We discuss methods and lessons learned during the integration and testing of five individual kW-class fiber amplifiers seeded with pseudorandom phase-modulated light, using a 1x5 Diffractive Optical Element (DOE). Each amplifier is capable of producing approximately 1.2 kW of near diffraction-limited output power (M2 <1.1). Low power samples from each amplifier are used for active polarization control. Phase control of each amplifier was accomplished using a low power combined beam sample and AFRL’s Locking of Optical Coherent via Single-detector Electronic-frequency Tagging (LOCSET) control system. Approximately 5 kW of signal output was achieved with a combined efficiency of 82%. Losses in the system arise from DOE efficiency limitations, Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE), polarization errors, uncorrelated wavefront errors, optical path length mismatches, and beam misalignments. We discuss the impact of recent amplifier developments and how these developments impact this beam combining method.
Hybrid microstructured fibers, utilizing both air holes and high index cladding structures, provide important advantages over conventional fiber including robust fundamental mode operation with large core diameters (>30μm) and spectral filtering (i.e. amplified spontaneous emission and Raman suppression). This work investigates the capabilities of a hybrid fiber designed to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and modal instability (MI) by characterizing these effects in a counter-pumped amplifier configuration as well as interrogating SBS using a pump-probe Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS) diagnostic suite. The fiber has a 35 μm annularly gain tailored core, the center doped with Yb and the second annulus comprised of un-doped fused silica, designed to optimize gain in the fundamental mode while limiting gain to higher order modes. A narrow-linewidth seed was amplified to an MI-limited 820 W, with near-diffraction-limited beam quality, an effective linewidth ~ 1 GHz, and a pump conversion efficiency of 78%. Via a BGS pump-probe measurement system a high resolution spectra and corresponding gain coefficient were obtained. The primary gain peak, corresponding to the Yb doped region of the core, occurred at 15.9 GHz and had a gain coefficient of 1.92×10-11 m/W. A much weaker BGS response, due to the pure silica annulus, occurred at 16.3 GHz. This result demonstrates the feasibility of power scaling hybrid microstructured fiber amplifiers
We report efficient coherent beam combining of five kW-class fiber amplifiers seeded with pseudorandom phase-modulated light, using a 1×5 diffractive optical element (DOE). Each fiber amplifier channel was path length matched, actively polarized, and provided approximately 1.2 kW of near diffraction-limited output power (M2<1.1). A low-power sample of the combined beam after the DOE provided an error signal for active phase stabilization. After phase stabilization, the beams were coherently combined via the DOE. Notably, a total output power of ∼5 kW was achieved with 82% combining efficiency and excellent beam quality (M2<1.1). The intrinsic DOE splitter loss was 5%. Additional losses due in part to nonideal polarization, amplified spontaneous emission content, uncorrelated wavefront errors, and fractional beam misalignments contributed to the efficiency reduction. Overall, multi-kW beam combining of pseudorandom-modulated fiber amplifiers was demonstrated for the first time.
We report results from two ~1.5 kW Yb-doped fiber amplifiers with comparable optical to optical efficiencies and linewidths. One amplifier utilized a fiber with a core diameter of 25 μm while the core diameter of the fiber utilized in the other amplifier was 20 μm. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) suppression in both cases was achieved through pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) phase modulation. While the power generated in the larger core fiber was modal instability (MI) limited, no sign of MI was observed in the smaller core fiber. This may allow us to utilize the higher MI threshold fiber to scale further while maintaining sufficiently narrow linewidth for beam combining. Furthermore, in a demonstration of the utility of applying a thermal gradient in conjunction with phase modulation to suppress SBS further, we report on a 1 kW amplifier driven at a PRBS clock rate of 2 GHz. Finally, we compare the coherent beam combining properties of amplifiers seeded with PRBS phase modulated sources to those seeded with white noise sources.
