm. The measured spectra are deconvolved into components describing Rayleigh scattering, infrared losses, Urbach edge, anomalous loss, and different...

3D plasmonic transducer based on gold nanoparticles produced by laser ablation on silica nanowires

Science.gov (United States)

Gontad, F.; Caricato, A. P.; Manera, M. G.; Colombelli, A.; Resta, V.; Taurino, A.; Cesaria, M.; Leo, C.; Convertino, A.; Klini, A.; Perrone, A.; Rella, R.; Martino, M.

2016-05-01

Silica two-dimensional substrates and nanowires (NWs) forests have been successfully decorated with Au nanoparticles (NPs) through laser ablation by using a pulsed ArF excimer laser, for sensor applications. A uniform coverage of both substrate surfaces with NPs has been achieved controlling the number of laser pulses. The annealing of the as-deposited particles resulted in a uniform well-defined distribution of spherical NPs with an increased average diameter up to 25 nm. The deposited samples on silica NWs forest present a very good plasmonic resonance which resulted to be very sensitive to the changes of the environment (ethanol/water solutions with increasing concentration of ethanol) allowing the detection of changes on the second decimal digit of the refractive index, demonstrating its potentiality for further biosensing functionalities.

1-kilowatt CW all-fiber laser oscillator pumped with wavelength-beam-combined diode stacks.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Y; Brunet, F; Kanskar, M; Faucher, M; Wetter, A; Holehouse, N

2012-01-30

We have demonstrated a monolithic cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped single all-fiber laser oscillator generating 1 kW of CW signal power at 1080 nm with 71% slope efficiency and near diffraction-limited beam quality. Fiber components were highly integrated on "spliceless" passive fibers to promote laser efficiency and alleviate non-linear effects. The laser was pumped through a 7:1 pump combiner with seven 200-W 91x nm fiber-pigtailed wavelength-beam-combined diode-stack modules. The signal power of such a single all-fiber laser oscillator showed no evidence of roll-over, and the highest output was limited only by available pump power.

Laser fiber cleaving techniques: effects on tip morphology and power output.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassantachart, Janna M; Lightfoot, Michelle; Yeo, Alexander; Maldonado, Jonathan; Li, Roger; Alsyouf, Muhannad; Martin, Jacob; Lee, Michael; Olgin, Gaudencio; Baldwin, D Duane

2015-01-01

Proper cleaving of reusable laser fibers is needed to maintain optimal functionality. This study quantifies the effect of different cleaving tools on power output of the holmium laser fiber and demonstrates morphologic changes using microscopy. The uncleaved tips of new 272 μm reusable laser fibers were used to obtain baseline power transmission values at 3 W (0.6 J, 5 Hz). Power output for each of four cleaving techniques-11-blade scalpel, scribe pen cleaving tool, diamond cleaving wheel, and suture scissors-was measured in a single-blinded fashion. Dispersion of light from the fibers was compared with manufacturer specifications and rated as "ideal," "acceptable," or "unacceptable" by blinded reviewers. The fiber tips were also imaged using confocal and scanning electron microscopy. Independent samples Kruskal-Wallis test and chi square were used for statistical analysis (αtrend that was highly significant (Ptrend as the power output results (P<0.001). Microscopy showed that the scribe pen produced small defects along the fiber cladding but maintained a smooth, flat core surface. The other cleaving techniques produced defects on both the core and cladding. Cleaving techniques produce a significant effect on the initial power transmitted by reusable laser fibers. The scribe pen cleaving tool produced the most consistent and highest average power output.

Mid-infrared performance of single mode chalcogenide fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Justin; Sincore, Alex; Tan, Felix; El Halawany, Ahmed; Riggins, Anthony; Shah, Lawrence; Abouraddy, Ayman F.; Richardson, Martin C.; Schepler, Kenneth L.

