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Power Scaling of Large Mode Area Thulium Fiber Lasers in Various Spectral and Temporal Regimes

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Power Scaling of Large Mode Area Thulium Fiber Lasers in Various Spectral and Temporal Regimes University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2009 Power Scaling Of Large Mode Area Thulium Fiber Lasers In Various Spectral And Temporal Regimes Timothy McComb University of Central Florida Part of the Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons, and the Optics Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation McComb, Timothy, "Power Scaling Of Large Mode Area Thulium Fiber Lasers In Various Spectral And Temporal Regimes" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3975. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3975 POWER SCALING OF LARGE MODE AREA THULIUM FIBER LASERS IN VARIOUS SPECTRAL AND TEMPORAL REGIMES by TIMOTHY S. MCCOMB B.S. University of Arizona, 2005 M.S. University of Central Florida, 2006 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2009 Major Professor: Martin Richardson ©2009 Timothy S. McComb ii ABSTRACT High power thulium fiber lasers are interesting for a myriad of applications due to their potential for high average output power, excellent beam quality, compactness, portability, high operating efficiency and broad, eye-safe spectral range from 1.8-2.1 µm. Currently, the majority of thulium laser research effort is being invested into scaling average output powers; however, such output powers are being scaled with no degree of control on laser system output spectrum or temporal behavior. Thulium fiber laser technology is not useful for many of its most important applications without implementation of techniques enabling tunable, narrow spectral widths with appropriate pulse durations for particular applications. This work outlines several techniques for spectral control of thulium fiber lasers and investigates scaling of average laser powers while using these techniques to maintain a desired spectral output. In addition, an examination of operation in both nanosecond and picosecond pulsed regimes and scaling of average powers and pulse energies in these regimes to useful power levels is conducted. The demonstration of thulium fiber laser systems for applications in frequency conversion and spectral beam combination is also discussed. In addition to the experimental results, theoretical modeling of thulium fiber amplifier operation, simple thermal management analysis, as well as practical fiber and system design considerations for future power scaling are presented. Experimental and theoretical results of this work will enable the successful design of future extremely high power spectrally and temporally controlled thulium fiber laser systems. iii To my parents iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Dr. Martin Richardson for his guidance over the years, for providing the opportunity to be involved in the buildup of our thulium fiber laser program and for always finding a way when I came to ask for more new and expensive equipment. Thanks to my committee members Dr. Bass, Dr. Delfyett, Dr. Moharam, and Dr. Seal for their guidance throughout my candidacy, proposal and dissertation process. I would also like to thank all of the members of the LPL family past and present who have been great friends and colleagues over my time here including in alphabetical order Troy Anderson, Nick Barbieri, Matthiew Baudelet, Rob Bernath, Nathan Bodnar, Chris Brown, Ji Yeon Choi, Matt Fisher, Simi George, Michael Hemmer, Tom Jedju, Pankaj Kadwani, Reuvani Kamtaprasad, Yuan Liu, Mark Ramme, Omar Rodriguez, Larry Shah, Andrew Sims, Vikas Sudesh, John Szilagyi, Tony Teerawattanasook, Andreas Vaupel, Ben Webb, Matt Weidman and Christina Willis. I wish to also thank all of the faculty, students and staff at CREOL for making it a great environment for doing graduate work. I would like to acknowledge contributions to the experimental work and data presented in this dissertation from Andrew Sims, Christina Willis, Pankaj Kadwani, Larry Shah, Vikas Sudesh, Gavin Frith, Vadim Mokan, Phillip Wilcox, William Tourellas, Ying Chen, Giorgio Turri, and Will Hageman. Thanks also go out to Nufern Inc. for providing me with the opportunity to spend a summer learning about the realities of fiber lasers and fiber fabrication. Special thanks to Gavin Frith, Vadim Mokan and Bryce Samson for their guidance and teaching during my time at Nufern. In addition thanks to Phillip Wilcox and William Tourellas who, in collaboration with v Nufern during the time I spent there, introduced me to the amplifier modeling techniques used later. I also have to acknowledge Richard Zotti. Without his assistance and guidance in the machine shop at CREOL I would not have been able to build many of the laser systems I discuss in this dissertation. Special thanks to Lindsey, Andrew, Larry and Christina for taking the time to help with proofreading and editing. Finally, I have to thank all my friends and family for their ongoing support in my career and life, without which I would not have had the opportunities I now am able to realize. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xx LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... xxi 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Why Fiber Lasers? .............................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Overview of Fiber Laser Advantages Compared to Other Laser Designs .... 2 1.1.1.1 Compact Size and Robust, Simple Construction ................................... 3 1.1.1.2 Thermal Management ............................................................................ 4 1.1.1.3 Beam Quality ......................................................................................... 6 1.1.2 Comparison of Fibers to Other Laser Gain Medium Geometries ................. 7 1.2 History and Rapid Growth of Fiber Lasers ...................................................... 11 1.2.1 General History of Fiber Lasers .................................................................. 12 1.2.1.1 Early Flashlamp Pumped Fiber Lasers ................................................ 12 1.2.1.2 Directly Core Pumped Lasers .............................................................. 13 1.2.1.3 The Advent of Double Clad Fibers...................................................... 16 1.2.1.4 LMA Fibers Enable Current Power Growth........................................ 18 1.2.2 History of 2 μm Thulium Doped Fiber Lasers ............................................ 18 1.2.3 Comparison of Yb and Tm Doped Fiber Laser Growth ............................. 21 1.3 Applications of Thulium Fiber Lasers .............................................................. 25 1.3.1 Eye-safe Atmospheric Applications ........................................................... 26 1.3.1.1 Atmospheric Propagation for Directed Energy ................................... 27 1.3.1.2 Free Space Communication ................................................................. 28 1.3.1.3 Remote Sensing ................................................................................... 28 1.3.1.4 Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy ............................................ 29 1.3.2 Medical Applications .................................................................................. 31 1.3.3 Materials Processing ................................................................................... 32 1.3.4 Frequency Conversion ................................................................................ 33 1.3.5 Other Potential Applications ....................................................................... 35 1.3.6 Applications Summary................................................................................ 36 1.4 Dissertation Theme ........................................................................................... 36 1.5 Overview of Dissertation Contents ................................................................... 37 2 POWER SCALING ISSUES AND FIBER DESIGN SOLUTIONS ....................... 39 2.1 Factors Limiting Power Scaling ....................................................................... 39 vii 2.1.1 Nonlinear Optical Based Limitations .......................................................... 40 2.1.1.1 Stimulated Raman Scattering .............................................................. 40 2.1.1.2 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering ........................................................... 44 2.1.1.3 Other Nonlinear Effects ....................................................................... 47 2.1.2 Thermal and Damage Based Limitations .................................................... 50 2.1.2.1 Optically Induced Damage .................................................................. 51 2.1.2.2 Thermal Guidance Effects
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