The power scaling of an all-solid-state visible laser is limited by the mode-to-pump ratio related to the thermal effect based on the spatial rate equation. The mode-to-pump ratio is also known as the overlap efficiency factor (OEF). We investigated the thermal effect as a function of pump power, the waist radius of pump beams, and the waist position of pump beams and have simulated the three-dimensional distribution of the OEF as a variable of the waist position and size of pump beams. Also, it is seen that the calculated optimal OEF under a plane–concave cavity is a decreasing function of input pump power, and it is less than unity in the case of high pump power. The practical example of a Pr:YLF laser pumped by 9-W fiber-coupled laser diodes confirms our theoretical analysis. The output power instability was < ± 1 . 625 % (RMS) within 1 h. In addition, by changing the cavity length to 38 mm, the output power of 607 nm is up to 103 mW with an OEF of 0.741.
Mode-locked erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFL) with the low repetition rate and high pulse energy play an important role in many fields, such as micromechanical processing, ophthalmic surgery, biological sample detection, and LiDAR detection. However, in the 1550 nm band, due to the anomalous dispersion and nonlinear effects of erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs), it is difficult to achieve mode-locked pulses especially in long cavities, which brings many difficulties to engineering applications. We analyze and simulate the pulse formation and evolution process in a mode-locked EDFL at a low repetition rate of sub-megahertz. The results show that by decreasing the gain or increasing modulation depth/saturation light intensity of saturable absorber in a specific range, a stable single-pulse mode-locked state can be achieved. Then a multipulse mode-locked state can be achieved by gradually increasing the gain or decreasing the saturation light intensity. In addition, the pulse width can be compressed by adjusting the second-order dispersion coefficient. The numerical simulation results are instructive for the design and development of EDFL at a low repetition rate of sub-megahertz.
The nonlinear effect of fiber limits the further increase in pulse energy, and Mamyshev oscillator shows outstanding advantages in managing nonlinearity in waveguide medium, which is now associated with high peak power and high pulse energy. The potential applications of these laser sources based on Mamyshev mechanism have facilitated aggressive research and innovative ideas by researchers around the world. Here, we focus on the mode-locked principle and starting dynamics of Mamyshev oscillator. The review of Mamyshev technology is summarized from two starting modes of seed source injection and self-starting. Initial research and significant progress in this field, plus new insights and challenges of Mamyshev oscillator for ultrafast fiber laser technology are analyzed.
In a high-power Pr:YLF solid-state laser, the thermal effect of gain medium is one of the prime limiting factors, and its thermal damage has become the major concern. The thermal effect of Pr:YLF crystal was analyzed theoretically, and the distribution of temperature, thermal stress, thermal focal length, and pump polarization effects of the Pr:YLF crystal were simulated. The thermal effect investigation indicates that under reasonable pumping power density, crystal length, and beam waist size and location, the temperature rise and nonuniformity of thermal distortion are not intensified under high-power operation. Additionally, the relationship between Gauss or Super-Gaussian pump mode and thermal focal length of Pr:YLF crystal was simulated. To the best of our knowledge, this analysis is the first to examine the thermal effect of Pr:YLF crystal for power scaling, and this thermal effect investigation of Pr:YLF crystal provides first-hand data for a high-power, visible, solid-state laser that could be helpful for high-power Pr:YLF solid-state laser design.
We demonstrate a continuous-wave diamond Brillouin laser (DBL) in a ring cavity, operating near 532 nm with a 167 GHz Stokes shift. The DBL is pumped by a narrow-line (<1 MHz), frequency-doubled ytterbium fiber laser with the intracavity power resonantly enhanced via Hänsch-Couillaud locking. The measured threshold enabled the Brillouin gain coefficient in diamond to be determined for the first time, yielding a value of 60 cm/GW for pump and Brillouin polarizations aligned parallel to the 〈111〉 crystallographic direction in diamond (determined by the cut of our diamond in this case). Analysis of diamond’s photoelastic tensor shows that for polarization aligned to 〈110〉 for maximum gain, a coefficient of 115 cm/GW can be deduced, the highest bulk Brillouin gain coefficient reported for any material. The high Brillouin gain coefficient in combination with outstanding optical and thermal properties, indicates great potential for realizing diamond lasers and stimulated Brillouin scattering-enabled devices of performance far exceeding other materials.