2018-02-01

Due to the intrinsic absorption edge in silica near 2.4 μm, more exotic materials are required to transmit laser power in the IR such as fluoride or chalcogenide glasses (ChGs). In particular, ChG fibers offer broad IR transmission with low losses fibers at four different infrared wavelengths: 2053 nm, 2520 nm and 4550 nm. Polymer clad ChG fibers were drawn with 12.3 μm and 25 μm core diameters. Testing at 2053 nm was accomplished using a > 15 W, CW Tm:fiber laser. Power handling up to 10.2 W with single mode beam quality has been demonstrated, limited only by the available Tm:fiber output power. Anti-reflective coatings were successfully deposited on the ChG fiber facets, allowing up to 90.6% transmission with 12.2 MW/cm2 intensity on the facet. Single mode guidance at 4550 nm was also demonstrated using a quantum cascade laser (QCL). A custom optical system was constructed to efficiently couple the 0.8 NA QCL radiation into the 0.2 NA ChG fiber, allowing for a maximum of 78% overlap between the QCL radiation and fundamental mode of the fiber. With an AR-coated, 25 μm core diameter fiber, >50 mW transmission was demonstrated with > 87% transmission. Finally, we present results on fiber coupling from a free space Cr:ZnSe resonator at 2520 nm.

Estimation of the Maximum Output Power of Double-Clad Photonic Crystal Fiber Laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yue-E; Wang Yong; Qu Xi-Long

2012-01-01

Compared with traditional optical fiber lasers, double-clad photonic crystal fiber (PCF) lasers have larger surface-area-to-volume ratios. With an increase of output power, thermal effects may severely restrict output power and deteriorate beam quality of fiber lasers. We utilize the heat-conduction equations to estimate the maximum output power of a double-clad PCF laser under natural-convection, air-cooling, and water-cooling conditions in terms of a certain surface-volume heat ratio of the PCF. The thermal effects hence define an upper power limit of double-clad PCF lasers when scaling output power. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

Efficient single-mode operation of a cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped helical-core fiber laser.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, P; Cooper, L J; Sahu, J K; Clarkson, W A

2006-01-15

A novel approach to achieving robust single-spatial-mode operation of cladding-pumped fiber lasers with multimode cores is reported. The approach is based on the use of a fiber geometry in which the core has a helical trajectory within the inner cladding to suppress laser oscillation on higher-order modes. In a preliminary proof-of-principle study, efficient single-mode operation of a cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped helical-core fiber laser with a 30 microm diameter core and a numerical aperture of 0.087 has been demonstrated. The laser yielded 60.4 W of output at 1043 nm in a beam with M2 clad fiber lasers.

Graphene Oxide-Based Q-Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yap, Y. K.; Harun, S. W.; Ahmad, H.; Huang, N. M.

2013-01-01

We demonstrate a pulsed ring erbium-doped fiber laser based on graphene oxide (GO), employing a simplified Hummer's method to synthesize the GO via chemical oxidation of graphite flakes at room temperature. By dipping a fiber ferrule end face onto the GO suspension, GO is successfully coated onto the end face, making it a simple saturable absorption device. A stable Q-switched pulsed fiber laser is achieved with a low pump threshold of 9.5 mW at 980 nm. The pulse repetition rate ranges from 16.0 to 57.0 kHz. The pulse width and the pulse energy are studied and discussed

Self-Q-switching behavior of erbium-doped tellurite microstructured fiber lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia, Zhi-Xu; Yao, Chuan-Fei; Kang, Zhe; Qin, Guan-Shi; Qin, Wei-Ping; Ohishi, Yasutake

2014-01-01

We reported self-Q-switching behavior of erbium-doped tellurite microstructured fiber (EDTMF) lasers and further demonstrated a self-Q-switched EDTMF laser with a high repetition rate of more than 1 MHz. A 14 cm EDTMF was used as the gain medium. Upon a pump power of ∼705 mW at 1480 nm, output pulses with a lasing wavelength of ∼1558 nm, a repetition rate of ∼1.14 MHz, and a pulse width of ∼282 ns were generated from the fiber by employing a linear cavity. The maximum output power was ∼316 mW and the slope efficiency was about 72.6% before the saturation of the laser power. Moreover, the influence of the fiber length on laser performances was investigated. The results showed that self-Q-switching behavior in our experiments was caused by the re-absorption originated from the ineffectively pumped part of the active fiber.

