Passively Q-switched fiber laser that uses saturable Raman gain.
Operation of a short all-fiber passively Q-switched Raman laser pumped by a continuous-wave laser diode is experimentally demonstrated. The passively switched fiber laser consists simply of a double-clad ytterbium-doped silica fiber that is spliced directly to a moderately germanium-doped silica fiber. The placement of the Ge-doped silica fiber within the fundamental (Raman pump) cavity allows interplay between fundamental and Stokes fields to take place, which leads to saturation of the Raman gain as a result of pump depletion. Pulse widths of 70 and 60 ns at the first and second Stokes wavelengths of 1168 and 1232 nm, respectively, are produced at a stable 588 kHz repetition rate.
Optical Fibre Technology Centre, Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre, University of Sydney, 206 National Innovation Centre, Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh, Sydney, New South Wales 1430, Australia. y.zhao@oftc.usyd.edu.au
Yucheng
Y
Zhao
Stuart D
SD
Jackson