1st Edition
Fiber Lasers Basics, Technology, and Applications
The fiber laser, with its humble beginning in the late 1980s, has undergone tremendous development in the past decade or so, transforming itself from a research curiosity to a major force in modern manufacturing. Today, it is revolutionizing our economy by fundamentally changing the way we mark, machine, and process materials on an industrial scale. The recent development of high-power fiber lasers is also fundamentally shaping a wide range of other areas from physical sciences and medicine to geology and space exploration. In the past few years, the tactical deployment of direct energy weapons based on fiber lasers has become a reality.
The development of fiber lasers is rooted in a number of technical areas including optical materials, optical waveguide design, nonlinear optics, optical fiber fabrication, and optical characterization, in addition to optical fiber components, and fiber laser design and architecture. No comprehensive in-depth coverage of such diverse topical areas has appeared in a single book. Many important developments have taken place in the past decade in both academia and industry.
This book comprehensively covers the basics, technology and applications of fiber lasers including up-to-date developments in both academia and industry and is aimed to serve as both an introduction and research aid for graduate students, engineers, and scientists who are new to this field and also for veterans in the field
Introduction. The Adoption of Fiber Lasers. Historical Developments in Optical Fibers. Power Scaling of Fiber Lasers. Conclusion. References. Optical Fiber Waveguide Physics. Overview. Light Guidance in Optical Fibers. Basics of Light Guidance in an Optical Fiber. Exact Waveguide Solutions. Weakly Guiding Waveguides. Transmission Characteristics of Optical Fibers. Birefringent Optical Fibers. Mode Coupling in Optical Fibers. Coupling between Two Co-propagating Waves. Coupling between Two Counter-propagating Waves. Thermal Issues. Concluding Remarks. References. Nonlinear Effects in Optical Fibers. Overview. Nonlinear Effects in Optical Fibers. Nonlinear Wave Equation. Self-phase Modulation (SPM). Optical Solitons. Modulation Instability. Four-wave Mixing. Nonlinear Self-focusing. Stimulated Brillouin Scattering. Stimulated Raman Scattering. Transverse Mode Instability. Conclusions. References. Optical Fibers: Materials and Fabrication. Overview. Conventional Optical Fiber Fabrication Techniques. Outside Vapor Deposition (OVD). Vertical Axial Deposition (VAD). Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD). Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (PCVD). Optical Fiber Drawing. Strength of Optical Fibers. Optical Fiber Coatings. Properties of Rare-Earth-Doped Fibers. Physics of Optical Transitions in Rare Earth Ions. Transition Strength. McCumber Theory. Non-radiative Transitions. Spectral Width of Transitions. Ion–Ion Interactions. Solubility of Rare Earth Ions in Glasses. Common Rare-earth Transitions Relevant to Fiber Lasers. Fabrication of Rare-Earth-Doped Optical Fibers. Vapor Phase Technique. Solution-doping Technique. Aerosol Doping Technique. Direct Nanoparticle Deposition Technique. Optical Damage. Conclusions. References. Test and Measurement of Fibers. Typical Fiber Specifications. Rare-Earth-Doped Fiber Specifications. Refractive Index and NA Measurements. Fiber Efficiency and Beam Quality Measurements. Higher-order-mode Content in Few-moded Fibers. Photodarkening Measurements in Yb-doped Fibers. Birefringence and PM Fiber Measurements. Fiber Coating Measurements. Lifetime Calculations for Coiled Fibers. Conclusion. References. Components for Fiber Lasers. Introduction to Fiber Laser Device Architecture. Fiber Bragg Gratings. Laser Diode Pumps for Fiber Lasers. Couplers and Tapered Fiber Bundles. High-power Isolators. Fiber-coupled Acousto-optic Modulators and Electro-optic. Modulators. Seed Laser Diodes for MOPAS. Cladding Light Strippers and End Caps. Conclusions. References. New and Emerging Fiber Technologies. Overview. Photonic Crystal Fibers. Fundamental Space-filling Mode of Photonic Crystal Cladding. Single-mode and Multimode Regime of Photonic Crystal Fibers. Waveguide Loss of Photonic Crystal Fibers. Modeling of Photonic Crystal Fibers. Mode Area