Layout of NALM fiber laser with adjustable peak power of generated pulses.

Science.gov (United States)

Smirnov, Sergey; Kobtsev, Sergey; Ivanenko, Alexey; Kokhanovskiy, Alexey; Kemmer, Anna; Gervaziev, Mikhail

2017-05-01

The Letter proposes a new layout of a passively mode-locked fiber laser based on a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) with two stretches of active fiber and two independently controlled pump modules. In contrast with conventional NALM configurations using a single piece of active fiber that yields virtually constant peak power, the proposed novel laser features larger than a factor of 2 adjustment range of peak power of generated pulses. The proposed layout also provides independent adjustment of duration and peak power of generated pulses as well as power-independent control of generated pulse spectral width impossible in NALM lasers with a single piece of active fiber.

Pulse position modulation for compact all-fiber vehicle laser rangefinder development

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Xuesong; Cheng, Yongzhi; Xiong, Ying; Inoue, Daisuke; Kagami, Manabu

2017-10-01

We propose a method for developing small all-fiber vehicle laser rangefinders that is based on pulse position modulation (PPM) and data integration and present a theoretical study on its performance. Compared with spatial coupling, which is employed by most of the current commercial vehicle laser rangefinders, fiber coupling has the advantage that it can guide laser echoes into the interior of a car, so the electronic components following the photodiode can operate in a moderate-temperature environment. However, optical fibers have numerical apertures (NAs), which means that a laser beam from a receiving lens cannot be coupled into an optical fiber if its incident angle exceeds the critical value. Therefore, the effective size of the receiving lens is typically small since it is limited by its focal length and the NA of the fiber, causing the power of the laser echoes gathered by the receiving lens to be insufficient for performing target identification. Instead of increasing the peak transmitting laser power unrestrictedly, PPM and data integration effectively compensate for the low signal-to-noise ratio that results from the effective receiving lens size reduction. We validated the proposed method by conducting numerical simulations and performance analysis. Finally, we compared the proposed method with pseudorandom noise (PN) code modulation and found that, although the two methods perform equally well in single-target measurement scenarios, PPM is more effective than PN code modulation for multitarget measurement. In addition, PPM enables the transmission of laser beams with higher peak powers and requires less computation than PN code modulation does.

High strength fused silica flexures manufactured by femtosecond laser

Science.gov (United States)

Bellouard, Yves; Said, Ali A.; Dugan, Mark; Bado, Philippe

2009-02-01

Flexures are mechanical elements used in micro- and precision-engineering to precisely guide the motion of micro-parts. They consist of slender bodies that deform elastically upon the application of a force. Although counter-intuitive at first, fused silica is an attractive material for flexure. Pending that the machining process does not introduce surface flaws that would lead to catastrophic failure, the material has a theoretically high ultimate tensile strength of several GPa. We report on high-aspect ratio fused silica flexures manufactured by femtosecond laser combined with chemical etching. Notch-hinges with thickness as small as twenty microns and aspect ratios comparable to aspect ratios obtained by Deep- Reactive-Ion-Etching (DRIE) were fabricated and tested under different loading conditions. Multiple fracture tests were performed for various loading conditions and the cracks morphologies were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The manufactured elements show outstanding mechanical properties with flexural strengths largely exceeding those obtained with other technologies and materials. Fused silica flexures offer a mean to combine integrated optics with micro-mechanics in a single monolithic substrate. Waveguides and mechanical elements can be combined in a monolithic devices opening new opportunities for integrated opto-mechatronics devices.

Dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with asymmetric fiber Bragg grating Fabry-Perot cavity

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Cong; Xu, Zhi-wei; Wang, Meng; Chen, Hai-yan

2014-11-01

A novel dual-wavelength fiber laser with asymmetric fiber Bragg grating (FBG) Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A couple of uniform FBGs are used as the cavity mirrors, and the third FBG is used as intracavity wavelength selector by changing its operation temperature. Experimental results show that by adjusting the operation temperature of the intracavity wavelength selector, a tunable dual-wavelength laser emission can be achieved. The results demonstrate the new concept of dual-wavelength lasing with asymmetric FBG FP resonator and its technical feasibility.

