Dynamic focus shaping with mixed-aperture coherent beam combining.

A novel concept for dynamic focus shaping based on highly efficient coherent beam combining with micro-lens arrays (MLAs) as the combining element is presented. This concept allows us to control the power weights of diffraction orders by varying the absolute phases of an array of input beams. A proof-of-principle experiment is supported by simulations. For this, an input beam matrix of 5×5 beams is combined proving both the ability for further power scaling and dynamic focus shaping.

Coherent beam combining with micro-lens arrays.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, concept for coherent beam combining is presented based on a simple setup with micro-lens arrays. These standard components are used in a proof-of-principle experiment for both coherent beam splitting and a combination of 5×5 beams. Here a combination efficiency above 90% is achieved. We call this novel concept "mixed aperture."

Optimizing high-power Yb-doped fiber amplifier systems in the presence of transverse mode instabilities.

The average output power of Yb-doped fiber amplifier systems is currently limited by the onset of transverse mode instabilities. Besides, it has been recently shown that the transverse mode instability threshold can be significantly reduced by the presence of photodarkening in the fiber. Therefore, reducing the photodarkening level of the core material composition is the most straightforward way to increase the output average power of fiber amplifier systems but, unfortunately, this is not always easy or possible. In this paper we present guidelines to optimize the output average power of fiber amplifiers affected by transverse mode instabilities and photodarkening. The guidelines derived from the simulations do not involve changes in the composition of the active material (except for its doping concentration), but can still lead to a significant increase of the transverse mode instability threshold. The dependence of this parameter on the active ion concentration and the core conformation, among others, will be studied and discussed.

Simplified modelling the mode instability threshold of high power fiber amplifiers in the presence of photodarkening.

In this paper we present a simple model to predict the behavior of the transversal mode instability threshold when different parameters of a fiber amplifier system are changed. The simulation model includes an estimation of the photodarkening losses which shows the strong influence that this effect has on the mode instability threshold and on its behavior. Comparison of the simulation results with experimental measurements reveal that the mode instability threshold in a fiber amplifier system is reached for a constant average heat load value in good approximation. Based on this model, the expected behavior of the mode instability threshold when changing the seed wavelength, the seed power and/or the fiber length will be presented and discussed. Additionally, guidelines for increasing the average power of fiber amplifier systems will be provided.

Impact of photodarkening on the mode instability threshold.

The threshold-like onset of mode instabilities is currently the main limitation for the scaling of the average output power of fiber laser systems with diffraction limited beam quality. In this contribution, the impact of a wavelength shift of the seed signal on the mode instability threshold has been investigated. Against expectations, it is experimentally shown that the highest mode instabilities threshold is reached around 1030 nm and not for the smallest wavelength separation between pump and signal. This finding implies that the quantum defect is not the only source of thermal heating in the fiber. Systematic experiments and simulations have helped in identifying photodarkening as the most likely second heat source in the fiber. It is shown that even a negligible photodarkening-induced power loss can lead to a decrease of the mode instabilities threshold by a factor of two. Consequently, reduction of photodarkening is a promising way to mitigate mode instabilities.

2 kW average power from a pulsed Yb-doped rod-type fiber amplifier.

This Letter reports on a fiber-laser system that, employing a 1 m long rod-type photonic-crystal fiber as its main-amplifier, emits a record average output power of 2 kW, by amplifying stretched ps-pulses. A further increase of the output power was only limited by the available laser-diode pump power. The energy of the pulses is 100 µJ, corresponding to MW-level peak powers extracted directly from the fiber of the main amplifier. The corresponding M2 at the maximum output power is <3, due to the onset of mode instabilities. The Letter covers the influence of this effect on the evolution of the beam quality with the output power. The numerical results show that the M2 value settles at around 3, even if the output average power is further increased.

Scaling the mode instability threshold with multicore fibers.

Mode instabilities (MIs) have quickly become the most limiting effect for the average power scaling of nearly diffraction-limited beams from state-of-the-art fiber laser systems. In this work it is shown that, by using an advanced multicore photonic crystal fiber design, the threshold power of MIs can be increased linearly with the number of cores. An average output power of 536 W, corresponding to 4 times the threshold power of a single core, is demonstrated.

Triple-clad large-pitch fibers for compact high-power pulsed fiber laser systems.

