Title :
A watt-level fiber-based femtosecond source at 980 nm
Author :
Dupriez, P. ; Clowes, J.
Author_Institution :
Fianium Ltd., Southampton, UK
Abstract :
In this paper, we present a novel fiber laser system operating at 980 nm that overcomes the limitations related to three-level operation of Yb-doped fiber amplifiers to produce femtosecond pulses. The system is composed of a mode-locked fiber laser producing 4.7 ps at 20 MHz. The pulses then are successively amplified in a polarization-maintained core-pumped fiber amplifier followed by a cladding pumped power amplifier based on a counter-pumped air-clad fiber amplifier. The fiber amplifier was pumped by a high-brightness fiber pigtailed laser diode operating at 915 nm. Self-phase modulation-induced spectral broadening has been achieved after transmission of amplified pulses through an optimized length of passive air-clad fiber spliced to the Yb-doped air-clad fiber. The air-clad enables pump delivery to the active fiber so that the pump power was free-space launched into the passive fiber end. The passive fiber was designed to match the dimensions of the Yb-doped fiber to minimize signal and pump loss.
Keywords :
laser mode locking; optical fibre amplifiers; optical fibre cladding; optical fibre polarisation; optical pulse generation; optical pumping; self-phase modulation; JkJk:Yb; amplified pulse transmission; cladding pumped power amplifier; counter-pumped air-clad fiber amplifier; femtosecond pulse production; high-brightness fiber pigtailed laser diode; mode-locked fiber laser system; optical pump loss; passive fiber design; polarization-maintained core-pumped fiber amplifier; self-phase modulation; spectral broadening; time 4.7 ps; watt-level fiber-based femtosecond source; wavelength 980 nm; ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier; Fiber lasers; Laser excitation; Laser mode locking; Operational amplifiers; Optical fiber polarization; Optical pulses; Power amplifiers; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse modulation; Pump lasers;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics 2009 and the European Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEO Europe - EQEC 2009. European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4079-5
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4080-1
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2009.5194618