A fiber laser apparatus includes: amplification optical fibers including first and second amplification optical fibers, each of which having different amplification characteristics and including a core to which an active element is doped; one or more cooling plates having a first cooling surface that thermally contacts and cools the first amplification optical fiber and a second cooling surface that thermally contacts and cools the second amplification optical fiber; one or more module boxes including a gain module box that houses the amplification optical fibers and the one or more cooling plates; and an enclosure housing the one or module boxes. The first and second cooling surfaces are disposed at different heights in the gain module box. At least a portion of the first cooling surface overlaps at least a portion of the second cooling surface as viewed along a height direction.

To solve the problem that the power consumption of optical amplifiers is not optimized over the life time of an amplifier, the optical amplifier includes a gain medium for amplifying a plurality of optical channels, the gain medium including a plurality of cores through which the plurality of optical channels to propagate respectively and a cladding area surrounding the plurality of cores, a monitor that monitors the temperature of the optical amplifier and producing a monitoring result, a first light source that emits a first light beam to excite the cladding area, a second light source that emits a plurality of second light beams to excite each of the plurality of cores individually, and a controller that controls the first light source and the second light source based on the produced monitoring result.

An optical device includes a core, a first cladding, a second cladding, a slanted fiber Bragg grating, and a high refractive index material. The first cladding covers the core and has a lower refractive index than the core. The second cladding covers the first cladding and has a lower refractive index than the first cladding. The slanted fiber Bragg grating is formed in the core and couples stimulated Raman scattering light, propagating through the core, to the first cladding. The high refractive index material has a higher refractive index than the second cladding and covers an outer peripheral surface of a removal portion where the second cladding is removed and a portion of the first cladding that covers the region where the slanted fiber Bragg grating is formed in the core.

An amplifier operable with an electric drive signal can amplify signal light having a signal wavelength. A laser diode has an active section with input and output facets. The facets are in optical communication with the signal light and are configured to pass the signal light through the laser diode. The active section is configured to generate pump light in response to injection of the electrical drive signal into the active section. The pump light has a pump wavelength different from the signal wavelength. A doped fiber doped with an active dopant is in optical communication with the signal light and is in optical communication with at least a portion of the pump light from the laser diode. The pump wavelength of the pump light is configured to interact with the active dopant of the fiber and thereby amplify the signal light.

An amplification fiber includes a core which is doped with an erbium ion and a cladding which surrounds the core and has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core, and a relative refractive index difference Δn.sub.51 between the core and the cladding is not more than a smaller one of values of a relative refractive index difference Δn.sub.1 expressed as a predetermined expression related to a radius a of the core and a relative refractive index difference Δn.sub.2 expressed as a predetermined expression related to the radius a of the core.

Pump reflectors for use in cladding-pumped fiber systems, such as laser or amplifier systems, are provided. The pump reflector includes an optical fiber segment having at least one core and at least one cladding. A cladding Bragg grating is written by femtosecond inscription in the optical fiber segment, and extending across at least a portion of the cladding. The cladding Bragg grating has a reflectivity profile encompassing the spectral profile of the pump and a spatial profile encompassing the pump spatial distribution in the cladding. A method of manufacturing a pump reflector using femtosecond light pulses is also provided.

Embodiments of an optical amplification apparatus are disclosed which include a first optical amplifier, a second optical amplifier, and a mode exchanger. The first optical amplifier is connected to an input port of the mode exchanger, and the second optical amplifier is connected to an output port of the mode exchanger. The first optical amplifier is configured to amplify optical signals carried in a plurality of transmission modes of a few-mode fiber, the plurality of transmission modes of the few-mode fiber may be grouped into N groups, each group includes two transmission modes, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. The mode exchanger is configured to exchange the two transmission modes carrying optical signals in each group. The second optical amplifier is configured to amplify the optical signals that are carried in the two transmission modes in each group and whose modes are exchanged.

An optical amplification apparatus includes a first amplification optical fiber, a second amplification optical fiber, a first pumping light source, and a second pumping light source. The first amplification optical fiber includes a first core and a first cladding layer. The first core is doped with an active element using a first active element doping concentration distribution. The first cladding layer is disposed out of the first core and has a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the first core. The second amplification optical fiber is connected to the first amplification optical fiber in a longitudinal direction of the first amplification optical fiber. The second amplification optical fiber includes a second core and a second cladding layer. The second core is doped with active element using a second active element doping concentration distribution that is different from the first active element doping concentration distribution.

A fiber laser includes: a gain fiber; a first low-reflective mirror and a second high-reflective mirror disposed in an optical path of laser light that is emitted from a first end of the gain fiber; a second low-reflective mirror and a first high-reflective mirror disposed in an optical path of laser light that is emitted from a second end of the gain fiber; a first delivery fiber that accepts the laser light emitted from the first end; a second delivery fiber that accepts the laser light emitted from the second end; and an operation mode switching mechanism that switches between a first operation mode and a second operation mode. A first resonator is constituted by the first low-reflective mirror and the first high-reflective mirror. A second resonator, which is constituted by the second low-reflective mirror and the second high-reflective mirror.

A system and method for generating ultra-short pulses intended to be inserted into a ring laser with a regulator of a pulsed signal of a certain intensity, the system includes an optical attenuator that allows the intensity of the pulsed signal to be adjusted at the input of an optical guide section, and a distributed amplification device inserted in the optical guide that make it possible to manage the power of the signal therein, so that it propagates as solitons or as self-similar pulses without suffering unwanted distortions despite the increase in the length of the laser cavity, increasing the power of the pulsed signal and making it possible to exceed the usual power limits of this type of laser.