We present a novel ytterbium (Yb)-doped large-pitch fiber design with significantly increased pump absorption and higher energy storage/gain per unit length, which enables high-peak-power fiber laser systems with smaller footprints. Up to now index matching between core and surrounding material in microstructured fibers was achieved by co-doping the active core region with fluorine. Here we carry out the index matching by passively doping the cladding with germanium, thus raising its index of refraction. Hence, the fluorine in the core can be omitted, which leads to an effective increase of the core doping concentration, while detrimental effects such as photo-darkening and lifetime quenching are avoided by maintaining the bulk Yb concentration. Experiments and simulations show that a gain higher than 50 dB/m and an output average power higher than 100 W with excellent beam quality are feasible even with a fiber length of only 40 cm.

Controlling mode instabilities by dynamic mode excitation with an acousto-optic deflector.

We demonstrate an approach to actively stabilize the beam profile of a fiber amplifier above the mode instability threshold. Both the beam quality and the pointing stability are significantly increased at power levels of up to three times the mode instabilities threshold. The physical working principle is discussed at the light of the recently published theoretical explanations of mode instabilities.

Passive mitigation strategies for mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems.

Mode instabilities have quickly become the most limiting effect when it comes to scaling the output average power of fiber laser systems. In consequence, there is an urgent need for effective strategies to mitigate it and, thus, to increase the power threshold at which it appears. Passive mitigation strategies can be classified into intrinsic, which are related to the fiber design, and extrinsic, which require a modification of the setup. In order to evaluate the impact of mitigation strategies, a means to calculate its power threshold and predict its behavior is required. In this paper we present a simple semi-analytic formula that is able to predict the changes of the mode instability threshold by analyzing the strength of the thermally-induced waveguide perturbations. Furthermore, we propose two passive mitigation strategies, one intrinsic and one extrinsic, that should lead to a significant increase of the power threshold of mode instabilities.

High-power thermally guiding index-antiguiding-core fibers.

We investigate high-power operation of a very-large-mode-area (VLMA) fiber concept based on an index-antiguiding, thermally guiding core in which an ytterbium-doped region is completely surrounded by silica with a slightly higher refractive index. Experimentally, regimes of antiguidance, single-mode operation, and mode instabilities predominantly with radially symmetric higher-order modes are observed. Fundamental limitations for conventional VLMA step-index fibers are discussed.

Temperature-induced index gratings and their impact on mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems.

Mode-interference along an active fiber in high-power operation gives rise to a longitudinally oscillating temperature profile which, in turn, is converted into a strong index grating via the thermo-optic effect. In the case of mode beating between the fundamental mode and a radially anti-symmetric mode such a grating exhibits two periodic features: a main one which is radially symmetric and has half the period of the modal beating, and a second one that closely follows the mode interference pattern and has its same period. In the case of modal beating between two radially symmetric modes the thermally induced grating only has radially symmetric features and exhibits the same period of the mode interference. The relevance of such gratings in the context of the recently observed mode instabilities of high-power fiber laser systems is discussed.

Physical origin of mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems.

Mode instabilities, i.e. the rapid fluctuations of the output beam of an optical fiber that occur after a certain output power threshold is reached, have quickly become one of the most limiting effects for the further power scaling of fiber laser systems. Even though much work has been done over the last year, the exact origin of the temporal dynamics of this phenomenon is not fully understood yet. In this paper we show that the origin of mode instabilities can be explained by taking into account the interplay between the temporal evolution of the three-dimensional temperature profile inside of the active fiber and the related waveguide changes that it produces via the thermo-optical effect. In particular it is proposed that non-adiabatic waveguide changes play an important role in allowing energy transfer from the fundamental mode into the higher order mode. As it is discussed in the paper, this description of mode instabilities can explain many of the experimental observations reported to date.

Temporal dynamics of mode instabilities in high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers.

The temporal behavior of mode instabilities in active large mode area fibers is experimentally investigated in detail. Thus, apart from the onset threshold of mode instabilities, the output beam is characterized using both high-speed camera measurements with 20,000 frames per second and photodiode traces. Based on these measurements, an empiric definition of the power threshold of mode instabilities is introduced. Additionally, it is shown that the temporal dynamics show a transition zone between the stable and the unstable regimes where well-defined periodic temporal fluctuations on ms-timescale can be observed. Finally, it is experimentally shown that the larger the mode-field area, the slower the mode-instability fluctuation is. The observations support the thermal origin of mode instabilities.

