Open AccessHighly efficient cladding-pumped single-mode three-level Yb all-solid photonic bandgap fiber lasers
Author(s) -
Turghun Matniyaz,
Wensong Li,
Monica T. Kalichevsky-Dong,
Thomas Hawkins,
Joshua Parsons,
Guancheng Gu,
Liang Dong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.44.000807
Subject(s) - cladding (metalworking) , materials science , optics , fiber laser , optoelectronics , laser , photonic crystal fiber , slope efficiency , physics , composite material , wavelength
Efficient cladding-pumped three-level Yb fiber lasers are difficult to achieve due to the competing four-level system and necessary high inversions. We demonstrate an efficiency of ∼62.7% versus a coupled pump, a record for cladding-pumped fiber lasers with a single-pass pump. 84 W at ∼978 nm with ∼1.12M 2 was achieved, a record power for flexible fibers. Amplified spontaneous emission was suppressed by >40 dB. The efficiency is quantum-limited ∼94% versus an absorbed pump. This is made possible by the use of a photo-darkening-free Yb phosphosilicate core and recent progress in single-mode large-core all-solid photonic bandgap fiber designs, which provide the necessary large core-to-cladding ratio and suppression of the four-level system.