High power, high energy pulsed fiber laser with precise control of individual pulse width and wavelength is an enabling source for coherent imaging and communication applications. Here a turn-key 1550 nm PM fiber amplifier generating 22 μJ pulse energy with near transform limited linewidth (600 MHz) is presented. Individual pulse wavelengths and pulse widths can be controlled with 30-120 pm wavelength separation and 2-10 nsec pulse width. The 22 W average power laser, based on COTS Er and ErYb doped LMA PM-fibers is optimized for high peak power (< 4 kW), low duty cycle (~0.1%) operation while maintaining diffraction limited beam quality (M² < 1.1). High wall plug efficiency (<10%) for the FPGA controlled system is maintained by temporal and spectral ASE suppression. Pulse energies are limited by Stimulated Brillion Scattering and Four Wave Mixing. Dependence of the fiber nonlinearities on pulse width and wavelength separation is characterized.

Date Published: 13 May 2016
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9834, Laser Technology for Defense and Security XII, 98340W (13 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2223783

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9834:
Laser Technology for Defense and Security XII
Mark Dubinskii; Stephen G. Post, Editor(s)