Three-level neodymium fiber laser incorporating photonic bandgap fiber

Noise-like pulse generation in an Nd-doped single-mode all-fiber mode-locked Raman laser operating at 0.93 µm

Based on the Nd-doped single-mode fiber (SMF) as the gain medium and SMF as the Raman medium, an all-fiber mode-locked Raman laser operating at 0.93 µm waveband was demonstrated for the first time. A mandrel with a diameter of 10 mm was employed to introduce bending losses to suppress the dominant emission of Nd-doped fiber at 1.06 µm. A noise-like pulse with a pulse width of 194.70 fs, a repetition rate of 1.73 MHz and a single pulse energy of 2.03 nJ was obtained in the mode-locked Raman laser with a Stokes wavelength of 932.59 nm. Such an ultrafast all-fiber Raman laser operating at 0.93 µm has the advantages of low cost, simple structure and compactness, and can be used as an ideal light source for the two-photon microscopy.

Single-frequency DBR Nd-doped fiber laser at 1120 nm with a narrow linewidth and low threshold

We report a narrow linewidth and low threshold single-frequency distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) fiber laser at 1120 nm based on a short 1.5 cm long Nd-doped silica fiber which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first demonstration of a Nd-doped fiber-based single-frequency fiber laser with a wavelength greater than 1100 nm. A stable single-longitudinal-mode laser operation with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 67 dB was verified by a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. The laser threshold is as low as 10 mW. The DBR fiber laser has a maximum output power of 15 mW and optical-to-optical efficiency for the launched pump power reaches more than 8%. The narrow linewidth of 71.5 kHz is obtained in such a single-frequency fiber laser (SFFL). Our result is expected to offer an exciting new opportunity to realize high-performance SFFLs above 1100 nm.

Wavelength-agile high-power sources via four-wave mixing in higher-order fiber modes

Frequency doubling of conventional fiber lasers in the near-infrared remains the most promising method for generating integrated high-peak-power lasers in the visible, while maintaining the benefits of a fiber geometry; but since the shortest wavelength power-scalable fiber laser sources are currently restricted to either the 10XX nm or 15XX nm wavelength ranges, accessing colors other than green or red remains a challenge with this schematic. Four-wave mixing using higher-order fiber modes allows for control of dispersion while maintaining large effective areas, thus enabling a power-scalable method to extend the bandwidth of near-infrared fiber lasers, and in turn, the bandwidth of potential high-power sources in the visible. Here, two parametric sources using the LP_0,7 and LP_0,6 modes of two step-index multi-mode fibers are presented. The output wavelengths for the sources are 880, 974, 1173, and 1347 nm with peak powers of 10.0, 16.2, 14.7, and 6.4 kW respectively, and ~300-ps pulse durations. The efficiencies of the sources are analyzed, along with a discussion of wavelength tuning and further power scaling, representing an advance in increasing the bandwidth of near-infrared lasers as a step towards high-peak-power sources at wavelengths across the visible spectrum.

Scalable waveguide design for three-level operation in Neodymium doped fiber laser

We have constructed a double clad neodymium doped fiber laser operating on the three-level ⁴F_3/2→⁴I_9/2 transition. The laser has produced 11.5 W at 925 nm with 55% slope efficiency when pumped at 808 nm, comparable to the best previous results for a double-clad fiber configuration on this transition. Higher power pumping with both 808 nm and 880 nm sources resulted in an output of 27 W, albeit at lower slope efficiency. In both cases, output power was limited by available pump, indicating the potential for further power scaling. To suppress the stronger four-level ⁴F_3/2→⁴I_11/2 transition we developed a waveguide that provides spectral filtering distributed along the length of the fiber, based on an all-solid micro-structured optical fiber design, with resonant inclusions creating a leakage path to the cladding. The waveguide supports large mode areas and provides strong suppression at selectable wavelength bands, thus easing the restrictions on core and cladding sizes that limited power scaling of previous approaches.

910nm femtosecond Nd-doped fiber laser for in vivo two-photon microscopic imaging

Pre-chirp technique was used in an Nd-doped fiber amplifier to optimize high-quality 910 nm pulses with the pulses width of 114 fs and pulse energy of 4.4 nJ. The in vivo zebrafish imaging results from our totally home-made microscopy proves our femtosecond Nd fiber laser an ideal source in two-photon microscopic imaging.