We report a second-Stokes diamond Raman laser in eye-safe wavelength capable of high power and large-scale-factor brightness enhancement. Using a quasi-continuous 1.06 μm pump of power 823 W (0.85% duty cycle) and M2 up to 6.4, a maximum output power of 302 W was obtained with an M2 = 1.1 providing an overall brightness enhancement factor of 6.0. The output power is the highest single-mode power reported for Er-doped and Raman fiber lasers (~300 W). The measurements are in good agreement with model calculations, which we use to optimize and predict performance over wider range of power and input beam quality. The results highlight a novel pathway to high brightness eye-safe lasers based on relatively incoherent 1.0–1.1 μm pumps. The concept may be adapted and extended to other wavelength regions by using other pumps or via higher-order (3+) cascading. For example, to generate high brightness red output near 0.62 – 0.67 m by using second harmonic pumps near 0.53 μm. A large number of wavelength options are conceivable as a result of the wide transparency of diamond (0.23–3.8 µm, and > 6 µm).
This paper describes a demonstration of a high power 888 nm end-pumped Nd:YVO4 picosecond regenerative amplifier operated at high repetition rate. By utilizing an all-fiber mode-locking picosecond laser as seed source and 888 nm continuous wave (CW) as pumping source, we obtained regenerative amplified output at 1064.07 nm with spectrum width 0.16 nm, pulse width of 38 ps, maximum power of 21 W, and the repetition rate is continuously adjustable from 300 to 500 kHz. The regenerative amplifier has high power stability and high compact structure.
We report on a high energy laser diode (LD) side-continuous-pumped Nd:YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) picosecond regenerative amplifier. The mode-locking picosecond oscillator is used as seed source with 31.3 ps pulse width, 150 mW average power and 1064.4 nm center wavelengths at the repetition frequency of 86 MHz. For the amplifier system, average output power of 6.4 W and 10.8 W are achieved at repetition frequency of 2 kHz and 4.5 kHz, which corresponds to output pulse energy of 3.2 mJ and 2.4 mJ respectively. The regenerative amplifier designed has high compact and high stability.
Detail studies on the 888 nm laser diode (LD) pumped Nd:YVO4 crystal was reported to reduce the absorption coefficient
and improve thermal performance of the laser, which could generate high power mode-locked pulses output easily. The
mode-locking operation was induced by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). When pumping power is
65 W, the maximum output power of 20 W is obtained at repetition rate of 63.5 MHz with the optical-optical conversion
efficiency of 30.8% and pulse width of 45 ps.
A third-harmonic-generation picosecond pulse with several millijoules per pulse at 355 nm has been achieved by nonlinear optical materials LiB 3 O 5 (LBO). The single pulse energy of third harmonic was up to 2 mJ at the repetition rate of 1 kHz. The conversion efficiency was up to 33.3% from 1064 to 355 nm with the M 2 factor of 2.4. The system is based on a Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier with a simple double-pass post-amplifier.
We present a high compact structure laser diode (LD) side-pumped all-solid-state Q-switched master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser system with high beam quality. Bidirectional voltage-supplied Q-switched and MOPA technologies were introduced in the design. An in-center wavelength of 1064 nm with pulse width adjustability from 5 to 18 ns was obtained at the repetition rate of 500 Hz. Through multistage Nd∶YAG amplifiers at the pulse width of 6 ns, the oscillator was scaled up to 145 W and the corresponding peak power reached 48.3 MW with single pulse energy fluctuation less than 0.45% in 1 h operation.
A micro processing used LD end-pumped Nd:YVO4 all solid-state picosecond pulse laser was demonstrated under the
semiconductor saturable absorption mirror(SESAM) mode-locking technology and regeneration amplifier technology, by
using BBO crystal as electro-optic crystal and diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG. 1064nm laser was obtained with 1.47mJ
single pulse energy, 15ps pulse width at 1 kHz repetition rate and the pulse energy fluctuation was less than 0.6% in 3
hours operation. Finally, through the galvanometric we got the beam focused, realizing the steel plate processing which
thickness was 0.5mm and the aperture radius was 25.5μm.
We report on a picosecond pulse laser produced by grating stretcher and regenerative amplifier. By designing the
experimental setup and numerical simulation, mode-locking output pulse energy of 7.5mJ with a repetition rate of 1KHz
and a pulse width of 106.4ps stretched from 8.5ps is obtained at 1064nm. The results indicated that this system has laid a
good foundation for the multichannel amplification to get higher pulse energy.
An double Nd:YAG regenerative amplification picosecond pulse laser is demonstrated under the semiconductor saturable
absorption mirror(SESAM) mode-locking technology and regenerative amplification technology, using BBO crystal as
PC electro-optic crystal. The laser obtained is 20.71ps pulse width at 10 KHz repetition rate, and the energy power is up
to 4W which is much larger than the system without pre-amplification. This result will lay a foundation for the following
amplification.
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