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US 2014/0211301 A1Published application
High-gain face-pumped slab-amplifier
AssigneeCoherent, Inc.
InventorsAndrei STARODOUMOV, Norman HODGSON
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical amplifier for use as a final amplification stage for a fiber-MOPA has a gain-element including a thin wafer or chip of ytterbium-doped YAG. An elongated gain-region is formed in gain-element by multiple incidences of radiation from a diode-laser bar.
Claims20
An optical amplifier for amplifying optical pulses, comprising:
- a gain-element in the form of a slab of a solid-state gain-medium having first and second opposite faces, first and second opposite ends, and first and second opposite sides, the gain-medium being selected from a group of gain-media consisting of thulium-doped gain-media, ytterbium-doped gain-media, titanium-doped sapphire, chromium-doped forsterite, and chromium-doped zinc selenide;
- a plurality diode-lasers, providing optical pump-radiation for energizing the gain-element;
- a pump-radiation router arranged to receive pump-radiation from the plurality of diode-lasers and to cause the pump-radiation to make repeated interactions with the slab through the first face thereof to form an elongated gain-region in the slab extending between the first and second ends thereof;
- and
- wherein an optical pulse being amplified propagates through the elongated gain-region in a length direction thereof between the first and second ends of the slab.
2 more elements
An optical amplifier for amplifying optical pulses, comprising:
- a gain-element in the form of a slab of a solid-state gain-medium having first and second opposite faces, first and second opposite ends, and first and second opposite sides, the gain-medium being selected from a group of gain-media consisting of thulium-doped gain-media, ytterbium-doped gain-media, titanium-doped sapphire, chromium-doped forsterite, and chromium-doped zinc selenide;
- a diode-laser bar including a plurality of diode-laser emitters each thereof characterized as having a fast-axis and a slow axis perpendicular to the fast-axis with the slow-axes thereof aligned with each other, the diode-laser bar providing an optical pump-radiation beam for energizing the gain-element, the pump-radiation beam having fast- and slow-transverse axes corresponding to the fast- and slow-exes of the diode-laser emitters;
- a pump-radiation router arranged to receive pump-radiation beam from the plurality of diode-lasers and to cause the pump-radiation to make repeated interactions with the slab through the first face thereof to form an elongated gain-region in the slab extending between the first and second ends thereof, the elongated gain region having length in the slow-axis direction of the pump-radiation beam and a width in the fast-axis direction of the pump-radiation beam;
- and
- wherein an optical pulse being amplified propagates through the elongated gain-region in a length direction thereof between the first and second ends of the slab.
2 more elements
Optical apparatus, comprising:
- a laser providing a seed pulse having a wavelength within the gain bandwidth of ytterbium-doped gain-fibers;
- at least one optical fiber-amplifier including an ytterbium-doped gain-fiber for amplifying the seed pulse;
- an optical power-amplifier for further amplifying the amplified seed-pulse, the power-amplifier including a gain-element in the form of a slab of an ytterbium-doped solid-state gain-medium having first and second opposite faces, first and second opposite ends, and first and second opposite sides a pump-radiation router arranged to receive a pump-radiation beam from the plurality of diode-lasers, and to cause the pump-radiation beam to make repeated interactions with the slab through the first face thereof to form an elongated gain-region in the slab extending between the first and second ends thereof;
- and
- wherein, the amplified pulse being further amplified propagates through the elongated gain-region in a length direction thereof between the first and second ends of the slab.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.