RESUMO
We report on a laser system based on thin-disk technology and chirped pulse amplification, providing output pulse energies of 200 mJ at a 5 kHz repetition rate. The amplifier contains a ring-type cavity and two thin Yb:YAG disks, each pumped by diode laser systems providing up to 3.5 kW power at a 969 nm wavelength. The average output power of more than 1 kW is delivered in an excellent output beam characterized by M2=1.1. The output pulses are compressed to 1.1 ps at full power with a pair of dielectric gratings.
RESUMO
We report on the operation and performance of a gain-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser based on an active pulsed diode pump system. The produced laser pulses offer high peak powers while retaining the high average powers and efficiency of the cw regime. The measured pulse duration was about 300 ns and nearly independent of the pump repetition frequency. The maximum obtained 68 W of peak power is the highest reported, to our knowledge, for diode-pumped Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers, and the 2 W of average power at the repetition frequency of 100 kHz is 2 orders of magnitude higher than previously reported average power in a pulsed regime. The obtained slope efficiency was 34%.
RESUMO
We investigate diode pump absorption and temperature distribution in three erbium-doped double-clad fluoride fibers. Absorption is measured via fluorescence intensity and temperature distribution is measured with thermal imaging. Ray-tracing calculations of absorption and heat-equation modeling of temperature distribution are also conducted. We found excellent agreement between measurements and calculations for all fibers. Results indicate that erbium-doped fluoride fiber lasers have already reached maximum output powers allowed under natural convection cooling, with fiber end being the most critical. We propose cooling and fiber design optimizations that may allow an order-of-magnitude further power-scaling.