Recent progress of 1.7 μm ultrafast fiber lasers (Invited)
-
摘要: 超快光纤激光器具有紧凑性高、光束质量佳、散热性好等优点,是一种极具发展潜力的激光光源。工作波长作为超快光纤激光器的重要参数,在一定程度上决定了激光器的应用领域。近年来,得益于1.7 μm波段的独特光谱特性,1.7 μm波段超快光纤激光器在生物医学、聚合物加工、光学成像等领域具有重要的应用价值。因此,研制高性能的1.7 μm波段超快光纤激光器成为激光领域的研究热点之一。文中综述了近期1.7 μm波段超快光纤激光器的研究进展,对目前获得1.7 μm波段超短脉冲的不同方式进行总结,分析其技术特点;同时,介绍了笔者所在课题组报道的1.7 μm波段耗散孤子超快光纤激光器及其放大系统的研究成果,概述了其工作原理、技术难点;最后,对1.7 μm波段超快光纤激光的应用前景及发展趋势进行了展望。
-
关键词:
- 1.7 μm 激光光源 /
- 超短脉冲 /
- 被动锁模 /
- 超快光纤激光器 /
- 啁啾脉冲放大
Abstract: With the advantages of inherent compactness, high beam quality and excellent heat dissipation, ultrafast fiber lasers have already shown their huge potential in various scientific and industrial applications. In fact, the operating wavelength of the ultrafast fiber laser is critical for specific applications. In recent years, thanks to the unique spectral characteristics, 1.7 μm ultrafast fiber lasers have unparalleled applications in biomedicine, polymer processing, optical imaging and other fields. Therefore, developing high performance ultrafast fiber lasers in the 1.7 μm band has become a research hotspot in the laser community. In this paper, the progress of 1.7 μm ultrafast fiber lasers was reviewed and a comprehensive overview of the different methods enabling ultrafast generation at 1.7 μm waveband was given. The latest advances in 1.7 μm dissipative soliton fiber laser and chirped pulse amplification system reported by our group were introduced. The principles and technical challenges were also outlined. Finally, the application prospect and development tendency of 1.7 μm ultrafast fiber laser were prospected. -
图 12 (a) 经过环形器CIR1、DCF和环形器CIR2后的脉冲光谱; 插图: 输出功率与输入泵浦功率的关系和对应的拟合曲线; (b) 压缩后脉冲的自相关曲线(黑色)和高斯拟合曲线(红色); 插图: 放大系统输出的脉冲射频谱[41]
Figure 12. (a) The optical spectra of the laser signal after CIR1, DCF, and CIR2. Inset: the measured power of the amplified laser versus the launched pump power and the corresponding linear fitting curve; (b) AC trace of the compressed pulse: measurement(black) and Gaussian fitting(red). Inset: RF spectrum of the amplified pulse[41]
图 16 振荡器的 (a) 输出光谱; (b) 脉冲序列; (c) 射频谱; 压缩脉冲的 (d) 输出光谱; (e) 输出功率、脉冲宽度与泵浦功率的关系; (f) 自相关曲线[45]
Figure 16. Oscillator: (a) Output optical spectrum; (b) Trace of pulse trains; (c) RF spectrum; compressed pulses: (d) Output optical spectra; (e) Output power and pulse width versus launched pump power; (f) AC trace[45]
图 18 单脉冲状态。 (a) 锁模光谱; (b) 脉冲序列; 插图: 60 μs时间范围的脉冲序列; (c) 未压缩的输出脉冲(蓝色)和压缩脉冲(红色)的自相关迹线; (d) 射频谱[49]
Figure 18. Single-pulse operation. (a) Mode-locked spectrum; (b) Pulse train, inset: pulse train over 60 μs; (c) The measured autocorrelation trace of the uncompressed output pulse (blue) and the compressed pulse (red); (d) RF spectrum[49]
图 21 (a) 放大脉冲输出功率与泵浦功率的比值; (b) 测量的平均功率为1.3 W 的压缩脉冲光谱; (c) 自相关曲线; (d) 射频频谱; 插图: 超过500 MHz频率范围的射频频谱[53]
Figure 21. (a) Output power of amplified pulse versus launched pump power; (b) Measured compressed pulse spectrum at average power of 1.3 W; (c) Autocorrelation trace; (d) RF spectrum; Inset: RF spectrum over 500 MHz frequency range[53]
-
