High Power, Broad Band Photonic Crystal Fiber Lasers

A high power, broad band fiber laser based on sumpercontinuum generation from photonic crystal fiber was proposed. A picosecond fiber Yb doped MOPA is used as pump source; A small core diameter and high air-fill-fraction in the cladding all silica based photonic crystal fiber with zero dispersion wavelength at ~1020 nm is designed to generate broad band supercontinuum; by adding the fiber mode expanded tips and integrate the in-liner polarizer, the thermal damage effect will be reduced and thus output power and laser system stability can be significantly increased. The proposed fiber laser is able to generate high output power (>50W), higher efficiency and wider spectrum bandwidth (500 to 1800 nm). In Phase I, we will fabricate a proof of concept breadboard fiber laser. Full system demonstration will be realized in the Phase II Program.