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In this paper we present our recent result on utilizing resonant/bandgap fiber designs to achieve high performance ytterbium doped fiber amplifiers for achieving diffraction limited beam quality in large mode area fibers, robust bending performance and gain shaping for long wavelength operation of Yb-doped amplifiers.

Photonic crystal bandgap fibers employing distributed mode filtering design provide near diffraction-limited light outputs, a critical property of fiber-based high-power lasers. Microstructure of the fibers is tailored to achieve single-mode operation at specific wavelength by resonant mode coupling of higher-order modes. We analyze the modal regimes of the fibers having a mode field diameter of 60 µm by the cross-correlated (C(2)) imaging method in different wavelength ranges and evaluate the sensitivity of the modal content to various input-coupling conditions. As a result, we experimentally identify regimes of resonant coupling between higher-order core modes and cladding band. We demonstrate a passive fiber design in which the higher-order modal content inside the single-mode guiding regime is suppressed by at least 20 dB even for significantly misaligned input-coupling configurations.

Degenerate spontaneous four wave mixing is studied for the rst time in a large mode area hybrid photonic crystal ber, where light con nement is achieved by combined index- and bandgap guiding. Four wave mixing products are generated on the edges of the bandgaps, which is veri ed by numerical and experimental results. Since the core mode is in resonance with cladding modes near the bandedges an unconventional measurement technique is used, in this work named nonlinear spatial mode imaging.

The effects of thermally-induced refractive index change on distributed modal filtering rod-type photonic crystal fibers are numerically investigated. Results have shown a significant blue-shift of the single-mode range for increasing temperature.

The effects of thermally-induced refractive index change in Yb-doped Distributed Modal Filtering (DMF) photonic crystal fibers are investigated, where high-order mode suppression is obtained by resonant coupling with high index elements in the cladding. The temperature distribution on the fiber cross-section is calculated with an analytical model, for different pump power values. The consequent refractive index change, due to the thermo-optical effect, is applied to the cross-section of the DMF fiber, whose guiding properties are studied with a full-vector modal solver based on the finite element method. A DMF fiber design, which is single-mode in the 1030 nm–1064 nm region, is considered, and the effects of thermal load on the transmission characteristics are evaluated. Results show a blue-shift of the single-mode window and the single-mode bandwidth narrowing as the absorbed pump power becomes higher.

A large-mode-area Ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with build-in gain shaping is presented. The fiber cladding consists of a hexagonal lattice of air holes, where three rows are replaced with circular high-index inclusions. Seven missing air holes define the large-mode-area core. Light confinement is achieved by combined index and bandgap guiding, which allows for single-mode operation and gain shaping through distributed spectral filtering of amplified spontaneous emission. The fiber properties are ideal for amplification in the long wavelength regime of the Ytterbium gain spectrum above 1100 nm, and red shifting of the maximum gain to 1130 nm is demonstrated.

We report on an ytterbium doped single mode distributed mode filtering rod fiber in an amplifier configuration delivering high average output power, up to 292 watts, using a mode-locked 30ps source at 1032nm with good power conversion efficiency. We study the modal stability of the output beam at high average output power levels and demonstrate a 44% power improvement before the threshold-like onset of mode instabilities by operating the rod fiber in a leaky waveguide regime. We investigate the guiding dynamics of the rod fiber and explain the improved performance by thermally induced refractive index profile change.

A large-mode-area Ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with efficient suppression of amplified spontaneous emission is presented. The fiber cladding consists of a hexagonal lattice of air holes, where three rows are replaced with circular high-index inclusions. Seven missing air holes define the large-mode-area core. Light confinement is achieved by combined index and bandgap guiding, which allows for single-mode operation and distributed spectral filtering of amplified spontaneous. The fiber properties give control of the gain shape and are ideal for amplification in the long wavelength regime of the Ytterbium gain spectrum above 1100 nm.

