Isolator for Fiber Laser Amplifier Arrays

High power fiber lasers have made significant progress in last several years. Several kW of output power has been demonstrated, which enables a wide range of new applications from laser welding, laser cutting, and laser drilling to military defense. While high power fiber lasers have been successfully deployed in industry, one piece of critical components, fiber isolator, is still not available. For the moment, free-space isolator has to be used. In this proposal, we propose to develop an all-fiber isolator for 1 micron high power fiber lasers and amplifiers. An all-fiber isolator with multi-hundreds throughput power level will be demonstrated and delivered. Successful development of this proposed all-fiber isolator will enable many new applications of high power fiber lasers, and revolutionize high power fiber laser and amplifier developments. BENEFIT: This proposed all-fiber isolator can be used for current DoD high power 1 micron fiber lasers and amplifiers programs. It can also be used for industrial high power fiber lasers. The development of this proposed all-fiber isolator can extend the life of many fiber lasers and amplifiers, further improve the reliability of fiber lasers, and enable coherent beam combining.