1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to Q-switched lasers and more specifically to an all-fiber embodiment of a Q-switched laser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Q-switching is a widely used laser technique in which a laser pumping process is allowed to build up a much larger than usual population inversion inside a laser cavity, while keeping the cavity itself from oscillating by removing the cavity feedback or greatly increasing the cavity losses. After a large inversion has been developed, the cavity feedback is restored to its usual large value, hence bringing the Q-factor to a high value, producing a very short, intense burst which dumps all the accumulated population inversion in a single short laser pulse. Modulation of the cavity produces repetitive pulses. Lasers, Anthony E. Siegman, University Science Books, 1986, pp. 1004–1007.
As illustrated in
Some of the more common Q-switching methods employed in practical laser system are shown in
There remains a need for an inexpensive and reliable Q-switched laser that provides for narrow pulse widths and fast repeat rates.
The present invention provides an inexpensive all-fiber Q-switched laser with narrow pulse widths and fast repeat rates.
This is accomplished with a fiber chain in which a gain medium is provided between narrow and broadband fiber gratings that define a polarization-dependent resonant cavity. A pump source couples energy into the fiber chain to pump the gain medium. A modulator applies stress to the fiber chain to induce birefringence and switch the cavity Q-factor to alternately store energy in the gain fiber and then release the energy in a laser pulse.
In one embodiment, the narrowband fiber grating is formed in a polarization maintaining (PM) fiber creating two reflection bands that correspond to different polarization modes. The broadband grating has a reflection band that is aligned to one of the PM fiber's reflection bands so that the normal Q-factor is high. The application of stress to the fiber chain changes the polarization of light oscillating in the fiber chain to reduce the Q-factor and store energy in the gain fiber. Removal of the stress returns the birefringence, hence polarization to its initial state thereby increasing the Q-factor and quickly releasing the energy in a laser pulse.
In another embodiment, some portion of the fiber chain comprises a polarization-dependent fiber whose transmission depends on the polarization of the oscillating light energy.
Stress induced birefringence of the fiber chain switches the Q-factor to store energy and then release energy in a laser pulse.
In another embodiment, the fiber gratings are formed in passive silica fiber and fusion spliced to an active oxide-based multi-component glass fiber. Multi-component glasses support higher concentrations of rare-earth dopants and thus higher output power or single-frequency output.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
a–1d, as described above, is a schematic illustrating the fundamental dynamics of laser Q-switching;
a–2c, as described above, are known Q-switched lasers;
a and 4b illustrate polarization dependence and stress-induced birefringence;
a and 7b are diagrams illustrating a non-birefringent cavity;
a and 8b are diagrams illustrating a birefringent cavity;
Stress-induced birefringence of an all-fiber polarization-dependent resonant cavity provides an inexpensive Q-switched laser with narrow pulse widths, high repetition rates and peak powers. In general, the pulse width is less than 100 ns, the repetition rate is greater than 1 kHz and the peak power is greater than 1 W.
As shown in
The polarization dependence of the resonant cavity and the stress-induced birefringence are illustrated in
a is a plot 60 of the transmission (reflectance) versus polarization state of the light at the wavelength where the gratings are aligned to lase. For purposes of explanation only, we assume that the light in the cavity is ordinarily linearly polarized with a vertical or “V-polarization” and the cavity is configured to have a high transmission (reflectance) 62 for V-polarized light at the laser wavelength. In the ordinary unstressed state, the cavity losses are low and the cavity would sustain laser oscillation. When the retardance having the optical axis 45 deg. with respect to V/H, vertical or horizontal, of the stress induced birefringence is quarter-wave or π/2, the light is rotated to a horizontal or “H-polarization” at which the transmission (reflectance) 64 is below the threshold 66 needed to sustain laser oscillation. The birefringence need only be sufficient to shift the polarization to a point on the curve below the threshold. The combination of stress-induced birefringence with a polarization-dependent cavity provides an efficient Q-switched laser.
b illustrates the concept of stress-induced birefringence. A material that displays two difference indices of refraction nx and ny is said to be birefringent. It is well known that the application of mechanical stress to an isotropic material (same refractive index in all directions) will change the refractive indices and induce birefringence. For example, an isotropic material 70 such as an optical fiber has indices of refraction nx and ny of equal value. V-polarized light traveling through this isotropic material will be retarded by an equal amount in all directions and its polarization will be unaffected. However, the application of stress to the fiber will, for example, reduce refractive index ny and induce birefringence, when the direction of polarization is not the direction of one of the optical axis of birefringence. The same light propagating through the now birefringent material will be retarded by different amounts affecting the polarization. In the example given above, if the induced birefringence is quarter-wave a double-pass through the material will change V-polarized light to H-polarized light, if the axis of birefringence, which is a function of the orientation of the stress, is 45 deg. to the vertical/horizontal.
As shown in
A piezoelectric transducer (PZT) 106 is mounted on an exposed portion of fiber chain 82 and in response to an external signal from signal source 108 applies mechanical stress to the fiber chain to affect its birefringence and change the cavity Q-factor to generate a giant pulse 109. The PZT is a simple, low cost device that can be mounted on the fiber chain in a compact package. The PZT operates at less than 50V, which is very important for purposes of safety qualification, has a fast response time and is capable of fast repetitions.
The stress-induced birefringence of an all-fiber polarization-dependent resonant cavity can be quantitatively analyzed in the following Jones-Matrix analysis. The round-trip Jones-Matrix RT can be written as
where Ω, φ, and R represent the angle between the stress-birefringence and the axis of the PM fiber 90, the amount of birefringence, and the reflectivity of the narrowband grating 88. The reflectivity of the non-PM FBG 92 is assumed to be 1 for both polarizations, and the reflectivity of the narrowband grating at the other (nonoperating) polarization is stipulated to zero, as it is for any wavelength within the entire reflection band of the broadband FBG. The eigenvalues of the Jones-Matrix RT are 0 and R(cosφ+i sinφcos2 Ω), each representing the cold-cavity “gain” (i.e., 1-loss) for the nonoperational polarization and the operational polarization, respectively. One of the eigenvalues is zero, indicating the resonator supports only one polarization mode. The other (non-zero) eigenvalue indicates the gain/loss of the cavity. The eigenvalue can be a complex number as it represents the field quantity. The round-trip loss of the cavity depends on the amount of birefringence, which can be changed by applying a waveform to the PZT. The round-trip loss also depends on the orientation of the stress with respect to the PM axis, which must be pre-aligned. In an extreme example, when the stress birefringence is oriented 45° to the axis of the PM fiber and the retardance is 90° (quarter-wave), the cavity is completely suppressed, as the operational polarization will be switched to the other polarization state after one round-trip. By changing the cavity loss rapidly, effective Q-switching will be accomplished by a very simple configuration.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Stress-induced birefringence of an all-fiber polarization-dependent resonant cavity defines a new architecture for a Q-switched laser. The all-fiber Q-switched laser can be configured with a variety of glasses, dopants, fibers and gratings to output laser pulses and sequences of pulses at different wavelengths, power levels, mode structures (single and multimode), pulse widths and repetition rates. Referring to
The all-fiber Q-switched laser was tested with a 2 cm length of gain fiber of phosphate glass doped with 2 wt. % of Er and 2 wt. % of Yb. The gratings were formed in passive silica fiber at a wavelength of 1.55 microns. The narrowband and broadband gratings had a precision Δλ=0.05 nm and 0.3 nm, respectively. The fiber chain was pumped with a 390 mW single-mode pump. As shown in
While several illustrative embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, numerous variations and alternate embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. Such variations and alternate embodiments are contemplated, and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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