Coherent beam combining of two all-PM thulium-doped fiber chirped pulse amplifiers

  • Bo Ren 1 ,
  • Hongxiang Chang 1 ,
  • Can Li , 1 ,
  • Tao Wang 1 ,
  • Kaikai Jin 1 ,
  • Jiayi Zhang 1 ,
  • Kun Guo 1 ,
  • Rongtao Su 1,2,3 ,
  • Jinyong Leng 1,2,3 ,
  • Pu Zhou , 1
Expand
  • 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
lc0616@163.com
zhoupu203@163.com

Received date: 20 Feb 2024

Accepted date: 29 Apr 2024

Copyright

2024 The Author(s) 2024

Abstract

In this paper, we report a coherent beam combining (CBC) system that involves two thulium-doped all-polarization maintaining (PM) fiber chirped pulse amplifiers. Through phase-locking the two channels via a fiber stretcher by using the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm, a maximum average power of 265 W is obtained, with a CBC efficiency of 81% and a residual phase error of λ/17. After de-chirping by a pair of diffraction gratings, the duration of the combined laser pulse is compressed to 690 fs. Taking into account the compression efficiency of 90% and the main peak energy proportion of 91%, the corresponding peak power is calculated to be 4 MW. The laser noise characteristics before and after CBC are examined, and the results indicate that the CBC would degrade the low frequency relative intensity noise (RIN), of which the integration is 1.74% in [100 Hz, 2 MHz] at the maximum combined output power. In addition, the effects of the nonlinear spectrum broadening during chirped pulse amplification on the CBC efficiency are also investigated, showing that a higher extent of pulse stretching is effective in alleviating the spectrum broadening and realizing a higher output power with decent combining efficiency.

Cite this article

Bo Ren , Hongxiang Chang , Can Li , Tao Wang , Kaikai Jin , Jiayi Zhang , Kun Guo , Rongtao Su , Jinyong Leng , Pu Zhou . Coherent beam combining of two all-PM thulium-doped fiber chirped pulse amplifiers[J]. Frontiers of Optoelectronics, 2024 , 17(2) : 14 . DOI: 10.1007/s12200-024-00117-3

1
Yao, C., Jia, Z., Li, Z., Jia, S., Zhao, Z., Zhang, L., Feng, Y., Qin, G., Ohishi, Y., Qin, W.: High-power mid-infrared supercontinuum laser source using fluorotellurite fiber. Optica 5(10), 1264–1270 (2018)

DOI

2
Jackson, S.D.: Towards high-power mid-infrared emission from a fibre laser. Nat. Photonics 6(7), 423–431 (2012)

DOI

3
Toor, F., Jackson, S., Shang, X., Arafin, S., Yang, H.: Mid-infrared lasers for medical applications: introduction to the feature issue. Biomed. Opt. Express 9(12), 6255–6257 (2018)

DOI

4
Kalaycioglu, H., Elahi, P., Akcaalan, O., Ilday, F.O.: High-repetition-rate ultrafast fiber lasers for material processing. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 24(3), 1–12 (2018)

DOI

5
Zhou, J., Pan, W., Qi, W., Cao, X., Cheng, Z., Feng, Y.: Ultrafast Raman fiber laser: a review and prospect. PhotoniX 3(1), 18 (2022)

DOI

6
Wang, M., Wu, H., Ouyang, D., Liu, M., Chen, Y., Zhao, J., Liu, X., Ruan, S.: High power noise-like pulse at 2 µm and its applications in mid-IR Raman light and flat supercontinuum. Infrared Phys. Technol. 131, 104635 (2023)

DOI

7
Liu, J., Liu, C., Shi, H., Wang, P.: High-power linearly-polarized picosecond thulium-doped all-fiber master-oscillator power-amplifier. Opt. Express 24(13), 15005–15011 (2016)

DOI

8
Ren, Z., Fu, Q., Xu, L., Price, J.H.V., Alam, S.U., Richardson, D.J.: Compact, high repetition rate, 4.2 MW peak power, 1925 nm, thulium-doped fiber chirped-pulse amplification system with dissipative soliton seed laser. Opt. Express 27(25), 36741–36749 (2019)

DOI

9
Lenski, M., Heuermann, T., Gebhardt, M., Wang, Z., Gaida, C., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J.: Inband-pumped, high-power thuliumdoped fiber amplifiers for an ultrafast pulsed operation. Opt. Express 30(24), 44270–44282 (2022)