Numerical Modelling of a Bidirectional Long Ring Raman Fiber Laser Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Sukhanov, S. V.; Melnikov, L. A.; Mazhirina, Yu A.

2017-11-01

The numerical model for the simulation of the dynamics of a bidirectional long ring Raman fiber laser is proposed. The model is based on the transport equations and Courant-Isaacson-Rees method. Different regimes of a bidirectional long ring Raman fiber laser and long time-domain realizations are investigated.

High pumping-power fiber combiner for double-cladding fiber lasers and amplifiers

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Jinkun; Zhao, Wei; Zhao, Baoyin; Li, Zhe; Chang, Chang; Li, Gang; Gao, Qi; Ju, Pei; Gao, Wei; She, Shengfei; Wu, Peng; Hou, Chaoqi; Li, Weinan

2018-03-01

A high pumping-power fiber combiner for backward pumping configurations is fabricated and demonstrated by manufacturing process refinement. The pump power handling capability of every pump fiber can extend to 600 W, corresponding to the average pump coupling efficiency of 94.83%. Totally, 2.67-kW output power with the beam quality factor M2 of 1.41 was obtained, using this combiner in the fiber amplifier experimental setup. In addition, the temperature of the splicing region was less than 50.0°C in the designed combiner under the action of circulating cooling water. The experimental results prove that the designed combiner is a promising integrated all-fiber device for multikilowatt continuous-wave fiber laser with excellent beam quality.

Monolithic Yb-fiber femtosecond laser with intracavity all-solid PBG fiber and ex-cavity HC-PCF

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turchinovich, Dmitry; Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper

2010-01-01

(PM) photonic bandgap fiber (PBG) is used in the cavity of the master oscillator for dispersion compensation and stabilization of modelocking. The final compression of an chirped-pulse-amplified laser signal is performed in a hollow PM PCF, yielding final fiber-delivered pulse energy of around 7 n......J, and pulse duration of around 297 fs. The self-stabilization mechanism of the oscillator, based on the optical nonlinearities in an AS PCF, results in excellent environmental and operational stability of our laser. Stable self-starting fundamental modelocking is maintained for at least 4 days of operation......We demonstrate an all-fiber femtosecond master oscillator / power amplifier operating at the central wavelength of 1033 nm, based on Yb-doped fiber as gain medium, and two different kinds of photonic crystal fibers for dispersion control and stabilization. An all-solid (AS) polarization maintaining...

Laser Cutting of Carbon Fiber Fabrics

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs, A. N.; Schoeberl, M.; Tremmer, J.; Zaeh, M. F.

Due to their high weight-specific mechanical stiffness and strength, parts made from carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) are increasingly used as structural components in the aircraft and automotive industry. However, the cutting of preforms, as with most automated manufacturing processes for CFRP components, has not yet been fully optimized. This paper discusses laser cutting, an alternative method to the mechanical cutting of preforms. Experiments with remote laser cutting and gas assisted laser cutting were carried out in order to identify achievable machining speeds. The advantages of the two different processes as well as their fitness for use in mass production are discussed.

Experimental study of a Q-switched ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anzueto S, G.; Estudillo A, M.; Martinez R, A.; Torres G, I.; Selvas A, R.

