Abstract
Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers have become a major technology in the high average power laser sources landscape. They combine numerous advantages making them ideally suited for an increasing number of applications, including industrial material processing, medical treatment, and scientific experiments. The double-clad geometry, low quantum defect, and large surface to volume ratio of the fiber lead to unique properties in terms of allowable average power and beam quality. When used to amplify femtosecond pulses, at large peak power levels, the peculiar geometry of fiber amplifiers turns into a disadvantage in terms of pulse energy when compared to other gain medium shapes. The optical mode is strongly confined within the fiber core, and guided over meter-sized lengths, enhancing nonlinear interaction with the fiber material. Moreover, the limited gain bandwidth of ytterbium-doped glass, combined with typical large gain levels, induce gain narrowing and limit the achievable amplified pulsewidth to 300 – 500 fs.
© 2015 IEEE
PDF ArticleMore Like This
Tino Eidam, Arno Klenke, Jens Limpert, and Andreas Tünnermann
MTh5A.1 Laser and Tera-Hertz Science and Technology (LTST) 2012
Jens Limpert, Cesar Jauregui, Arno Klenke, Sven Breitkopf, Marco Kienel, Steffen Hädrich, Tino Eidam, and Andreas Tünnermann
SW3E.3 CLEO: Science and Innovations (CLEO:S&I) 2014
Jens Limpert
25D1_2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Pacific Rim (CLEO/PR) 2015