DOI

10
Ren, C., Shen, Y., Zheng, Y., Mao, Y., Wang, F., Shen, D., Zhu, H.: Widely-tunable all-fiber Tm doped MOPA with > 1 kW of output power. Opt. Express 31(14), 22733–22739 (2023)

DOI

11
Xing, Y.B., Liao, L., Bu, F., Wang, Y.B., Peng, J.G., Dai, N.L., Li, J.Y.: Fabrication of Tm-doped fibers for high power and 121 W output all-fiber Tm-doped fiber laser. Chin. Phys. Lett. 32(3), 034204 (2015)

DOI

12
Gaida, C., Gebhardt, M., Heuermann, T., Stutzki, F., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J.: Ultrafast thulium fiber laser system emitting more than 1 kW of average power. Opt. Lett. 43(23), 5853–5856 (2018)

DOI

13
Gaida, C., Gebhardt, M., Stutzki, F., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J., Tunnermann, A.: Thulium-doped fiber chirped-pulse amplification system with 2 GW of peak power. Opt. Lett. 41(17), 4130–4133 (2016)

DOI

14
Wang, Z., Heuermann, T., Gebhardt, M., Gaida, C., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J., Dong, L., Zervas, M.N.: 108 W average power ultrashort pulses with GW-level peak power from a Tm-doped fiber CPA system. In: Fiber Lasers XVII, p. 112600K. Technology and Systems (2020)

DOI

15
Stutzki, F., Gaida, C., Gebhardt, M., Jansen, F., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J., Tunnermann, A.: Tm-based fiber-laser system with more than 200 MW peak power. Opt. Lett. 40(1), 9–12 (2015)

DOI

16
Stutzki, F., Gaida, C., Gebhardt, M., Jansen, F., Wienke, A., Zeitner, U., Fuchs, F., Jauregui, C., Wandt, D., Kracht, D., Limpert, J., Tunnermann, A.: 152 W average power Tm-doped fiber CPA system. Opt. Lett. 39(16), 4671–4674 (2014)

DOI

17
Gebhardt, M., Gaida, C., Stutzki, F., Hadrich, S., Jauregui, C., Limpert, J., Tunnermann, A.: Impact of atmospheric molecular absorption on the temporal and spatial evolution of ultra-short optical pulses. Opt. Express 23(11), 13776–13787 (2015)

DOI

18
Qiao, T., Cheng, H., Wen, X., Wang, W., Lin, W., Zhou, Y., Guo, Y., Liu, Y., Yang, Z.: High-power 2 GHz fs pulsed all-fiber amplified laser system at 20 µm. Opt. Lett. 44(24), 6001–6004 (2019)

DOI

19
Wang, T., Li, C., Ren, B., Guo, K., Wu, J., Leng, J., Zhou, P.: High-power femtosecond laser generation from an all-fiber linearly polarized chirped pulse amplifier. High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 11, e25 (2023)

DOI

20
Ren, B., Li, C., Wang, T., Guo, K., Wu, J., Zhou, P.: Thuliumdoped all-PM fiber chirped pulse amplifier delivering 314 W average power. High Power Laser Sci. Eng. 11, e73 (2023)

DOI

21
Fsaifes, I., Daniault, L., Bellanger, S., Veinhard, M., Bourderionnet, J., Larat, C., Lallier, E., Durand, E., Brignon, A., Chanteloup, J.C.: Coherent beam combining of 61 femtosecond fiber amplifiers. Opt. Express 28(14), 20152–20161 (2020)

DOI

22
Chang, Q., Hou, T., Long, J., Deng, Y., Chang, H., Ma, P., Su, R., Ma, Y., Zhou, P.: Experimental phase stabilization of a 397-channel laser beam array via image processing in dynamic noise environment. J. Lightwave Technol. 40(19), 6542–6547 (2022)

DOI

23
Jiang, M., Wu, H., An, Y., Hou, T., Chang, Q., Huang, L., Li, J., Su, R., Zhou, P.: Fiber laser development enabled by machine learning: review and prospect. PhotoniX. 3(1), 16 (2022)