87 W, narrow-linewidth, linearly-polarized 1178 nm photonic bandgap fiber amplifier

High-power narrow-linewidth photonic bandgap fiber amplifier was demonstrated. In order to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering, the seed linewidth was broadened by applying a random phase noise with an electro-optical modulator. A factor of 15 in terms of Brillouin gain suppression can be theoretically expected. An 87 W linearly-polarized (11 dB PER) and narrow-linewidth (780 MHz FWHM) output was obtained.

Core-pumped femtosecond Nd:fiber laser at 910 and 935 nm

We report a core-pumped all-normal dispersion mode-locked Nd-doped fiber laser at 910 and 935 nm. The pulse is compressed to 198 fs, and the pulse energy is 1.3 nJ. The slope efficiency is more than 14%. This laser is tested as the optical source for the two-photon fluorescence imaging of pollen.

A semi-analytical model for the approximation of plasmonic bands in arrays of metal wires in photonic crystal fibers

We present a highly efficient semi-analytical and straightforward-to-implement model for the determination of plasmonic band edges of metallic nanowire arrays inside photonic crystal fibers. The model relies on the approximation of the hexagonal unit cell by a circle and using particular boundary conditions, showing an accurate agreement with finite element simulations. The model reduces simulation time by a factor of 100, thus representing an efficient tool for structure design. It further allows the calculation of all relevant modes in the system by slight changes of the entries in a 4 × 4 matrix.

Single-frequency ytterbium doped photonic bandgap fiber amplifier at 1178 nm

1178 nm single-frequency amplification by Yb doped photonic bandgap fiber has been demonstrated. 24.6 W output power and 12 dB gain were obtained without parasitic lasing and also stimulated Brillouin scattering. 1.8 dB suppression of Brillouin gain by an acoustic antiguiding effect has been found in the Yb doped photonic bandgap fiber.

Broadband bandgap guidance and mode filtering in radially hybrid photonic crystal fiber

Hybrid Photonic Crystal Fibers with a first ring of high index inclusions are studied and compared to both standard air-hole fibers and all solid photonic bandgap fibers. In such new fibers a bandgap-like core mode exists over a wide spectral range and exhibits confinement losses ten orders of magnitude smaller than those of the corresponding all-solid fiber. This particular fiber supports also a core mode guided by modified total internal reflection at long enough wavelengths. The origin and properties of these two kinds of modes are discussed in details. Such a design can also act as a mode filter (as compared to the standard air-hole structure) and could also be used to ease phase matching conditions for nonlinear optics.

Multiple resonant coupling mechanism for suppression of higher-order modes in all-solid photonic bandgap fibers with heterostructured cladding

In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism for suppression of higher-order modes (HOMs), namely multiple resonant coupling, in all-solid photonic bandgap fibers (PBGFs) with effectively large core diameters. In an analogy to the well-known tight-binding theory in solid-state physics, multiple anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) modes bound in designedly arranged defects in the cladding make up Bloch states and resultant photonic bands with a finite effective-index width, which contribute to the suppression of HOMs. In particular, contrary to the conventional method for the HOM suppression using the index-matching of the HOMs in the core of the PBGF and the defect mode arranged in the cladding, the proposed mechanism guarantees a broadband HOM suppression without a precise structural design. This effect is explained by the multiple resonant coupling, as well as an enhanced confinement loss mechanism which occurs near the condition satisfying the multiple resonant coupling. Moreover, we show that the proposed structure exhibits a lower bending loss characteristic when compared to the conventional all-solid PBGFs. The simultaneous realization of the single-mode operation and the low bending loss property is due to the novel cladding concept named as heterostructured cladding. The proposed structure also resolves the issue for the increased confinement loss property in the first-order photonic bandgap (PBG) at the same time.

167 W, power scalable ytterbium-doped photonic bandgap fiber amplifier at 1178 nm

An ytterbium-doped photonic bandgap fiber amplifier operating at the long wavelength edge of the ytterbium gain band is investigated for high power amplification. The spectral filtering effect of the photonic bandgap efficiently suppresses amplified spontaneous emission at the conventional ytterbium gain wavelengths and thus enables high power amplification at 1178 nm. A record output power of 167 W, a slope efficiency of 61% and 15 dB saturated gain at 1178 nm have been demonstrated using the ytterbium-doped photonic bandgap fiber.

