Short pulsed IR fiber laser at wavelength > 2 μm

摘要

A method of generating ultrashort pulses with wavelengths greater than 2 μm comprising a short pulse diode laser or fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 1 μm or greater with a pulse width of 10 ps or greater, one or more amplification stages to increase the peak power of the pulsed source, a nonlinear fiber stage whereby the dispersion of the nonlinear fiber is anomalous at the pulsed source wavelength such that the fiber breaks up the pulse into a series of sub-ps pulse train through modulation instability which may be seeded by spontaneous noise which are then wavelength shifted in one or more stages by soliton self frequency shift in anomalous dispersion fiber or Raman in normal dispersion fiber and amplified in one or more stages to generate a high peak power ultrashort pulse (<1 ps) source at a wavelength of 2.4 μm or greater.

主权项

1. A method for generating ultrashort infrared pulses, comprising:
using a laser to generate one or more pulses; amplifying the pulse in one or more amplification stages, wherein amplifier materials are selected from one stage to the next with overlapping absorption bands thereby removing the need for optical isolators; pumping the amplified pulse into one or more nonlinear fibers whereby the fiber breaks up the pulse into a pulse train that is 1 ps or less; wavelength shifting the pulse train one or more times; and amplifying the wavelength shifted pulse train to a wavelength of 2.4 μm or greater.