2008-01-01

We report an experimental characterization of a Q-switched operation of an all-fiber laser using , 30 m of a double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber spliced to a piece of single-mode un-doped holey fiber. Loss modulation in the splicing point between the active and un-doped fiber due to a substantial coupling of light into lossy cladding modes stimulates pulsed operation of the fiber laser. Pulse energy of ∼2.5 μJ was estimated and the repetition rate was measured in the range of 4-16 KHz. (Author)

Phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating inscription by fusion splicing technique and femtosecond laser

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Yajun; Yuan, Yuan; Xu, Jian; Yang, Dexing; Li, Dong; Wang, Meirong; Zhao, Jianlin

2016-11-01

A new method for phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG) inscription in single mode fiber by fusion splicing technique and femtosecond laser is presented. The PS-FBG is produced by exposing the fusion spliced fiber with femtosecond laser through a uniform phase mask. The transmission spectrum of the PS-FBG shows a nonlinear red shift during the inscription process, and two or three main dips can be observed due to the formation of one or two FBG-based Fabry-Pérot structures by controlling the exposure intensity and time of the laser. For a peak power density of 4.8×1013 W/cm2, the induced refractive index modulation can reach to 6.3×10-4 in the fiber without sensitization. The PS-FBG's temperature, strain and pressure characteristics are also experimentally studied. These PS-FBGs can be potentially used for multiple wavelength fiber lasers, filters and optical fiber sensors.

Laser Communications and Fiber Optics Lab Manual. High-Technology Training Module.

Science.gov (United States)

Biddick, Robert

This laboratory training manual on laser communications and fiber optics may be used in a general technology-communications course for ninth graders. Upon completion of this exercise, students achieve the following goals: match concepts with laser communication system parts; explain advantages of fiber optic cable over conventional copper wire;…

Wide and Fast Wavelength-Swept Fiber Laser Based on Dispersion Tuning for Dynamic Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shinji Yamashita

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We have developed a unique wide and fast wavelength-swept fiber laser for dynamic and accurate fiber sensing. The wavelength tuning is based on the dispersion tuning technique, which simply modulates the loss/gain in the dispersive laser cavity. By using wideband semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs, the sweep range could be as wide as ∼180 nm. Since the cavity contains no mechanical components, such as tunable filters, we could achieve very high sweep rate, as high as ∼200 kHz. We have realized the swept lasers at three wavelength bands, 1550 nm, 1300 nm, and 800 nm, using SOAs along with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs, and in two laser configurations, ring and linear ones. We also succeeded in applying the swept laser for a dynamic fiber-Bragg grating (FBG sensor system. In this paper, we review our researches on the wide and fast wavelength-swept fiber lasers.

Statistical characteristics of surface integrity by fiber laser cutting of Nitinol vascular stents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu, C.H.; Liu, J.F.; Guo, Andrew

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Precision kerf with tight tolerance of Nitinol stents can be cut by fiber laser. • No HAZ in the subsurface was detected due to large grain size. • Recast layer has lower hardness than the bulk. • Laser cutting speed has a higher influence on surface integrity than laser power. - Abstract: Nitinol alloys have been widely used in manufacturing of vascular stents due to the outstanding properties such as superelasticity, shape memory, and superior biocompatibility. Laser cutting is the dominant process for manufacturing Nitinol stents. Conventional laser cutting usually produces unsatisfactory surface integrity which has a significant detrimental impact on stent performance. Emerging as a competitive process, fiber laser with high beam quality is expected to produce much less thermal damage such as striation, dross, heat affected zone (HAZ), and recast layer. To understand the process capability of fiber laser cutting of Nitinol alloy, a design-of-experiment based laser cutting experiment was performed. The kerf geometry, roughness, topography, microstructure, and hardness were studied to better understand the nature of the HAZ and recast layer in fiber laser cutting. Moreover, effect size analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between surface integrity and process parameters.

Statistical characteristics of surface integrity by fiber laser cutting of Nitinol vascular stents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, C.H., E-mail: cfu5@crimson.ua.edu [Dept of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Liu, J.F. [Dept of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Guo, Andrew [Dept of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States)

