Nanosecond Fibre MOPAs: Technological approaches and new applications

High-power Ytterbium nanosecond fibre MOPAs have been commercially available for over a decade and have become widely accepted as a reliable industrial lasers source since around 2005. The fibre-based MOPA can be realised with numerous architectures combining multiple master-oscillator technologies with a cladding-pump fibre power-amplifier. This degree of architectural diversity makes it possible to realise very flexible laser sources and also allows a broad range of powers / beam qualities to be addresses by a largely-common technology platform. Contemporary nanosecond fibre MOPAs are consequently a very attractive mix of performance, cost, stability and reliability in the industrial laser integrator´s portfolio.