[1] Wise F W, Chong A, Renninger W H. High‐energy femtosecond fiber lasers based on pulse propagation at normal dispersion [J]. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 2008, 2(1-2): 58-73. [2] Kerse C, Kalaycıoğlu H, Elahi P, et al. Ablation-cooled material removal with ultrafast bursts of pulses [J]. Nature, 2016, 537(7618): 84-88. doi: 10.1038/nature18619 [3] Horton N G, Wang K, Kobat D, et al. In vivo three-photon microscopy of subcortical structures within an intact mouse brain [J]. Nature Photonics, 2013, 7(3): 205-209. doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.336 [4] Agrell E, Karlsson M, Chraplyvy A R, et al. Roadmap of optical communications [J]. Journal of Optics, 2016, 18(6): 063002. doi: 10.1088/2040-8978/18/6/063002 [5] Shi W, Fang Q, Zhu X, et al. Fiber lasers and their applications [J]. Applied Optics, 2014, 53(28): 6554-6568. doi: 10.1364/AO.53.006554 [6] Bashkatov A N, Genina E A, Kochubey V I, et al. Optical properties of the subcutaneous adipose tissue in the spectral range 400-2500 nm [J]. Optics and Spectroscopy, 2005, 99(5): 836-842. doi: 10.1134/1.2135863 [7] Sordillo L A, Pu Y, Pratavieira S, et al. Deep optical imaging of tissue using the second and third near-infrared spectral windows [J]. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2014, 19(5): 056004. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.19.5.056004 [8] Shi L, Sordillo L A, Rodríguez‐Contreras A, et al. Transmission in near‐infrared optical windows for deep brain imaging [J]. Journal of Biophotonics, 2016, 9(1-2): 38-43. doi: 10.1002/jbio.201500192 [9] Zipfel W R, Williams R M, Webb W W. Nonlinear magic: Multiphoton microscopy in the biosciences [J]. Nature Biotechnology, 2003, 21(11): 1369-1377. doi: 10.1038/nbt899 [10] Cadroas P, Abdeladim L, Kotov L, et al. All-fiber femtosecond laser providing 9 nJ, 50 MHz pulses at 1650 nm for three-photon microscopy [J]. Journal of Optics, 2017, 19(6): 065506. doi: 10.1088/2040-8986/aa6f72 [11] Nomura Y, Murakoshi H, Fuji T. Short-wavelength, ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser system for three-photon microscopy [J]. OSA Continuum, 2020, 3(6): 1428-1435. doi: 10.1364/OSAC.395410 [12] Sharma U, Chang E W, Yun S H. Long-wavelength optical coherence tomography at 1.7 µm for enhanced imaging depth [J]. Optics Express, 2008, 16(24): 19712-19723. doi: 10.1364/OE.16.019712 [13] Chong S P, Merkle C W, Cooke D F, et al. Noninvasive, in vivo imaging of subcortical mouse brain regions with 1.7 μm optical coherence tomography [J]. Optics Letters, 2015, 40(21): 4911-4914. doi: 10.1364/OL.40.004911 [14] Yamanaka M, Teranishi T, Kawagoe H, et al. Optical coherence microscopy in 1700 nm spectral band for high-resolution label-free deep-tissue imaging [J]. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6: 31715. doi: 10.1038/srep31715 [15] Kawagoe H, Ishida S, Aramaki M, et al. Development of a high power supercontinuum source in the 1.7 μm wavelength region for highly penetrative ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography [J]. Biomedical Optics Express, 2014, 5(3): 932-943. doi: 10.1364/BOE.5.000932 [16] Wu M, Jansen K, Steen A F W, et al. Specific imaging of atherosclerotic plaque lipids with two-wavelength intravascular photoacoustics [J]. Biomedical Optics Express, 2015, 6(9): 3276-3286. doi: 10.1364/BOE.6.003276 [17] Alexander V V, Ke K, Xu Z, et al. Photothermolysis of sebaceous glands in human skin ex vivo with a 1708 nm Raman fiber laser and contact cooling [J]. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, 2011, 43(6): 470-480. doi: 10.1002/lsm.21085 [18] Mingareev I, Weirauch F, Olowinsky A, et al. Welding of polymers using a 2 μm thulium fiber laser [J]. Optics & Laser Technology, 2012, 44(7): 2095-2099. [19] Daniel J M O, Simakov N, Tokurakawa M, et al. Ultra-short wavelength operation of a thulium fibre laser in the 1660-1750 nm wavelength band [J]. Optics Express, 2015, 23(14): 18269-18276. doi: 10.1364/OE.23.018269 [20] Wang K, Xu C. Tunable high-energy soliton pulse generation from a large-mode-area fiber and its application to third harmonic generation microscopy [J]. Applied Physics Letters, 2011, 99(7): 071112. doi: 10.1063/1.3628337 [21] Nguyen T N, Kieu K, Churin D, et al. High power soliton self-frequency shift with improved flatness ranging from 1.6 to 1.78 μm [J]. