Fiber laser

• US 8,548,013 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujikura Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujikura Limited
• Inventors: Kitabayashi, Tomoharu, Sakai, Tetsuya, Nakai, Michihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhang, Yuanda
• Application Number:
  US12/496,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20090274175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 372/3, 372/6
• US Class Current: 372/3
• 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 3/06758 Tandem amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/2333 Double-pass amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/2375 Hybrid lasers H01S3/07 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/302 in an optical fibre

Abstract

This fiber laser is provided with: a signal light source that outputs a signal light; a rare earth-doped fiber that amplifies and outputs the signal light from the signal light source; a Raman amplifying fiber that is routed as a portion of an optical transmission path in order to output the output light from the rare earth-doped fiber to an outside thereof; and a wavelength selecting element that is provided in the optical transmission path from the Raman amplifying fiber to the signal light source and does not allow transmission of a Stokes light that is generated in the Raman amplifying fiber.

Claims

1. A fiber laser comprising:

a signal light source that outputs a signal light;

a rare earth-doped fiber that amplifies and outputs the signal light from the signal light source;

an optical multiplexer that is provided at an input side of the rare earth-doped fiber;

a pumping light source that is connected so that a pumping light is incident on the input side of the rare earth-doped fiber via the optical multiplexer;

a Raman amplifying fiber that is routed as a portion of an optical transmission path in order to output the output light from the rare earth-doped fiber to an outside of the rare earth-doped fiber, is provided between the signal light source and the optical multiplexer, and converts the output light emitted from the rare earth-doped fiber to a Stokes light by stimulated Raman scattering; and

a wavelength selecting element that is provided in the optical transmission path from the Raman amplifying fiber to the signal light source, allows transmission of a light of a wavelength of the signal light, and takes the Stokes light out of the fiber laser, the Stokes light being a return light again entering the Raman amplifying fiber from the outside of the rare earth-doped fiber and which propagates through the optical transmission path toward the signal light source,

wherein the Raman amplifying fiber converts the output light to the Stokes light after the output light passes through the wavelength selecting element.

2. The fiber laser according to claim 1, wherein the signal light source is a fiber laser.

3. The fiber laser according to claim 1, wherein the signal light source is a Q-switch pulsed light source.

4. The fiber laser according to claim 1, wherein the Raman amplifying fiber is a photonic band gap fiber, and the photonic band gap fiber does not include a wavelength of a second-order Stokes light of the signal light.

5. The fiber laser according to claim 1, wherein the rare earth-doped fiber is a rare earth-doped double clad fiber.