Novel Bidirectional Output Ytterbium-Doped High Power Fiber Lasers: From Continuous to Quasi-Continuous

Lingfa Zeng; Xinyi Ding; Jiaqi Liu; Xiaolin Wang; Yun Ye; Hanshuo Wu; Peng Wang; Xiaoming Xi; Hanwei Zhang; Chen Shi; Fengjie Xi; Xiaojun Xu

doi:10.3390/mi15010153

Novel Bidirectional Output Ytterbium-Doped High Power Fiber Lasers: From Continuous to Quasi-Continuous

Micromachines (Basel). 2024 Jan 20;15(1):153. doi: 10.3390/mi15010153.

Authors

Lingfa Zeng¹, Xinyi Ding¹, Jiaqi Liu¹, Xiaolin Wang^{1

2

3}, Yun Ye^{1

2

3}, Hanshuo Wu^{1

2

3}, Peng Wang^{1

2

3}, Xiaoming Xi^{1

2

3}, Hanwei Zhang^{1

2

3}, Chen Shi^{1

2

3}, Fengjie Xi^{1

2

3}, Xiaojun Xu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
² Nanhu Laser Laboratory, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
³ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of High Energy Laser Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.

PMID: 38276852
DOI: 10.3390/mi15010153

Abstract

Traditional ytterbium-doped high-power fiber lasers generally use a unidirectional output structure. To reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of the fiber laser, we propose a bidirectional output fiber laser (BOFL). The BOFL has many advantages over that of the traditional unidirectional output fiber laser (UOFL) and has a wide application in the industrial field. In theory, the model of the BOFL is established, and a comparison of the nonlinear effect in the traditional UOFL and the BOFL is studied. Experimentally, high-power continuous wave (CW) and quasi-continuous wave (QCW) BOFLs are demonstrated. In the continuous laser, we first combine the BOFL with the oscillating amplifying integrated structure, and a near-single-mode bidirectional 2 × 4 kW output with a total power of above 8 kW is demonstrated. Then, with the simple BOFL, a CW bidirectional 2 × 5 kW output with a total power of above 10 kW is demonstrated. By means of pump source modulation, a QCW BOFL is developed, and the output of a near-single mode QCW laser with a peak output of 2 × 4.5 kW with a total peak power of more than 9 kW is realized. Both CW and QCW output BOFL are the highest powers reported at present.

Keywords: bidirectional output ytterbium-doped high-power fiber lasers; quasi-continuous wave fiber laser; stimulated Raman scattering; transverse mode instability.

Abstract

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