ABSTRACT
We addressed the problem of a state of polarization (SOP) drift caused by heating under intense clad pumping in different types of active tapered double-clad fibers. We investigated experimentally the variations of the SOP and degree of polarization (DOP) under clad pumping in polarization-maintaining (PANDA type) and regular (non-PM) Yb-doped double-clad large mode area tapered fibers. We discovered that the birefringence of active fibers is highly dependent on the launched pump power. To solve the problem of the SOP drift in active large mode are fibers, we, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, presented an active double-clad fiber with low intrinsic birefringence as a gain medium. An Yb-doped spun tapered double-clad fiber (sT-DCF) with intrinsic birefringence as low as 1.45×10-8 was manufactured and experimentally studied. We have proved experimentally that the DOP and SOP remains more stable in sT-DCF with increasing pump power compared to PM PANDA-type and regular non-PM tapered double-clad fibers. In particular, the SOP drift in sT-DCF is almost one order of magnitude less than in other tapered fibers, while the DOP drift in sT-DCF is comparable with the drift in PANDA-type fiber and one order of magnitude less than in the non-PM tapered fiber. An active sT-DCF showing efficient amplification was demonstrated in an all-fiber-based picosecond master-oscillator power-amplifier scheme. The system delivered 50 ps pulses at 1040 nm with an average power of 50 W, 34 dB gain, 26 µm MFD and perfect beam quality.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we demonstrated a novel, all-fiber highly sensitive bend sensor based on a four-core fiber rod with a diameter of 2.1 mm. We observed a high resolution of the sensor at a level of 3.6 × 10-3 m-1. Such a sensor design can be used in harsh environments due to the relatively small size and all-fiber configuration, containing no adhesive, nor welded joints.
ABSTRACT
We have experimentally studied fundamental mode propagation in few meters long, adiabatically tapered step-index fibers with high numerical aperture, core diameter up to 117 µm (V = 38) and tapering ratio up to 18. The single fundamental mode propagation was confirmed by several techniques that reveal no signature of higher-order mode excitation. It can be, therefore, concluded that adiabatic tapering is a powerful method for selective excitation of the fundamental mode in highly multimode large-mode-area fibers. Annular near field distortion observed for large output core diameters was attributed to built-in stress due to thermal expansion mismatch between core and cladding materials. The mechanical stress could be avoided by an appropriate technique of fiber preform fabrication and drawing, which would prevent the mode field deformation and lead to reliable diffraction-limited fundamental mode guiding for very large core diameters.
ABSTRACT
Developed highly chirped broadband fiber Bragg gratings and suspended-core fibers are shown to offer flexible dispersion management and allow for femtosecond oscillators with transform-limited pulse quality. Such dispersion compensators could have potential, particularly for all-fiber chirped-pulse amplification systems.