White noise phase modulation (WNS) and pseudo-random binary sequence phase modulation (PRBS) are effective
techniques for mitigation of nonlinear effects such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS); thereby paving the way for
higher power narrow linewidth fiber amplifiers. However, detailed studies comparing both coherent beam combination
and the SBS suppression of these phase modulation schemes have not been reported. In this study an active fiber cutback
experiment is performed comparing the enhancement factor of a PRBS and WNS broadened seed as a function of
linewidth and fiber length. Furthermore, two WNS and PRBS modulated fiber lasers are coherently combined to measure
and compare the fringe visibility and coherence length as a function of optical path length difference. Notably, the
discrete frequency comb of PRBS modulation provides a beam combining re-coherence effect where the lasers
periodically come back into phase. Significantly, this may reduce path length matching complexity in coherently
combined fiber laser systems.
Ytterbium-doped large mode area all-solid photonic bandgap fiber amplifiers were used to demonstrate <400 W of
output power at 1064 nm. In an initial set of experiments, a fiber with a core diameter of ~50 μm, and a calculated
effective area of 1450 μm2 in a straight fiber, was used to generate approximately 600 W. In this case, the input
seed was modulated using a sinusoidal format at a frequency of 400 MHz. The output, however, was multimode as
the fiber design did not allow for single-mode operation at this wavelength. A second fiber was then fabricated to
operate predominantly in single mode at 1064 nm by having the seed closer to the short wavelength edge of the
bandgap. This fiber was used to demonstrate 400 W of single-frequency output with excellent beam quality. As the
signal power exceeded 450 W, there was significant degradation in the beam quality due to the modal instability.
Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, the power scaling results obtained in this work far exceed results from
prior state of the art all-solid photonic bandgap fiber lasers.
Progress is being made developing monolithic, all-fiber 2μm wavelength devices that operate robustly at higher power
levels. This development includes the critical Tm-doped LMA fiber technology, compatible components such as pump
combiners and couplers, along with the optimization of high brightness, high efficiency 790nm pump diodes. In this
paper we present recent CW power scaling results and demonstrate a monolithic MOPA system operating at 400W
output power with around 20% E-O efficiency.
Optically pumped alkali vapor lasers have been developed during last several years. Efficient operation of Cesium,
Rubidium and Potassium vapor lasers has been demonstrated. Laser slope efficiencies higher than 80% have been
achieved. In this paper we present the latest achievements in this field, discuss the main directions and problems in high
power alkali lasers development and possible solutions of these problems.
An efficient Cesium vapor laser pumped with a continuous wave narrowband Laser Diode Array (LDA) has been
demonstrated. To obtain a high lasing efficiency, it is necessary to narrow the linewidth of the pumping LDA to match
the Cs atom absorption line. An external cavity with holographic grating was used to narrow the linewidth of a
commercially available LDA to a value of 11 GHz that matches the Cs vapor absorption line broadened by a buffer gas
at atmospheric pressure. The developed pump source was used for pumping a Cs vapor laser, which operated at 894 nm.
Preliminary experiments yielded 400 mW output power and about 20% slope efficiency. The laser efficiency can be
significantly increased by optimizing the cell and cavity design and matching the pump beam to the cavity mode size.
An extensive development of high power lasers for military and civilian applications has resulted in several highly successful laser systems based on chemical lasers. These lasers have some undesirable features, most notably their use of dangerous chemicals and excessive size. Alternative laser systems such as solid state, fiber lasers and semiconductor lasers have not achieved the necessary powers and beam quality. In this paper we present the results of our work on optically pumped cesium vapor laser development. We demonstrated efficient cesium laser operation at wavelength 894 nm with diode laser pumping. The measured optical efficiency was more than 32% with an overall electrical to optical efficiency of 15%. With an improved cavity design and narrowband pump source we have demonstrated Cs laser with slope efficiency of 81% and overall optical efficiency of 63%. This laser can be scaled to higher powers by increasing the volume of the active medium and number of narrowband pump diode lasers.
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