Nanosecond Q-switched operation of coupled Yb and Tm fibre lasers

A small scale coupled Yb-silica and Tm-silica fibre laser system is described with output at 1.9 mum and with Q-switching using an acousto-optic modulator and also by mechanical optical modulation. The Yb-fibre laser pump source exhibited strong self-pulsation with high-intensity pulses due to stimu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Applied physics, 2005-05, Vol.38 (9), p.1365-1370
Main Authors: Tsang, Yuen H, Qamar, Fadi, King, Terence A, Ko, Do-Kyeong, Lee, Jongmin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exact sciences and technology
Fiber lasers
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Laser optical systems: design and operation
Lasers
Optics
Physics
Q-switching
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Description
Summary:A small scale coupled Yb-silica and Tm-silica fibre laser system is described with output at 1.9 mum and with Q-switching using an acousto-optic modulator and also by mechanical optical modulation. The Yb-fibre laser pump source exhibited strong self-pulsation with high-intensity pulses due to stimulated Brillouin scattering. But regular Q-switched pulses were generated from the Tm-fibre laser with an energy of ~2.4 muJ and duration (FWHM) of ~280 ns for modulation frequencies of 1-20 kHz when using acousto-optic modulation. The main effects that limit the Q-switched pulse peak power are the onset of gain-switched pulsing during the low-Q state and strong pump excited state absorption.
ISSN:0022-3727
1361-6463
DOI:10.1088/0022-3727/38/9/007