Flexible cross-correlated (C) imaging method for the modal content characterization in a broad range of wavelengths.

We demonstrate a flexible cross-correlated (C) imaging method in the time domain by application of a tunable and highly flexible light source. An advantage of the flexible C method is shown by characterization of the step-index fiber (SMF28) over a broad range of wavelengths from 870nm to 1090nm and by the modal analysis of the distributed modal filtering (DMF) rod fiber within a wavelength range from 1050nm to 1090nm. Also, the influence of the spectral shape and bandwidth on the imaging trace is investigated by deliberately adjusting the input spectrum of the light source.

Hollow-core fibers for high power pulse delivery.

We investigate hollow-core fibers for fiber delivery of high power ultrashort laser pulses. We use numerical techniques to design an anti-resonant hollow-core fiber having one layer of non-touching tubes to determine which structures offer the best optical properties for the delivery of high power picosecond pulses. A novel fiber with 7 tubes and a core of 30µm was fabricated and it is here described and characterized, showing remarkable low loss, low bend loss, and good mode quality.

Large-mode-area hybrid photonic crystal fiber amplifier at 1178 nm.

Amplification of 1178 nm light is demonstrated in a large-mode-area single-mode ytterbium-doped hybrid photonic crystal fiber, relying on distributed spectral filtering of spontaneous emission at shorter wavelengths. An output power of 53 W is achieved with 29 dB suppression of parasitic lasing. Further power scaling is limited by parasitic lasing.

Intermodal and cross-polarization four-wave mixing in large-core hybrid photonic crystal fibers.

Degenerate four-wave mixing is considered in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers, combining photonic bandgap guidance and index guidance. Co- and orthogonally polarized pump, signal and idler fields are considered numerically by calculating the parametric gain and experimentally by spontaneous degenerate four-wave mixing. Intermodal and birefringence assisted intramodal phase matching is observed.

87 W, narrow-linewidth, linearly-polarized 1178 nm photonic bandgap fiber amplifier.

High-power narrow-linewidth photonic bandgap fiber amplifier was demonstrated. In order to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering, the seed linewidth was broadened by applying a random phase noise with an electro-optical modulator. A factor of 15 in terms of Brillouin gain suppression can be theoretically expected.

Polarization switch of four-wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers.

Degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing is considered in a large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fiber. Numerical and experimental results show birefringence assisted four-wave mixing for a certain polarization state of the pump field. The parametric gain can be turned on and off by switching the polarization state of the pump field between the two principal axis of the hybrid photonic crystal fiber.

Extended parametric gain range in photonic crystal fibers with strongly frequency-dependent field distributions.

The parametric gain range of a degenerate four-wave mixing process is determined in the undepleted pump regime. The gain range is considered with and without taking the mode field distributions of the four-wave mixing components into account. It is found that the mode field distributions have to be included to evaluate the parametric gain correctly in dispersion-tailored speciality fibers and that mode profile engineering can provide a way to increase the parametric gain range.

Frequency resolved transverse mode instability in rod fiber amplifiers.

Frequency dynamics of transverse mode instabilities (TMIs) are investigated by testing three 285/100 rod fibers in a single-pass amplifier setup reaching up to ~200W of extracted output power without beam instabilities. The pump power is increased well above the TMI threshold to uncover output dynamics, and allowing a simple method for determining TMI threshold based on standard deviation. The TMI frequency component is seen to appear on top of system noise that may trigger the onset.

Degenerate four wave mixing in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers.

Spontaneous degenerate four wave mixing (FWM) is investigated in large mode area hybrid photonic crystal fibers, in which photonic bandgap guidance and index guidance is combined. Calculations show the parametric gain is maximum on the edge of a photonic bandgap, for a large range of pump wavelengths. The FWM products are observed on the edges of a transmission band experimentally, in good agreement with the numerical results.

Estimating modal instability threshold for photonic crystal rod fiber amplifiers.

We present a semi-analytic numerical model to estimate the transverse modal instability (TMI) threshold for photonic crystal rod amplifiers. The model includes thermally induced waveguide perturbations in the fiber cross section modeled with finite element simulations, and the relative intensity noise (RIN) of the seed laser, which seeds mode coupling between the fundamental and higher order mode. The TMI threshold is predicted to ~370 W - 440 W depending on RIN for the distributed modal filtering rod fiber.

Cross-correlated imaging of single-mode photonic crystal rod fiber with distributed mode filtering.

Photonic crystal bandgap fibers employing distributed mode filtering design provide near diffraction-limited light outputs, a critical property of fiber-based high-power lasers. Microstructure of the fibers is tailored to achieve single-mode operation at specific wavelength by resonant mode coupling of higher-order modes. We analyze the modal regimes of the fibers having a mode field diameter of 60 µm by the cross-correlated (C(2)) imaging method in different wavelength ranges and evaluate the sensitivity of the modal content to various input-coupling conditions.

Theoretical analysis of mode instability in high-power fiber amplifiers.

We present a simple theoretical model of transverse mode instability in high-power rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers. The model shows that efficient power transfer between the fundamental and higher-order modes of the fiber can be induced by a nonlinear interaction mediated through the thermo-optic effect, leading to transverse mode instability. The temporal and spectral characteristics of the instability dynamics are investigated, and it is shown that the instability can be seeded by both quantum noise and signal intensity noise, while pure phase noise of the signal does not induce instability.

Thermally induced mode coupling in rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers.

We present a simple semianalytical model of thermally induced mode coupling in multimode rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers. The model predicts that power can be transferred from the fundamental mode to a higher-order mode when the operating power exceeds a certain threshold, and thus provides an explanation of recently reported mode instability in such fiber amplifiers under high average-power operation. We apply our model to a simple step-index fiber design, and investigate how the power threshold depends on various design parameters of the fiber.