Efficient fiber Bragg gratings in 2D all-solid photonic bandgap fiber

Fiber Bragg Gratings with reflectivity up to 25 dB have been photo-written in the core of a 2D all-solid Photonic Bandgap Fiber without modification of the guiding properties of the fiber. This result is obtained by combining an appropriate glass composition for the high index inclusions constituting the micro-structured cladding and a photosensitive low index core. Couplings of the fundamental core guided mode with cladding modes are investigated and compared to theoretical predictions.

Detailed theoretical investigation of bending properties in solid-core photonic bandgap fibers

In this paper, detailed properties of bent solid-core photonic bandgap fibers (SC-PBGFs) are investigated. We propose an approximate equivalent straight waveguide (ESW) formulation for photonic bandgap (PBG) edges, which is convenient to see qualitatively which radiation (centripetal or centrifugal radiation) mainly occurs and the impact of bend losses for an operating wavelength. In particular, we show that cladding modes induced by bending cause several complete or incomplete leaky mode couplings with the core mode and the resultant loss peaks. Moreover, we show that the field distributions of the cladding modes are characterized by three distinct types for blue-edge, mid-gap, and red-edge wavelengths in the PBG, which is explained by considering the cladding Bloch states or resonant conditions without bending. Next, we investigate the structural dependence of the bend losses. In particular, we demonstrate the bend-loss dependence on the number of the cladding rings. Finally, by investigating the impacts of the order of PBG and the core structure on the bend losses, we discuss a tight-bending structure.

High-power Yb-doped photonic bandgap fiber amplifier at 1150-1200 nm

Ytterbium-doped solid-core photonic bandgap fiber amplifiers operating at the long-wavelength edge of the ytterbium gain band are reported. The low-loss bandgap transmission window is formed in the very low gain region, whilst outside the bandgap, large attenuation inhibits the exponential growth of amplified spontaneous emission in the huge-gain 1030-1100 nm region. Hence parasitic-lasing-free, high-power amplification with a marked efficiency is enabled. A 32 W output at 1156 nm with a 66% slope efficiency and 30 W output at 1178 nm with a 58% slope efficiency were successfully obtained. To our knowledge, these are the highest output powers generating from active photonic bandgap fibers, as well as from ytterbium-doped fiber lasers at these wavelengths.

Birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber

We report the characterization of a birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber, in which the core-modes are guided by both the photonic bandgap (PBG) effect and total internal reflection (TIR). Due to the twofold symmetry, modal birefringence of 1.5 x 10(-4) and group birefringence of 2.1 x 10(-4) were measured at 1.31 microm, which is in the middle of the second bandgap. The band structure was calculated to be different from conventional 2-D PBG fibers due to the 1-D arrangement of high-index regions. The bend loss has a strong directional dependence due to the coexistence of the two guiding mechanisms. The fiber has two important properties pertinent to PBG fibers; spectral filtering, and chromatic dispersion specific to PBG fibers. The number of high-index regions, which trap pump power (by index guiding) when the fiber is used in cladding-pumped fiber lasers, is greatly reduced so that this fiber should enable efficient cladding pumping. This structure is suitable for linearly-polarized, cladding-pumped fiber lasers utilizing the properties of PBG fibers.

Amplification and ASE suppression in a polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped all-solid photonic bandgap fibre

We demonstrate suppression of amplified spontaneous emission at the conventional ytterbium gain wavelengths around 1030 nm in a cladding-pumped polarization-maintaining ytterbium-doped all-solid photonic crystal fibre. The fibre works through combined index and bandgap guiding. Furthermore, we show that the peak of the amplified spontaneous emission can be shifted towards longer wavelengths by rescaling the fibre dimensions. Thereby one can obtain lasing or amplification at longer wavelengths (1100 nm - 1200 nm) as the amount of amplification in the fibre is shown to scale with the power of the amplified spontaneous emission.

Single-mode all-silica photonic bandgap fiber with 20-microm mode-field diameter

An all-silica photonic bandgap fiber with a cladding index difference of approximately 2 % and diameter-to-pitch ratio (d/wedge) of 0.12 was fabricated and studied. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the properties of photonic bandgap fiber with such a small d/wedge. The fiber is single-mode in the fundamental bandgap. The mode field diameter in the 1000-1200 nm wavelength range is 19-20 microm. The minimum loss in the same range is 20 dB/km for a 30-cm bending diameter. In our opinion, all-silica photonic bandgap fiber can serve as a potential candidate for achieving single-mode propagation with a large mode area.