High power fiber amplifier with adjustable repetition rate for use in all-fiber supercontinuum light sources

T. Baselt; Ch. Taudt; P. Hartmann

doi:10.1117/12.2039245

Abstract

In recent years the use of supercontinuum light sources has encouraged the development of various optical measurement techniques, like microscopy and optical coherence-tomography. Some disadvantages of common supercontinuum solutions, in particular the rather poor stability and the absence of modulation abilities limit the application potential of this technique. We present a directly controllable all-fiber laser source with appropriate parameters in order to generate a broad supercontinuum spectrum with the aid of microstructured fibers. Through the application of a laser seed-diode, which is driven by a custom built controller to generate nanosecond pulses with repetition rates in the MHz range in a reproducible manner, a direct control of the laser system is enabled. The seedsignal is amplified to the appropriate power level in a 2-step amplification stage. Wide supercontinuum is finally generated by launching the amplified laser pulses into different microstructured fibers. The system has been optimized in terms of stability, power-output, spectral width and beam-quality by employing different laser pulse parameters and several different microstructured fibers. Finally, the system as a whole has been characterized in reference to common solid state-laser-based supercontinuum light sources

Citation Download Citation

T. Baselt, T. Baselt, Ch. Taudt, Ch. Taudt, P. Hartmann, P. Hartmann, "High power fiber amplifier with adjustable repetition rate for use in all-fiber supercontinuum light sources", Proc. SPIE 8961, Fiber Lasers XI: Technology, Systems, and Applications, 89613F (12 March 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2039245; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2039245

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