Optimizing single mode robustness of the distributed modal filtering rod fiber amplifier.

High-power fiber amplifiers for pulsed applications require large mode area (LMA) fibers having high pump absorption and near diffraction limited output. Photonic crystal fibers allow realization of short LMA fiber amplifiers having high pump absorption through a pump cladding that is decoupled from the outer fiber diameter. However, achieving ultra low NA for single mode (SM) guidance is challenging, thus different design strategies must be applied.

Hybrid Ytterbium-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber amplifier for long wavelengths.

A large-mode-area Ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with build-in gain shaping is presented. The fiber cladding consists of a hexagonal lattice of air holes, where three rows are replaced with circular high-index inclusions. Seven missing air holes define the large-mode-area core.

Distributed mode filtering rod fiber amplifier delivering 292W with improved mode stability.

We demonstrate a high power fiber (85 μm core) amplifier delivering up to 292 Watts of average output power using a mode-locked 30 ps source at 1032 nm. Utilizing a single mode distributed mode filter bandgap rod fiber, we demonstrate 44% power improvement before the threshold-like onset of mode instabilities by operating the rod fiber in a leaky waveguide regime. We investigate the guiding dynamics of the rod fiber and report a distinct bandgap blue-shifting as function of increased signal power level.

Thermo-optical effects in high-power ytterbium-doped fiber amplifiers.

We investigate the effect of temperature gradients in high-power Yb-doped fiber amplifiers by a numerical beam propagation model, which takes thermal effects into account in a self-consistent way. The thermally induced change in the refractive index of the fiber leads to a thermal lensing effect, which decreases the effective mode area. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the thermal lensing effect may lead to effective multi-mode behavior, even in single-mode designs, which could possibly lead to degradation of the output beam quality.

Q-switching and efficient harmonic generation from a single-mode LMA photonic bandgap rod fiber laser.

We demonstrate a Single-Mode (SM) Large-Mode-Area (LMA) ytterbium-doped PCF rod fiber laser with stable and close to diffraction limited beam quality with 110W output power. Distributed-Mode-Filtering (DMF) elements integrated in the cladding of the rod fiber provide a robust spatial mode with a Mode-Field-Diameter (MFD) of 59μm. We further demonstrate high pulse energy Second-Harmonic-Generation (SHG) and Third Harmonic Generation (THG) using a simple Q-switched single-stage rod fiber laser cavity architecture reaching pulse energies up to 1mJ at 515nm and 0.

Single-Mode ytterbium-doped Large-Mode-Area photonic bandgap rod fiber amplifier.

Enabling Single-Mode (SM) operation in Large-Mode-Area (LMA) fiber amplifiers and lasers is critical, since a SM output ensures high beam quality and excellent pointing stability. In this paper, we demonstrate and test a new design approach for achieving SM LMA rod fibers by using a photonic bandgap structure. The structure allows resonant coupling of higher-order modes from the core and acts as a spatially Distributed Mode Filter (DMF).

Single-mode analysis of Yb-doped double-cladding distributed spectral filtering photonic crystal fibers.

Hybrid large mode area Ytterbium-doped double-cladding photonic crystal fibers with anti-symmetric high refractive index inclusions provide efficient amplified spontaneous emission spectral filtering. Their performances have been analyzed by numerical simulations and experimental measurements. In particular, the fiber single-mode behaviour has been studied, by taking into account the fundamental and the first higher-order mode.

Electrically tunable Yb-doped fiber laser based on a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber device.

We demonstrate electrical tunability of a fiber laser using a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber. Tuning of the laser is achieved by combining the wavelength filtering effect of a tunable liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber device with an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber. We fabricate an all-spliced laser cavity based on the liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber mounted on a silicon assembly, a pump/signal combiner with single-mode signal feed-through and an ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber.

Electrically tunable bandpass filter using solid-core photonic crystal fibers filled with multiple liquid crystals.

An electrically tunable bandpass filter is designed and fabricated by integrating two solid-core photonic crystal fibers filled with different liquid crystals in a double silicon v-groove assembly. By separately controlling the driving voltage of each liquid-crystal-filled section, both the short-wavelength edge and the long-wavelength edge of the bandpass filter are tuned individually or simultaneously with the response time in the millisecond range.

Liquid crystal parameter analysis for tunable photonic bandgap fiber devices.

We investigate the tunability of splay-aligned liquid crystals for the use in solid core photonic crystal fibers. Finite element simulations are used to obtain the alignment of the liquid crystals subject to an external electric field. By means of the liquid crystal director field the optical permittivity is calculated and used in finite element mode simulations.

On-chip tunable long-period grating devices based on liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibers.

We design and fabricate an on-chip tunable long-period grating device by integrating a liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber on silicon structures. The transmission axis of the device can be electrically rotated in steps of 45 degrees as well as switched on and off with the response time in the millisecond range. The strength of the loss peak is controlled electrically, and the spectral position of the loss peak is thermally tunable.

Thermal tunability of photonic bandgaps in liquid crystal infiltrated microstructured polymer optical fibers.

We demonstrate the photonic bandgap effect and the thermal tunability of bandgaps in microstructured polymer optical fibers infiltrated with liquid crystal. Two liquid crystals with opposite sign of the temperature gradient of the ordinary refractive index (E7 and MDA-00-1444) are used to demonstrate that both signs of the thermal tunability of the bandgaps are possible. The useful bandgaps are ultimately bounded to the visible range by the transparency window of the polymer.