Saturation, gain, and noise properties of a multipass diode-laser-pumped Nd:YAG CW amplifier

Author

Roth, U. ; Graf, Thomas ; Rochat, E. ; Haroud, K. ; Balmer, Jürg E. ; Weber, Heinz P.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Berne Univ., Switzerland

Volume

34

Issue

10

fYear

1998

fDate

10/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1987

Lastpage

1991

Abstract

We report on three different variants of a new scalable diode-laser-pumped CW Nd:YAG optical amplifier with a small-signal gain of 19 (13 dB) and output powers of up to 1.5 W at an input power of 600 mW and a pump power of 5.2 W. Due to its compactness, efficiency, and ruggedness, it is well suited for space applications such as free-space intersatellite communications systems. Furthermore, we present a numerical model for the gain of such a multipass amplifier considering the saturation and different losses. This model is in excellent agreement with the measured data. We also show that the signal-to-noise ratio of this system is better than 50 dBc√(Hz) and that the amplifier produces no phase noise and is therefore ideal for long-distance coherent communication

Keywords

laser noise; neodymium; optical links; optical pumping; optical saturation; solid lasers; space communication links; 1.5 W; 13 dB; 5.2 W; 600 mW; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Nd; free-space intersatellite communications systems; gain; input power; long-distance coherent communication; multipass diode-laser-pumped Nd:YAG CW amplifier; noise properties; numerical model; output power; pump power; saturation; signal-to-noise ratio; small-signal gain; space applications; Diodes; Numerical models; Optical amplifiers; Optical noise; Optical pumping; Optical saturation; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.720237

Filename

720237