Fundamentals of Fiber Lasers and Fiber Amplifiers

269 Pages·2013·6.58 MB·English

Springer Series in Optical Sciences 181
Valerii (Vartan) Ter-Mikirtychev
Fundamentals
of Fiber Lasers
and Fiber
Amplifiers
Springer Series in Optical Sciences
Volume 181
Founded by
H. K. V. Lotsch
Editor-in-Chief
W. T. Rhodes
Editorial Board
Ali Adibi, Atlanta
Toshimitsu Asakura, Sapporo
Theodor W. Hänsch, Garching
Takeshi Kamiya, Tokyo
Ferenc Krausz, Garching
Bo A. J. Monemar, Linköping
Herbert Venghaus, Berlin
Horst Weber, Berlin
Harald Weinfurter, München
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/624
Springer Series in Optical Sciences
TheSpringerSeriesinOpticalSciences,undertheleadershipofEditor-in-ChiefWilliamT.Rhodes,
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology,USA,providesanexpandingselectionofresearchmonographsinall
majorareasofoptics:lasersandquantumoptics,ultrafastphenomena,opticalspectroscopytechniques,
optoelectronics, quantum information, information optics, applied laser technology, industrial appli-
cations,andothertopicsofcontemporaryinterest.
Withthisbroadcoverageoftopics,theseriesisofusetoallresearchscientistsandengineerswhoneed
up-to-datereferencebooks.
Theeditorsencourageprospectiveauthorstocorrespondwiththeminadvanceofsubmittingaman-
uscript.SubmissionofmanuscriptsshouldbemadetotheEditor-in-ChieforoneoftheEditors.Seealso
www.springer.com/series/624
Editor-in-Chief
W.T.Rhodes
SchoolofElectricalandComputerEngineering
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
Atlanta,GA30332-0250
USA
e-mail:[email protected]
EditorialBoard BoA.J.Monemar
AliAdibi DepartmentofPhysicsandMeasurementTechnology
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology MaterialsScienceDivision
SchoolofElectricalandComputerEngineering LinköpingUniversity
Atlanta,GA30332-0250 58183Linköping,Sweden
USA e-mail:[email protected]
e-mail:[email protected]
HerbertVenghaus
ToshimitsuAsakura FraunhoferInstitutfürNachrichtentechnik
FacultyofEngineering Heinrich-Hertz-Institut
Hokkai-GakuenUniversity Einsteinufer37
1-1,Minami-26,Nishi11,Chuo-ku 10587Berlin,Germany
Sapporo,Hokkaido064-0926,Japan e-mail:[email protected]
e-mail:[email protected]
HorstWeber
TheodorW.Hänsch OptischesInstitut
Max-Planck-InstitutfürQuantenoptik TechnischeUniversitätBerlin
Hans-Kopfermann-Straße1 Straßedes17.Juni135
85748Garching,Germany 10623Berlin,Germany
e-mail:[email protected] e-mail:[email protected]
TakeshiKamiya HaraldWeinfurter
MinistryofEducation,Culture,Sports SektionPhysik
ScienceandTechnology Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchen
NationalInstitutionforAcademicDegrees Schellingstraße4/III
3-29-1OtsukaBunkyo-ku 80799München,Germany
Tokyo112-0012,Japan e-mail:[email protected]
e-mail:[email protected]
FerencKrausz
Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchen
LehrstuhlfürExperimentellePhysik
AmCoulombwall1
85748Garching,Germanyand
Max-Planck-InstitutfürQuantenoptik
Hans-Kopfermann-Straße1
85748Garching,Germany
e-mail:[email protected]
Valerii (Vartan) Ter-Mikirtychev
Fundamentals of Fiber
Lasers and Fiber Amplifiers
123
Valerii (Vartan) Ter-Mikirtychev
Mountain View, CA
USA
ISSN 0342-4111 ISSN 1556-1534 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-319-02337-3 ISBN 978-3-319-02338-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02338-0
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013948738
(cid:2)SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor
informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief
excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the
purposeofbeingenteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthe
work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of
theCopyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must
always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the
CopyrightClearanceCenter.ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt
fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor
anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with
respecttothematerialcontainedherein.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Dedicated in memory of my parents Vartan
and Vera,
and to my wife Katerina
and my children William and Daria
Acknowledgments
IwouldliketothankmyformerandcurrentcolleaguesinRussia,Japan,andUSA
for useful discussion on many topics of laser physics in general and fiber optics
and fiber lasers in particular. I am indebted to Dr. P. Silfsten, Prof. T. Kurobori,
Prof. K. Ueda, Dr. V. Kozlov, Prof. E. Sviridenkov, Dr. M. Dubinskii,
Dr. V. Fromzel, Dr. J. Zhang, Dr. N. Klaus, Dr. S. Fuerstenau, Dr. I. McKinnie,
Mr.P.Ishkanian,andProf.J.-W.Ryu,forusefulandinterestingdiscussions.Iam
alsogladtohaveanopportunitytothankMr.M.O’ConnorofIPG,Mr.W.Wilson
of Liekki/nLight, and Mr. D. Beiko of CorActive for many useful discussions on
commercially available fibers.