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2013, 25(19): 1893-1896. doi: 10.1109/LPT.2013.2279239 [22] Firstov S V, Alyshev S V, Riumkin K E, et al. Watt-level, continuous-wave bismuth-doped all-fiber laser operating at 1.7 μm [J]. Optics Letters, 2015, 40(18): 4360-4363. doi: 10.1364/OL.40.004360 [23] Yamada M, Senda K, Tanaka T, et al. Tm 3+-Tb 3+-doped tunable fibre ring laser for 1700 nm wavelength region [J]. Electronics Letters, 2013, 49(20): 1287-1288. doi: 10.1049/el.2013.2602 [24] Noronen T, Okhotnikov O, Gumenyuk R. Electronically tunable thulium-holmium mode-locked fiber laser for the 1700-1800 nm wavelength band [J]. Optics Express, 2016, 24(13): 14703-14708. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.014703 [25] Agger S D, Povlsen J H. Emission and absorption cross section of thulium doped silica fibers [J]. Optics Express, 2006, 14(1): 50-57. doi: 10.1364/OPEX.14.000050 [26] Jackson S D. The spectroscopic and energy transfer characteristics of the rare earth ions used for silicate glass fibre lasers operating in the shortwave infrared [J]. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 2009, 3(5): 466-482. [27] Li Z, Jung Y, Daniel J M O, et al. Exploiting the short wavelength gain of silica-based thulium-doped fiber amplifiers [J]. Optics Letters, 2016, 41(10): 2197-2200. doi: 10.1364/OL.41.002197 [28] Li C, Kong C, Wong K K Y. High energy noise-like pulse generation from a mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser at 1.7 μm [J]. IEEE Photonics Journal, 2019, 11(6): 1-6. [29] Wang K, Horton N G, Charan K, et al. Advanced fiber soliton sources for nonlinear deep tissue imaging in biophotonics [J]. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 2013, 20(2): 50-60. [30] Chung H Y, Liu W, Cao Q, et al. Er-fiber laser enabled, energy scalable femtosecond source tunable from 1.3 to 1.7 µm [J]. Optics Express, 2017, 25(14): 15760-15771. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.015760 [31] Fehrenbacher D, Sulzer P, Liehl A, et al. Free-running performance and full control of a passively phase-stable Er: fiber frequency comb [J]. Optica, 2015, 2(10): 917-923. doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.2.000917 [32] Firstov S, Alyshev S, Melkumov M, et al. Bismuth-doped optical fibers and fiber lasers for a spectral region of 1600-1800 nm [J]. Optics Letters, 2014, 39(24): 6927-6930. doi: 10.1364/OL.39.006927 [33] Noronen T, Firstov S, Dianov E, et al. 1700 nm dispersion managed mode-locked bismuth fiber laser [J]. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6: 24876. doi: 10.1038/srep24876 [34] Khegai A, Melkumov M, Riumkin K, et al. NALM-based bismuth-doped fiber laser at 1.7 μm [J]. Optics Letters, 2018, 43(5): 1127-1130. doi: 10.1364/OL.43.001127 [35] Xiao X, Guo H, Yan Z, et al. 3 W narrow-linewidth ultra-short wavelength operation near 1707 nm in thulium-doped silica fiber laser with bidirectional pumping [J]. Applied Physics B, 2017, 123(4): 135. doi: 10.1007/s00340-017-6713-z [36] Burns M D, Shardlow P C, Barua P, et al. 47 W continuous-wave 1726 nm thulium fiber laser core-pumped by an erbium fiber laser [J]. Optics Letters, 2019, 44(21): 5230-5233. doi: 10.1364/OL.44.005230 [37] Wienke A, Wandt D, Lecourt J B, et al. High energy, femtosecond fiber laser source at 1750 nm for 3-photon microscopy (Conference Presentation)[C]//Fiber Lasers and Glass Photonics: Materials through Applications, 2018, 10683: 106831T. [38] Emami S D, Dashtabi M M, Lee H J, et al. 1700 nm and 1800 nm band tunable thulium doped mode-locked fiber lasers [J]. Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 12747. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13200-x [39] Zhang L, Zhang J, Sheng Q, et al. Efficient multi-Watt 1720 nm ring-cavity Tm-doped fiber laser [J]. Optics Express, 2020, 28(25): 37910-37918. doi: 10.1364/OE.411671 [40] Puncken O, Kirsch D C, Wienke A, et al. Ultrafast thulium fiber laser operating at 1750 nm [C]//Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference, 2017: 1. [41] Li C, Wei X, Kong C, et al. Fiber chirped pulse amplification of a short wavelength mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser [J]. APL Photonics, 2017, 2(12): 121302. doi: 10.1063/1.4996441 [42] Anderson D, Desaix M, Lisak M, et al. Wave breaking in nonlinear-optical fibers [J]. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 1992, 9(8): 1358-1361. doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.9.001358 [43] Kelly S M J. Characteristic sideband instability of periodically amplified average soliton [J]. Electronics Letters, 1992, 28(8): 806-807. doi: 10.1049/el:19920508 [44] Chen S, Chen Y, Liu K, et al. All-fiber short-wavelength tunable mode-locked fiber laser using normal dispersion thulium-doped fiber [J]. Optics Express, 2020, 28(12): 17570-17580. doi: 10.1364/OE.395167 [45] Chen S, Chen Y, Liu K, et al. W-type normal dispersion thulium-doped fiber-based high-energy all-fiber femtosecond laser at 1.7 µm [J]. Optics Letters, 2021, 46(15): 3637-3640. doi: 10.1364/OL.431023 [46] Ciąćka P, Rampur A, Heidt A, et al. Dispersion measurement of ultra-high numerical aperture fibers covering thulium, holmium, and erbium emission wavelengths [J]. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2018, 35(6): 1301-1307. doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.35.001301 [47] Nomura Y, Fuji T. Sub-50-fs pulse generation from thulium-doped ZBLAN fiber laser oscillator [J]. Optics Express, 2014, 22(10): 12461-12466. doi: 10.1364/OE.22.012461 [48] Nomura Y, Fuji T. Generation of Watt-class, sub-50 fs pulses through nonlinear spectral broadening within a thulium-doped fiber amplifier [J]. Optics Express, 2017, 25(12): 13691-13696. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.013691 [49] Chen J X, Li X Y, Li T J, et al. 1.7-μm dissipative soliton Tm-doped fiber laser [J]. Photonics Research, 2021, 9(5): 873-878. doi: 10.1364/PRJ.419273 [50] Chong A, Buckley J, Renninger W, et al. All-normal-dispersion femtosecond fiber laser [J]. Optics Express, 2006, 14(21): 10095-10100. doi: 10.1364/OE.14.010095 [51] Zhao L M, Tang D Y, Wu J. Gain-guided soliton in a positive group-dispersion fiber laser [J]. Optics Letters, 2006, 31(12): 1788-1790. doi: 10.1364/OL.31.001788 [52] Grelu P, Akhmediev N. Dissipative solitons for mode-locked lasers [J]. Nature Photonics, 2012, 6(2): 84-92. doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.345 [53] Chen J X, Zhan Z Y, Li C, et al. 1.7 µm Tm-fiber chirped pulse amplification system with dissipative soliton seed laser [J]. Optics Letters, 2021, 46(23): 5922-5925. doi: 10.1364/OL.445104