Open Access50W CW visible laser source at 589nm obtained via frequency doubling of three coherently combined narrow-band Raman fibre amplifiers
Author(s) -
Luke Taylor,
Yang Feng,
Domenico Bonaccini Calia
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.008540
Subject(s) - optics , amplifier , laser , raman spectroscopy , interferometry , materials science , physics , raman laser , optical amplifier , fiber laser , raman amplification , optoelectronics , raman scattering , cmos
We demonstrate the cascaded coherent collinear combination of a seed-split triplet of 1178nm high-power narrow-band (sub-1.5MHz) SBS-suppressed CW Raman fibre amplifiers via nested free-space constructive quasi-Mach-Zehnder interferometry, after analysing the combination of the first two amplifiers in detail. Near-unity combination and cascaded-combination efficiencies are obtained at all power levels up to a maximum P(1178) > 60W. Frequency doubling of this cascaded-combined output in an external resonant cavity yields P(589) > 50W with peak conversion efficiency eta(589) ~85%. We observe no significant differences between the SHG of a single, combined pair or triplet of amplifiers. Although the system represents a successful power scalability demonstrator for fibre-based Na-D(2a)-tuned mesospheric laser-guide-star systems, we emphasise its inherent wavelength versatility and consider its spectroscopic and near-diffraction-limited qualities equally well suited to other applications.