Tandem pumped fiber amplifier
AssigneenLIGHT, Inc.
InventorsManoj Kanskar, Jiamin Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an example, a tandem pumped fiber amplifier may include a seed laser, a first section coupled to an output of the seed laser, and a second section coupled to an output of the first section. The first section may operate as an oscillator, and may receive pump light from one or more diode pumps, and may the first section may be arranged to convert the one or more diode pumps into a tandem pump. The second section may operate as a power amplifier, and may include a length of a single or plural active core fiber. The tandem pumped fiber amplifier may be arranged to mitigate spectral broadening related to four-wave mixing.
Claims19
An apparatus for high energy laser (HEL) applications and including a first section coupled to an output of a seed laser, and a second section coupled to an output of the first section, the apparatus comprising:
- an optical fiber including at least one core, wherein the seed laser is optically coupled to the at least one core;
- the first section to operate as an oscillator and the second section to operate as a power amplifier, wherein the second section includes the optical fiber including a polarized or unpolarized amplifier;
- one or more diode pumps optically coupled to the first section;
- and
- a counter-pumped fiber amplifier, or wherein the first section is a length of the optical fiber that is not greater than 0.5 meters long, the oscillator comprises a polarized oscillator, the seed laser comprises a polarized seed laser, a total power output of the one or more diode pumps is not greater than 100 W, the oscillator includes a narrow linewidth, or the first section comprises a semiconductor oscillator,
- wherein the first section is arranged to convert the one or more diode pumps into a tandem pump, wherein the one or more diode pumps and the tandem pump bi-chromatically pump the power amplifier;
- wherein a selected wavelength associated with the oscillator is less than a center wavelength of the seed laser, wherein the at least one core is dimensioned to suppress modal instability at 2 kW or greater output power when a difference between the selected wavelength and the center wavelength is in a range of 0.1-8%.
A method comprising:
- providing a tandem pumped fiber amplifier including a first section coupled to an output of a seed laser, and a second section coupled to an output of the first section, tandem pumped fiber amplifier including:
- an optical fiber including at least one core, wherein the seed laser is optically coupled to the at least one core;
- the first section to operate as an oscillator and the second section to operate as a power amplifier, wherein the second section includes the optical fiber including a polarized or unpolarized amplifier;
- and
- one or more diode pumps optically coupled to the first section,
- wherein the first section is arranged to convert the one or more diode pumps into a tandem pump, wherein the one or more diode pumps and the tandem pump bi-chromatically pump the power amplifier:
- wherein a selected wavelength associated with the oscillator is less than a center wavelength of the seed laser, wherein the at least one core is dimensioned to suppress modal instability at 2 kW or greater output power when a difference between the selected wavelength and the center wavelength is in a range of 0.1-8%;
- and
- mitigating spectral broadening of the tandem pumped fiber amplifier due to four-wave mixing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.