High-power/energy large mode area tapered fiber amplifiers

Abstract

A short-pulse Yb-doped fiber laser based on a master oscillator and power amplifier scheme is reported to yield an average power exceeding 500 W and pulse energy over 1 mJ. The final amplifier stage features a polarization-maintaining, large mode area tapered fiber with core/cladding diameters of 35/250 μm and 56/400 μm at each end of the flared section. The latter yields excellent optical conversion efficiency, near diffraction-limited output, narrow spectral linewidth and high polarization extinction ratio. The threshold for the onset of stimulated Raman scattering was further investigated using a pulsed seeder with ps-ns digitally programmable waveforms. Besides, no indication for transverse mode instability could be observed below the stimulated Raman scattering threshold, as beam quality M² was measured < 1.3 and no fluctuations were further detected from photodiode time-traces of near-field laser beam samples.