• High Power Laser Science and Engineering
  • Vol. 9, Issue 2, 02000e21 (2021)
Yun Ye1, Xianfeng Lin2, Xiaoming Xi1, Chen Shi1, Baolai Yang1, Hanwei Zhang1, Xiaolin Wang1, Jinyan Li2、*, and Xiaojun Xu1
Author Affiliations
  • 1College of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha410073, China
  • 2Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan430074, China
  • show less
    DOI: 10.1017/hpl.2021.9 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Yun Ye, Xianfeng Lin, Xiaoming Xi, Chen Shi, Baolai Yang, Hanwei Zhang, Xiaolin Wang, Jinyan Li, Xiaojun Xu. Novel constant-cladding tapered-core ytterbium-doped fiber for high-power fiber laser oscillator[J]. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2021, 9(2): 02000e21 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    Power scaling based on traditional ytterbium-doped fibers (YDFs) is limited by optical nonlinear effects and transverse mode instability (TMI) in high-power fiber lasers. Here, we propose a novel long tapered fiber with a constant cladding and tapered core (CCTC) along its axis direction. The tapered-core region of the fiber is designed to enhance the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) threshold and suppress higher-order mode resonance in the laser cavity. The CCTC YDF was fabricated successfully with a modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) method combined with solution doping technology, which has a cladding diameter of 400 μm and a varying core with a diameter of ~24 μm at both ends and ~31 μm in the middle. To test the performance of the CCTC fiber during high-power operation, an all-fiber laser oscillator based on a CCTC YDF was investigated experimentally. As a result, a maximum output power of 3.42 kW was achieved with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 55.2%, although the TMI effect was observed at an output power of ~3.12 kW. The measured beam quality (M2 factor) was ~1.7, and no sign of the Raman component was observed in the spectrum. We believe that CCTC YDF has great potential to simultaneously mitigate the SRS and TMI effects, and further power scaling is promising by optimizing the structure of the YDF.
    $${D}_{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{CCTC}}=\frac{\int_{z=0}^LD(z)\mathrm{d}z}{L},$$((1))

    View in Article

    Yun Ye, Xianfeng Lin, Xiaoming Xi, Chen Shi, Baolai Yang, Hanwei Zhang, Xiaolin Wang, Jinyan Li, Xiaojun Xu. Novel constant-cladding tapered-core ytterbium-doped fiber for high-power fiber laser oscillator[J]. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2021, 9(2): 02000e21
    Download Citation