All-fiber chirped pulse amplification systems

• US 8,503,069 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2010
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: IMRA America Incorporated (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Fermann, Martin E., Imeshev, Gennady, Cho, Gyu C., Liu, Zhenlin, Harter, Donald J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/851,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20100302627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 359/341.1, 359/333, 359/337
• US Class Current: 359/333
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/0057 Temporal shaping, e.g. pulse compression, frequency chirping soliton generation and propagation G02F1/3513, H01S3/063 and H01S3/108
• 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 3/06712 Polarising fibre; Polariser
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06725 Fibre characterized by a specific dispersion, e.g. for pulse shaping in soliton lasers or for dispersion compensating [DCF]
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/06741 Photonic crystal fibre, i.e. the fibre having a photonic bandgap
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1086 using scattering effects, e.g. Raman or Brillouin effect
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1608 erbium
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1618 ytterbium
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/2308 Amplifier arrangements, e.g. MOPA
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/2316 Cascaded amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/302 in an optical fibre

Abstract

By compensating polarization mode-dispersion as well chromatic dispersion in photonic crystal fiber pulse compressors, high pulse energies can be obtained from all-fiber chirped pulse amplification systems. By inducing third-order dispersion in fiber amplifiers via self-phase modulation, the third-order chromatic dispersion from bulk grating pulse compressors can be compensated and the pulse quality of hybrid fiber/bulk chirped pulse amplification systems can be improved. Finally, by amplifying positively chirped pulses in negative dispersion fiber amplifiers, low noise wavelength tunable seed source via anti-Stokes frequency shifting can be obtained.

Claims

1. A fiber chirped pulse amplification system, comprising;

a source of optical pulses;

a pulse stretcher connected to said source for receiving said pulses and generating temporally stretched pulses;

a fiber amplifier connected to said pulse stretcher for receiving said temporally stretched pulses from said pulse stretcher and amplifying said pulses;

a pulse compressor connected to said fiber amplifier for receiving said amplified pulses and temporally compressing said amplified pulses;

wherein, said pulse stretcher and said pulse compressor are selected to have at least non-compensated values of third-order dispersion;

said fiber amplifier further introducing an amount of nonlinear phase shift to a pulse as it travels through said system,

said non-compensated values of third-order dispersion and nonlinear phase shift being sufficient to compensate at least partially for one another and thereby producing pulses of shortened duration and increased peak power.

2. A chirped pulse amplification system, comprising;

a source of optical pulses;

a pulse stretcher connected to said source for receiving said pulses and generating temporally stretched pulses;

a fiber amplifier connected to said pulse stretcher for receiving said temporally stretched pulses from said pulse stretcher and amplifying said pulses;

a pulse compressor connected to said fiber amplifier for receiving said amplified pulses and temporally compressing said amplified pulses,

said system being configured such that an amplified pulse exhibits substantial non-linear phase delay which is generated within said fiber amplifier, said system having one or more sources of dispersion, and wherein said non-linear phase delay and said dispersion at least partially compensate each other such that a temporally compressed output pulse of improved pulse quality is produced.

3. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sources of dispersion comprises said compressor, said dispersion comprising third-order dispersion within said compressor, and said non-linear phase delay comprising self-phase modulation generated in said fiber amplifier that compensates said third-order dispersion of said compressor.

4. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said compressor comprises a bulk-grating.

5. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said non-linear phase delay comprises a 0.3-10π

level of self-phase modulation of a pulse and is generated prior to being received at said pulse compressor.

6. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said improved compressed output pulse quality is characterizable by at least one of:

a reduction in pulse width, a corresponding increase in the ratio of a compressed pulse width FWHM to energy in the wings of said pulse, and a peak of a correlation signal relative to the energy in the wings of said correlation signal.

7. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein one or more of said stretcher, amplifier, and compressor comprise a photonic crystal fiber.

8. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sources of dispersion comprise at least one of said stretcher and compressor having a third order dispersion, and said fiber amplifier is configured such that an output pulse spectrum is wavelength-shifted with respect to an input pulse spectrum thereof, said fiber amplifier at least partially compensating for said third order dispersion by self-phase modulation.

9. The chirped pulse amplification system of claim 2, wherein said system is configured to produce controllable levels of at least linear and quadratic pulse chirp in the presence of at least substantial levels of self-phase modulation corresponding to a nonlinear phase delay>

1.