Scaling with Photonic Crystal Fibers. Rare-earth-doped Glass for Large-core Photonic Crystal Fibers. Double-clad Photonic Crystal Fibers with High NA Air-clad for Pump. Guidance. Progress of Active Large-core Photonic Crystal Fibers. Leakage Channel Fibers. Leakage Channel Fibers with Air Holes. All-glass Leakage Channel Fibers. Polarization-maintaining All-glass Leakage Channel Fibers. Characterization of Mode Losses in All-glass Leakage Channel. Fibers. Ytterbium-doped All-glass Leakage Channel Fibers. Higher-order mode Fibers. Chirally Coupled Core Fibers. Photonic Bandgap Fibers. Conclusions. References. Erbium-doped Fiber Amplifiers. Overview. Spectroscopy of Erbium Ions. Modeling of EDFAs. Simple Three-level System Model. Considerations of Transverse Dopant and Mode Distributions. Amplified Spontaneous Emission. Erbium-doped Amplifier Modeling with ASE. Optical Noise in EDFAs. Amplified Spontaneous Emission. Noise at a Detector. Noise Figure. Confinement Effects Modeling of Erbium-doped Amplifiers. Pumping at 980 nm versus 1480 nm. Effects of Signal Wavelength. Effects of Amplifier Length. Saturation Effects. Pumping Arrangements. Power Amplifier. Detrimental Effects. Excited State Absorption. Upconversion. Pair-induced Quenching. Conclusions. References. CW Fiber Lasers Operating at 1 μm. Introduction. Development of Ytterbium-doped Fiber Lasers. Kilowatt-level CW Fiber Lasers. Conclusions. References. Pulsed Fiber Lasers in the Picosecond and Nanosecond Regime. Introduction. Energy Extraction from a Gain Medium. Q-Switched Fiber Lasers. The Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) Configuration. Pulsed Fiber Lasers in the Picosecond Regime. Conclusions. References. Ultrafast Fiber Lasers. Overview. Master Mode-locking Equation Actively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers. Passively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers. Saturable Absorbers. Passively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers with Fast Saturable Absorbers. Passively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers with a Fast Saturable Absorber. without GVD and SPM. Passively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers with a Fast Saturable Absorber with GVD and SPM. Passively Mode-locked Fiber Lasers with Slow Saturable Absorbers. Soliton Mode Locking. Dispersion-managed Soliton Lasers. Similariton Fiber Lasers. All-normal-dispersion Fiber Lasers. Fiber Chirped Pulse Amplification Systems. Conclusions. References. Fiber Lasers at ∼1.55 μm. Introduction. Er/Yb Fiber Lasers. Core-pumped Er/Yb Fiber Amplifiers and Lasers. Cladding-pumped Er/Yb Fiber Amplifiers and Lasers. Challenges to Further Power Scaling of Er/Yb Fiber Amplifiers and Lasers. Raman Fiber Lasers. Low-power Raman Fiber Lasers. Power Scaling of Raman Fiber Lasers with Cladding-pumped Ytterbium. Fiber Lasers. Further Power Scaling Using Raman Fiber Amplifiers. Power Scaling of Ytterbium-free Erbium-doped Fiber Lasers. Core-pumped Erbium-doped Fiber Lasers. In-band Pumping of Cladding-pumped Erbium-doped Fiber Lasers. Cladding-pumped Erbium-doped Fiber Lasers with ∼9xx-nm Diodes. Conclusions. References. Fiber Lasers at ∼2 μm. Introduction. Spectroscopy of Tm3+ Ions. Power Scaling of Tm3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Tunable Tm3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Single-frequency Tm3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Resonantly Pumped Tm3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers for High-power Lasers Operating Beyond 2.1 μm. Resonantly Pumped Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Tunable Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Challenges to Fiber Lasers Operating Beyond 2.1 μm. Conclusions. References. Mid-infrared Fiber Lasers. Overview. Optical Fibers with Low Phonon Energy. Heavy-metal-fluoride Optical Fibers. Chalcogenide Optical Fibers. Germanate and Tellurite Optical Fibers. Er3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3 μm. Core-pumped Er3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3 μm. Cladding-pumped Er3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3 μm with Lifetime. Quenching by Co-doping. Cladding-pumped Er3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3 μm with Energy Recycling. by Energy-transfer Up conversion. Er3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3.45 μm. Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~2.9 μm. Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3.22 μm. Ho3+-doped Fiber Lasers at ~3.9 μm. Dy3+-doped Fiber Lasers. Tm3+-doped Fiber Lasers at 2.4 μm. Conclusions. References. Supercontinuum Generation in Optical Fibers. Background. Supercontinuum Generation with Short Pulses. Supercontinuum Generation with Long Pulses and CW. Supercontinuum Generation for Telecommunications. Fibers for Supercontinuum Generation. Mid-IR Supercontinuum Generation. Stability and Noise of Supercontinuum. Supercontinuum Generation for Carrier-envelope-offset Frequency Control. Conclusions. References. Industrial Applications of Fiber Lasers. Background. Material Macro-processing (>1 kW). Material Micro-processing. Conclusions. References. Medical Applications of Fiber Lasers. Background. Medical Applications of Lasers. Interaction of Laser and Tissue. Diagnostic Applications of Lasers. Therapeutic Applications of Lasers. Medical Applications of Fiber Lasers. Diagnostic Applications of Fiber Lasers. Clinical Applications of Fiber Lasers. Applications in Medical Equipment Manufacturing. Conclusions. References. Military Applications of Lasers. Background. Ranging and Sensing Applications. Laser Range Finders. LIDAR. Laser Gyroscope. Laser Bathymetry. Fiber-optic Hydrophone. Detection of Chemical Agents, Biological Agents, and Explosives. Communications. Sniper Detection. Laser Dazzlers. Unexploded Ordnance Disposal. Aiming, Targeting, and Guidance. Laser-aiming Aids. Laser Target Designators. Laser Guided Missiles. Infrared Countermeasures. Direct Energy Weapons. Background. Lethality. Chemical Lasers. Solid-state Lasers. Free Electron Lasers. Fiber Lasers. Conclusions. References. Conclusions. Appendix. Index
Biography
Dr. Liang Dong is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. Prof. Dong has nearly 30 years of experience in research and development in photonics and optical fibers. He has published close to 300 journal and conference papers and holds over 20 granted patents. He currently serves as an associate editor for IEEE Quantum Electronics and Optica and program chair for OSA topical meeting on Specialty Optical Fibers.
Bryce Samson joined TeraDiode in January 2015 as a director of Business Development, bringing more than 20 years’ experience in the field of fiber lasers. He holds a Ph.D. in semiconductor physics from Essex University, UK, has published over 100 refereed scientific and conference papers, and has more than 15 patents in the field. He was chairman of the OSA Specialty Optical Fiber Conference, serves on the technical committee for OSA meetings such as CLEO and ASSL, and was elected a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science in 2013.
"Given the combination of broad scope and technical depth, both researchers and users of fiber lasers alike will find this book to be a valuable addition to their technical library."
— Jeffrey W. Nicholson, OFS, Norcross, Georgia, USA"… gives a comprehensive overview on the current status of fiber laser technology, covering the underlying physics and various technological issues as well as applications. It is useful to have a combination of two authors with quite different backgrounds, such that all these aspects can be treated. Compared with some older books on fiber lasers and amplifiers, there is more useful material on various practical aspects, e.g. in the areas of fiber characterization, components for fiber lasers and applications. The book should thus be useful both for researchers in the field and for people working on fiber laser technology in the commercial area."
— Rüdiger Paschotta, RP Photonics Consulting GmbH, Bad Dürrheim, Germany"The book is a comprehensive look at optical fibers, Fiber lasers and their applications written by leading experts in the field. The explanations are clear and intuitive and work is well referenced."
—Jay W. Dawson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA"This book is a useful guide for graduate students and engineers who are entering the complex and rapidly developing field of fiber lasers, and is a valuable reference for scientists who are new to fiber lasers or for veterans in the field."
—Optics & Photonics News, May 2017