DOI

24
McNaught, S.J., Thielen, P.A., Adams, L.N., Ho, J.G., Johnson, A.M., Machan, J.P., Rothenberg, J.E., Chun-Ching, S., Shimabukuro, D.M., Wacks, M.P., Weber, M.E., Goodno, G.D.: Scalable coherent combining of kilowatt fiber amplifiers into a 2.4-kW beam. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 20(5), 174–181 (2014)

DOI

25
Antier, M., Bourderionnet, J., Larat, C., Lallier, E., Lenormand, E., Primot, J., Brignon, A.: kHz closed loop interferometric technique for coherent fiber beam combining. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 20(5), 182–187 (2014)

DOI

26
Yang, K., Zhu, G., Hao, Q., Huang, K., Laurat, J., Li, W., Zeng, H.: Coherent polarization beam combination by microcontroller-based phase-locking method. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 28(20), 2129–2132 (2016)

DOI

27
Chang, H., Chang, Q., Xi, J., Hou, T., Su, R., Ma, P., Wu, J., Li, C., Jiang, M., Ma, Y., Zhou, P.: First experimental demonstration of coherent beam combining of more than 100 beams. Photon. Res. 8(12), 1943–1948 (2020)

DOI

28
Müller, M., Aleshire, C., Klenke, A., Haddad, E., Legare, F., Tunnermann, A., Limpert, J.: 10.4 kW coherently combined ultrafast fiber laser. Opt. Lett. 45(11), 3083–3086 (2020)

DOI

29
Stark, H., Buldt, J., Muller, M., Klenke, A., Limpert, J.: 1 kW, 10 mJ, 120 fs coherently combined fiber CPA laser system. Opt. Lett. 46(5), 969–972 (2021)

DOI

30
Yu, H.L., Zhang, Z.X., Wang, X.L., Su, R.T., Zhang, H.W., Ma, Y.X., Zhou, P., Chen, J.B.: High average power coherent femtosecond pulse combining system based on an all fiber active control method. Laser Phys. Lett. 15(7), 075101 (2018)

DOI

31
Stark, H., Benner, M., Buldt, J., Klenke, A., Limpert, J.: Pulses of 32 mJ and 158 fs at 20-kHz repetition rate from a spatiotemporally combined fiber laser system. Opt. Lett. 48(11), 3007–3010 (2023)

DOI

32
Peng, S., Wang, Z., Hu, F., Li, Z., Zhang, Q., Lu, P.: 260 fs, 403 W coherently combined fiber laser with precise high-order dispersion management. Front Optoelectron. 17(1), 3 (2024)

DOI

33
Honzatko, P., Baravets, Y., Todorov, F., Peterka, P., Becker, M.: Coherently combined power of 20 W at 2000 nm from a pair of thulium-doped fiber lasers. Laser Phys. Lett. 10(9), 095104 (2013)

DOI

34
Oermann, M.R., Carmody, N., Hemming, A., Rees, S., Simakov, N., Swain, R., Boyd, K., Davidson, A., Corena, L., Stepanov, D., Haub, J.: Coherent beam combination of four holmium amplifiers with phase control via a direct digital synthesizer chip. Opt. Express 26(6), 6715–6723 (2018)

DOI

35
Wang, X., Zhou, P., Wang, X., Ma, Y., Su, R., Xiao, H., Si, L., Liu, Z.: 108 W coherent beam combining of two single-frequency Tm-doped fiber MOPAs. Laser Phys. Lett. 11(10), 105101 (2014)

DOI

36
Heuermann, T., Wang, Z., Lenski, M., Gebhardt, M., Gaida, C., Abdelaal, M., Buldt, J., Muller, M., Klenke, A., Limpert, J.: Ultrafast Tm-doped fiber laser system delivering 1.65-mJ, sub-100-fs pulses at a 100-kHz repetition rate. Opt. Lett. 47(12), 3095–3098 (2022)

DOI

37
Jolivet, V., Bourdon, P., Bennai, B., Lombard, L., Goular, D., Pourtal, E., Canat, G., Jaouen, Y., Moreau, B., Vasseur, O.: Beam shaping of single-mode and multimode fiber amplifier arrays for propagation through atmospheric turbulence. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 15(2), 257–268 (2009)

DOI

38
Yu, H.L., Ma, P.F., Wang, X.L., Su, R.T., Zhou, P., Chen, J.B.: Influence of temporal–spectral effects on ultrafast fiber coherent polarization beam combining system. Laser Phys. Lett. 12(10), 105301 (2015)

DOI

Outlines

/