I am thankful to my teachers and former colleagues at Moscow Physics and
Engineering Institute (MEPhI), P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, and A. M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute
(GPI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), namely: the late Prof.
Yu.A.Bykovskii,Prof.E.D.Protcenko,Prof.E.A.Sviridenkov,lateProf.A.N.
Oraevsky,Prof.Yu.M.Popov,thelateProf.A.P.Shotov,Prof.V.G.Sheretov(Tver
StateUniversity),andlateProf.A.G.Avanesov(KrasnodarStateUniversity).Also,
Prof.V.P.Danilov,Prof.V.A.Smirnov.andAcademicianProf.I.A.Shcherbakov,
PresidentofA.M.ProkhorovGPIRAS.
Further, I would like to express my personal gratitude to the organizer of the
SpecialPhysicsDepartmentofMEPhIwhereIhadaprivilegetobeeducatedand
whatinturnmadeseveralimportantchangesinmylifeandwhoservedasaboard
Chair of my graduation exams, i.e., former director of P. N. Lebedev Physical
Institute the late Academician Prof. N. G. Basov, 1964 Nobel Prize Laureate
in Physics (together with the late Academician Prof. A. M. Prokhorov and Prof.
C. H. Townes).
SpecialthanksgotoMr.StuartMcLean,afiberlaserengineer,whodidthehard
work of proofreading the whole manuscript and whose suggestions definitely
improved the material presentation. Additionally, I give thanks to Mr. William
Tersonforpartialproofreadingofthemanuscript.Ialsohighlyappreciatethehelp
ofSpringer PhysicsEditorMr. Christopher Caughlin, andMr. Ho Ying Fan,both
from Springer for their constant help and assistance throughout the whole project
including manuscript preparation and publication.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Finally,butnotlessimportantly,IwouldliketothankmywifeKaterinawhois
a Fiber-Optic engineer herselffor her helpful suggestions including technical and
stylistic, constant support and encouraging. Appearance of this book without
Katerina’s support would be impossible.
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Optical Properties and Optical Spectroscopy of Rare Earth
Ions in Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Electron–Phonon Coupling in Solids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Phonon Sidebands of Optical Transition in Solids . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Optical Center Transitions: Spontaneous
and Stimulated Emission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Rare Earth Centers in Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5 Homogeneous and Inhomogeneous Line Broadening. . . . . . . . 14
2.5.1 Homogeneous Broadening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.2 Inhomogeneous Broadening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.6 Spectroscopic Parameters of the Optical Transition:
A Brief Introduction to the Main Theories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.6.1 Judd–Ofelt Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.6.2 McCumber Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.6.3 Füchtbauer–Ladenburg Theory and Einstein
Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.7 Sensitization of Laser-Active Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 Physical and Optical Properties of Laser Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Glass. . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2 Optical Properties of Fibers (Attenuation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.1 Intrinsic Glass Material Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2.2 Waveguide Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2.3 Optical Connection Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.3 Different Glass Types Used in Fiber Lasers and Amplifiers. . . 32
3.3.1 Silicate Glass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.3.2 Phosphate Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3.3 Tellurite Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3.4 Fluoride Glass and ZBLAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
ix
x Contents
4 Fiber Fabrication and High-Quality Glasses for Gain Fibers . . . . 37
4.1 Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Fabrication of Fiber Preforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3 Fiber Fabrication from the Preform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.4 Laser-Active Fiber Fabrication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.5 MCVD Technology for Rare-Earth Doped
Fiber Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.6 DND Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5 Spectroscopic Properties of Nd31, Yb31, Er31,
and Tm31 Doped Fibers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.1 Spectroscopic Notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Energy Levels of Trivalent Rare Earth Ions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3 Neodymium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.3.1 Nd3? Fiber Laser Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.4 Ytterbium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.4.1 Yb3? Fiber Laser Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.5 Erbium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.5.1 Er3? Fiber Laser Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.6 Thulium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.6.1 Tm3? Fiber Laser Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6 Propagation of Light and Modes in Optical Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.1 V Number of the Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.2 Fiber Dispersion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.3 Polarization-Maintaining Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.4 Laser Beam Quality (M2 Parameter). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.4.1 Practical Recommendations on Beam Quality
Measurements Using the M2 Approach . . . . . . . . . . 75
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7 Fiber Laser Physics Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.1 Population Inversion: Three- and Four-EnergyLevel
Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.1.1 Four-Level Laser Operational Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.1.2 Three-Level Laser Operational Scheme. . . . . . . . . . 81
7.2 Optical Fiber Amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7.2.1 Fiber Amplifier (General Consideration) . . . . . . . . . 82
7.3 Fiber Laser Thresholds and Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.4 Gain and Loss in Laser Resonators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93