We report 216W of average output power from a photonic crystal rod fiber amplifier. We demonstrate almost 50% power improvement of the mode onset instability by operating the rod fiber in a leaky guiding regime.

We present recent development of hybrid photonic crystal fiber amplifiers and components providing enhanced spectral and modal filtering.

We present recent development of photonic crystal fiber amplifiers containing photonic bandgap structures for enhanced spectral and modal filtering functionality.

We demonstrate a high power fiber (85 μm core) amplifier delivering up to 292 Watts of average output power using a mode-locked 30 ps source at 1032 nm. Utilizing a single mode distributed mode filter bandgap rod fiber, we demonstrate 44% power improvement before the threshold-like onset of mode instabilities by operating the rod fiber in a leaky waveguide regime. We investigate the guiding dynamics of the rod fiber and report a distinct bandgap blue-shifting as function of increased signal power level. Furthermore, we theoretically analyze the guiding dynamics of the DMF rod fiber and explain the bandgap blue-shifting with thermally induced refractive index change of the refractive index profile.

We demonstrate modal characterization using spatial and spectral resolved (S2) imaging, on an Ytterbium-doped large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber (PCF) amplifier and compare results with conventional cut-off methods. We apply numerical simulations and step-index fiber experiments to calibrate our mathematical and experimental routines of our S2 imaging system. We systematically analyze higher order mode (HOM) content of a polarizing 40μm core double-clad PCF amplifier with various launching and coiling configurations. We demonstrate a HOM suppression of more than -24dB with variance of 2.3dB.

Power scaling of Yb-doped large-mode-area fibers drives the scaling of the mode area in order to suppress nonlinearities. Two Yb-doped large-mode-area fibers were manufactured using the Direct Nanoparticle Deposition process: one with a step refractive index profile and active ion confinement, and another with a tailored refractive index and active ion confinement. The index tailoring and doping profiles were designed based on literature to enhance the beam quality of the fibers. Both fibers exhibited a mode field diameter comparable to a 40μm step index fiber with 0.07 NA. The fibers were characterized for their geometries, index profiles, and material composition profiles. Additional testing for beam quality and nonlinearities in pulsed operation was conducted using a power amplifier setup. The beam quality enhancement capability of the tested fibers was inconclusive due to incomparable launching conditions of the signal to the fibers.

We present a semi-analytic numerical model to estimate the transverse modal instability (TMI) threshold for photonic crystal rod amplifiers. The model includes thermally induced waveguide perturbations in the fiber cross section modeled with finite element simulations, and the relative intensity noise (RIN) of the seed laser, which seeds mode coupling between the fundamental and higher order mode. The TMI threshold is predicted to ~370 W – 440 W depending on RIN for the distributed modal filtering rod fiber.

We demonstrate a Single-Mode (SM) Large-Mode-Area (LMA) ytterbium-doped PCF rod fiber laser with stable and close to diffraction limited beam quality with 110W output power. Distributed-Mode-Filtering (DMF) elements integrated in the cladding of the rod fiber provide a robust spatial mode with a Mode-Field-Diameter (MFD) of 59 mu m. We further demonstrate high pulse energy Second-Harmonic-Generation (SHG) and Third Harmonic Generation (THG) using a simple Q-switched single-stage rod fiber laser cavity architecture reaching pulse energies up to 1mJ at 515nm and 0.5mJ at 343nm. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

We perform modal characterization on an ytterbium-doped large mode area photonic-crystal-fiber (PCF) amplifier using spatial and spectral (S 2) resolved imaging and compare results to conventional cutoff methods. We apply numerical simulations and step-index fiber experiments to calibrate our mathematical and experimental routines of our S2 imaging system. We systematically analyze higher-order-mode (HOM) content of a polarizing 40-m core double-clad PCF amplifier with various launching and coiling configurations. We demonstrate a HOM suppression of more than -24 dB with variance of 2.3 dB. © 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).