Chirped-pulse amplifier using photonic-crystal-rod (PCR) waveguides and associated method

• US 7,436,585 B1
• Filed: 05/28/2006
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Aculight Corp. (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aculight Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Di Teodoro, Fabio, Brooks, Christopher D.
• Primary Examiner(s): BOLDA, ERIC L
• Application Number:
  US11/420,755
• Time in Patent Office: 870 Days
• Field of Search: 359/341.1, 359/341.5, 385/126
• US Class Current: 359/341.1
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 37/10 Non-chemical treatment surface treatment of fibres or filaments made from glass, minerals or slags C03C25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02328 Hollow or gas filled core
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02347 Longitudinal structures arranged to form a regular periodic lattice, e.g. triangular, square, honeycomb unit cell repeated throughout cladding
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02376 Longitudinal variation along fibre axis direction, e.g. tapered holes
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02385 Comprising liquid, e.g. fluid filled holes
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3826 characterised by form or shape
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3853 Lens inside the ferrule lensed connectors G02B6/32
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/005 Optical devices external to the laser cavity, specially adapted for lasers, e.g. for homogenisation of the beam or for manipulating laser pulses, e.g. pulse shaping shaping laser beam for working metal or other materials B23K26/06; optical elements, systems or apparatus in general G02B
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/0064 Anti-reflection devices, e.g. optical isolaters absorbing layers for marking or protecting purposes in laser working B23K26/50; magneto-optical non-reciprocal devices G02F1/093, G02F1/0955
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/0078 Frequency filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06704 Housings; Packages
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06708 Constructional details of the fibre, e.g. compositions, cross-section, shape or tapering optical fibres as passive waveguides G02B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06729 Peculiar transverse fibre profile
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06741 Photonic crystal fibre, i.e. the fibre having a photonic bandgap
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06745 Tapering of the fibre, core or active region
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06754 Fibre amplifiers H01S3/06708 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06758 Tandem amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/094007 Cladding pumping, i.e. pump light propagating in a clad surrounding the active core

Abstract

A method and apparatus use a photonic-crystal fiber having a very large core while maintaining a single transverse mode. In some fiber lasers and amplifiers having large cores problems exist related to energy being generated at multiple-modes (i.e., polygamy), and of mode hopping (i.e., promiscuity) due to limited control of energy levels and fluctuations. The problems of multiple-modes and mode hopping result from the use of large-diameter waveguides, and are addressed by the invention. This is especially true in lasers using large amounts of energy (i.e., lasers in the one-megawatt or more range). By using multiple small waveguides in parallel, large amounts of energy can be passed through a laser, but with better control such that the aforementioned problems can be reduced. An additional advantage is that the polarization of the light can be maintained better than by using a single fiber core.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first photonic-crystal rod (PCR), having rare-earth-doped core with a diameter of at least 50 microns and an external diameter of at least 1 mm such that the rod is therefore thick enough to substantially hold its shape when released, wherein the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod (REDPCR) receives, as signal input, spectrally broad chirped optical pulses having a FWHM spectral linewidth of at least 10 nm and a duration of ins of less, and amplifies the pulses to obtain an output pulse energy of at least 0.5 mJ, peak power of at least 1 megawatt (MW), and beam-quality M² value of less than 1.5.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the spectrally broad optical input pulses are obtained by temporally stretching and spectrally chirping optical pulses having duration of 100 ps or less emitted from an external optical source.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod includes internal stress rods that induce birefringence in the core thereby ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod includes internal elements that induce birefringence in the core thereby ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the peak power is at least 4 MW.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one solid-body fiber;

at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses; and

at least one photonic-crystal fiber, wherein the first photonic-crystal rod, the solid-body fiber, the laser subsystem, and the photonic-crystal fiber are parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies that provide pump light into the series of optical components.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one solid-body fiber;

at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses; and

at least one photonic-crystal fiber, wherein the first photonic-crystal rod, the solid-body fiber, the laser subsystem, and the photonic-crystal fiber are parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies that provide pump light into the series of optical components, and wherein the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod includes internal elements that induce birefringence in the core thereby ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB.

22. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein at least one of the free-space optical subassemblies that provide pump light into the series of optical components includes an integrated pump block having a fiber signal input port, a fiber pump input port and a fiber signal output port, and is configured to propagate pump light from the fiber pump input port to the fiber signal input port across a free-space gap.

8. A method comprising:

providing a first photonic-crystal rod (PCR) having rare-earth-doped core with a diameter of at least 50 microns and an external diameter of at least 1 mm such that the rod is therefore thick enough to substantially hold its shape when released;

optically coupling as signal input into the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod (REDPCR) spectrally broad chirped optical pulses having a FWHM spectral linewidth of at least 10 nm and a duration of 1 ns of less; and

amplifying the pulses in the REDPCR to obtain an output pulse energy of at least 0.5 mJ, peak power of at least 1 MW, and beam-quality M² value of less than 1.5.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

obtaining optical pulses having duration of 100 ps or less; and

temporally stretching and spectrally chirping the optical pulses to produce the spectrally broad optical input pulses.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB by including, in the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod, internal stress rods that induce birefringence in the core of the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB by including, in the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod, internal elements that induce birefringence in the core of the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the amplifying generates peak power of at least 4 MW.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

serially connecting at least one solid-body fiber, at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses, and at least one photonic-crystal fiber, as parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies; and

injecting pump light into the series of optical components through the free-space optical subassemblies.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

serially connecting at least one solid-body fiber, at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses, and at least one photonic-crystal fiber, as parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies;

injecting pump light into the series of optical components through the free-space optical subassemblies; and

ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB by including, in the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod, internal elements that induce birefringence in the core of the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod.

15. An apparatus comprising:

photonic-crystal-rod means for amplifying, the means for amplifying having rare-earth-doped means for waveguiding with a diameter of at least 50 microns and means for substantially holding the shape of the means for amplifying when released;

means for optically coupling as signal input into the rare-earth-doped photonic-crystal rod (REDPCR) spectrally broad chirped optical pulses having a FWHM spectral linewidth of at least 10 nm and a duration of ins of less; and

means for pumping the means for amplifying in order to obtain an output pulse energy of at least 0.5 mJ, peak power of at least 1 MW, and beam-quality M² value of less than 1.5.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for obtaining optical pulses having duration of 100 ps or less; and

means for temporally stretching and spectrally chirping the optical pulses to produce the spectrally broad optical input pulses.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB including internal means for stressing the means for waveguiding.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB including means for inducing birefringence in the means for waveguiding.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for amplifying generates peak power of at least 4 MW.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for serially connecting at least one solid-body fiber, at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses, and at least one photonic-crystal fiber, as parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies; and

means for injecting pump light into the series of optical components through the free-space optical subassemblies.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for serially connecting at least one solid-body fiber, at least one seed laser subsystem configured to emit chirped pulses, and at least one photonic-crystal fiber, as parts of a series of optical components separated by free-space optical subassemblies;

means for injecting pump light into the series of optical components through the free-space optical subassemblies; and

means for ensuring that the optical beam emitted by the photonic-crystal rod is linearly polarized and the degree of polarization is at least 15 dB including means for inducing birefringence in the means for waveguiding.