2015-10-30

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Precision kerf with tight tolerance of Nitinol stents can be cut by fiber laser. • No HAZ in the subsurface was detected due to large grain size. • Recast layer has lower hardness than the bulk. • Laser cutting speed has a higher influence on surface integrity than laser power. - Abstract: Nitinol alloys have been widely used in manufacturing of vascular stents due to the outstanding properties such as superelasticity, shape memory, and superior biocompatibility. Laser cutting is the dominant process for manufacturing Nitinol stents. Conventional laser cutting usually produces unsatisfactory surface integrity which has a significant detrimental impact on stent performance. Emerging as a competitive process, fiber laser with high beam quality is expected to produce much less thermal damage such as striation, dross, heat affected zone (HAZ), and recast layer. To understand the process capability of fiber laser cutting of Nitinol alloy, a design-of-experiment based laser cutting experiment was performed. The kerf geometry, roughness, topography, microstructure, and hardness were studied to better understand the nature of the HAZ and recast layer in fiber laser cutting. Moreover, effect size analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between surface integrity and process parameters.

Controlling Stimulated Brillouin/Raman Scattering in High Power Fiber Lasers

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-09

AFRL-RD-PS- AFRL-RD-PS- TR-2017-0043 TR-2017-0043 CONTROLLING STIMULATED BRILLOUIN/RAMAN SCATTERING IN HIGH POWER FIBER LASERS Cody Mart Ben...average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed...unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This research addressed suppression of stimulated Brillouin/Raman scattering in high power fiber lasers

Optical feedback-induced light modulation for fiber-based laser ablation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Hyun Wook

2014-11-01

Optical fibers have been used as a minimally invasive tool in various medical fields. However, due to excessive heat accumulation, the distal end of a fiber often suffers from severe melting or devitrification, leading to the eventual fiber failure during laser treatment. In order to minimize thermal damage at the fiber tip, an optical feedback sensor was developed and tested ex vivo. Porcine kidney tissue was used to evaluate the feasibility of optical feedback in terms of signal activation, ablation performance, and light transmission. Testing various signal thresholds demonstrated that 3 V was relatively appropriate to trigger the feedback sensor and to prevent the fiber deterioration during kidney tissue ablation. Based upon the development of temporal signal signatures, full contact mode rapidly activated the optical feedback sensor possibly due to heat accumulation. Modulated light delivery induced by optical feedback diminished ablation efficiency by 30% in comparison with no feedback case. However, long-term transmission results validated that laser ablation assisted with optical feedback was able to almost consistently sustain light delivery to the tissue as well as ablation efficiency. Therefore, an optical feedback sensor can be a feasible tool to protect optical fiber tips by minimizing debris contamination and delaying thermal damage process and to ensure more efficient and safer laser-induced tissue ablation.

Numerical simulation of a DFB - fiber laser sensor (part 1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan SAVASTRU

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the preliminary results obtained in developing a numerical simulationanalysis of fiber optic bending sensitivity aiming to improve the design of fiber lasers. The developednumerical simulation method relies on an analysis of both the fundamental mode propagation alongan optical fiber and of how bending of this fiber influence the optical radiation losses. The cases ofsimple, undoped and of doped with Er3+ ions optical fibers are considered. The presented results arebased on numerical simulation of eigen-modes of a laser intensity distribution by the use of finiteelement method (FEM developed in the frame of COMSOL software package. The numericalsimulations are performed by considering the cases of both normal, non-deformed optic fiber and ofsymmetrically deformed optic fiber resembling micro-bending of it. Both types of fiber optic bendinglosses are analyzed, namely: the transition loss, associated with the abrupt or rapid change incurvature at the beginning and the end of a bend, and pure bend loss is associated with the loss fromthe bend of constant curvature in between.

Laser induced damage and fracture in fused silica vacuum windows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, J.H.; Hurst, P.A.; Heggins, D.D.; Steele, W.A.; Bumpas, S.E.

