25 W single-frequency, low noise fiber MOPA at 1120 nm

This Letter reports on the development of a 25 W single-frequency, all-fiber master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) operating at 1120 nm. By heating the gain fiber at 75°C, an output power of 25.3 W is achieved with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 53.5%. The output shows no sign of stimulated Brillouin scattering and the signal to amplified spontaneous emission ratio is close to 40 dB. A M 2 value of 1.15 and a polarization extinction ratio of 17 dB are measured. The relative intensity noise of the output is also characterized, reaching -155  dBc/Hz at 10 MHz at the maximum output power. The study of the noise dynamics highlights, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, an unpredicted behavior due to the strong backward amplified spontaneous emission.