Thermally induced waveguide changes in active fibers.

Thermally induced waveguide changes become significant for very large mode area fibers. This results in a reduction of the mode-field diameter, but simultaneously in an improvement of the beam quality. In this work the first systematic experimental characterization of the reduction of the mode-field diameter in various fibers during high-power operation is carried out. It is shown that the reduction of the mode-field diameter shows a characteristic behavior that scales with the core size but that is independent of the particular fiber design. Furthermore, the strength of the actual index change is experimentally estimated, and its use to overcome avoided crossings is discussed and experimentally demonstrated.

58 mJ burst comprising ultrashort pulses with homogenous energy level from an Yb-doped fiber amplifier.

We report on a laser system producing a burst comprising femtosecond pulses with a total energy of 58 mJ. Every single pulse within this burst has an energy between 27 and 31 µJ. The pump is able to rebuild the inversion fast enough between the pulses, resulting in an almost constant gain for every pulse during the burst. This causes a very homogenous energy distribution during the burst. The output burst has a repetition frequency of 20 Hz, is 200 µs long and, therefore, contains 2000 pulses at a pulse repetition rate of 10 MHz.

Experimental observations of the threshold-like onset of mode instabilities in high power fiber amplifiers.

We report on the observation and experimental characterization of a threshold-like onset of mode instabilities, i.e. an apparently random relative power content change of different transverse modes, occurring in originally single-mode high-power fiber amplifiers. Although the physical origin of this effect is not yet fully understood, we discuss possible explanations. Accordingly, several solutions are proposed in this paper to raise the threshold of this effect.

High-speed modal decomposition of mode instabilities in high-power fiber lasers.

A high-speed mode analysis technique is required to gain fundamental understanding of mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems. In this work a technique, purely based on the intensity profile of the beam, is demonstrated to be ideally suited to analyze fiber laser dynamics. This technique, together with a high-speed camera, has been applied to the study of the temporal dynamics of mode instabilities at high average powers with up to 20,000 frames per second. These measurements confirm that energy transfer between the fluctuating transversal modes takes place in millisecond-time-scale.

The influence of index-depressions in core-pumped Yb-doped large pitch fibers.

Rare-earth doped photonic crystal fibers rely ideally on an index matching of the doped core to the surrounding glass to work properly. Obtaining a perfect index matching is technologically very challenging, and fiber manufacturers opt for targeting an index depression instead, which still ensures the influence of the photonic structure on the light propagation. In this paper the analysis of the influence of this core index depression on the higher-order mode discrimination and on the beam quality of the fundamental mode of different designs of core-pumped active large pitch photonic crystal fibers is discussed. The most promising design is evaluated in terms of mode area scaling with a view to mode field diameters above 100 µm. Detailed requirements on the accuracy of the core index matching are deduced.

True positive somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in primary breast cancer correlates with expression of sst2A and sst5.

UNLABELLED: [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide scintigraphy has been shown to reveal somatostatin receptor-positive lesions in the majority of primary breast cancers. We have recently developed a panel of somatostatin receptor subtype-specific antibodies that effectively stain formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue. However, it is uncertain to what extend somatostatin receptors detected during immunohistochemical staining represent functional binding sites responsible for high tracer uptake during somatostatin receptor scintigraphy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We, therefore, conducted a prospective study in which 23 patients with suspected breast tumors were included. All patients received [111In]-pentetreotide scintigraphy. After surgical removal of the tumor, the somatostatin receptor status was determined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Among 20 pathologically proven malignant tumors (14 ductal and six lobular carcinomas), 13 (approximately 65%) were scintigraphically visible. Of the 20 primary breast cancer specimens analyzed, three tumors (approximately 15%) were positive for sst1, nine (approximately 45%) revealed immunoreactive sst2A receptors, eight (approximately 40%) showed sst3-like immunoreactivity, and 14 (approximately 70%) were positive for sst5. There was an excellent correlation between the outcome of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and expression of sst2A (P = 0.025) as well as sst5 (P < 0.001) but not expression of either sst1 (P = 0.343) or sst3 (P = 0.400). CONCLUSION: Both sst2A and sst5 can be responsible for high tracer uptake during [111In]-pentetreotide scintigraphy in primary breast cancer. Thus, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy may possibly be of value in the detection of proven somatostatin receptor sst2A- and/or sst5-positive lesions in metastatic breast cancer.