1996-11-01

Laser-induced damage, that initiates catastrophic fracture, has been observed in large (≤61 cm dia) fused silica lenses that also serve as vacuum barriers in Nova and Beamlet lasers. If the elastic stored energy in the lens is high enough, the lens will fracture into many pieces (implosion). Three parameters control the degree of fracture in the vacuum barrier window: elastic stored energy (tensile stress), ratio of window thickness to flaw depth, and secondary crack propagation. Fracture experiments were conducted on 15-cm dia fused silica windows that contain surface flaws caused by laser damage. Results, combined with window failure data on Beamlet and Nova, were used to develop design criteria for a ''fail-safe'' lens (that may catastrophically fracture but not implode). Specifically, the window must be made thick enough so that the peak tensile stress is less than 500 psi (3.4 MPa) and the thickness/critical flaw size is less than 6. The air leak through the window fracture and into the vacuum must be rapid enough to reduce the load on the window before secondary crack growth occurs. Finite element stress calculations of a window before and immediately following fracture into two pieces show that the elastic stored energy is redistributed if the fragments ''lock'' in place and thereby bridge the opening. In such cases, the peak stresses at the flaw site can increase, leading to further (i.e. secondary) crack growth

High-brightness fiber-coupled pump laser development

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Kirk; Karlsen, Scott; Leisher, Paul; Martinsen, Robert

2010-02-01

We report on the continued development of high brightness laser diode modules at nLIGHT Photonics. These modules, based on nLIGHT's PearlTM product platform, demonstrate excellence in output power, brightness, wavelength stabilization, and long wavelength performance. This system, based on 14 single emitters, is designed to couple diode laser light into a 105 μm fiber at an excitation NA of under 0.14. We demonstrate over 100W of optical power at 9xx nm with a diode brightness exceeding 20 MW/cm2-str with an operating efficiency of approximately 50%. Additional results show over 70W of optical coupled at 8xx nm. Record brilliance at wavelengths 14xx nm and longer will also be demonstrated, with over 15 W of optical power with a beam quality of 7.5 mm-mrad. These results of high brightness, high efficiency, and wavelength stabilization demonstrate the pump technology required for next generation solid state and fiber lasers.

Poly(ethyleneimine) infused and functionalized Torlon®-silica hollow fiber sorbents for post-combustion CO2 capture

KAUST Repository

Li, Fuyue Stephanie; Labreche, Ying; Lively, Ryan P.; Lee, Jong Suk; Jones, Christopher W.; Koros, William J.

2014-01-01

-jet/wet-quench spinning process. In our study, a new technique for functionalizing polymeric silica hollow fiber sorbents with poly(ethyleneimine), followed by a post-spinning infusion step was studied. This two step process introduces a sufficient amount of poly

Improving fiber-optic laser beam delivery by incorporating GRADIUM optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, B.V.; Leong, K.H.

1997-01-01

The performance of a fiber-optic laser beam delivery system strongly depends on the fiber and the optics used to image the fiber face on the workpiece. We have compared off-the-shelf homogenous (BK7) and GRADIUM (axial-gradient) singlets to determine what improvement the GRADIUM offers in practice to the typical laser user. The realized benefit for this application, although significant, is much smaller than would be realized by a conventional imaging application. The figure of merit for laser-based materials processing is the 86% energy-enclosure radius, which is not directly supported by commerical ray-tracing software. Therefore empirical rules of thumb are presented to understand when GRADIUM (or any other well-corrected optics) will yield meaningful improvement to the beam delivery system. copyright 1997 Optical Society of America

Highly-stable monolithic femtosecond Yb-fiber laser system based on photonic crystal fibers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Xiaomin; Lægsgaard, Jesper; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2010-01-01

in the oscillator cavity for dispersion balancing and nonlinear optical limiting, and another one is used for low nonlinearity final pulse recompression. The chirped-pulse amplification and recompression of the 232-fs, 45-pJ/pulse oscillator output yields a final direct fiber-end delivery of 7.3-nJ energy pulses......A self-starting, passively stabilized, monolithic all polarizationmaintaining femtosecond Yb-fiber master oscillator / power amplifier with very high operational and environmental stability is demonstrated. The system is based on the use of two different photonic crystal fibers. One is used...... of around 297 fs duration. Our laser shows exceptional stability. No Q-switched modelocking events were detected during 4-days long observation. An average fluctuation of only 7.85 · 10−4 over the mean output power was determined as a result of more than 6-hours long measurement. The laser is stable towards...