The present disclosure generally relates optical amplifier modules. In one form for example, an optical amplifier module includes a booster optical amplifier configured to increase optical power of a first optical signal. The module also includes a preamp optical amplifier configured to increase optical power of a second optical signal and a pump laser optically coupled to the booster optical amplifier and the preamp optical amplifier. The pump laser is configured to provide a booster power to the booster optical amplifier and a preamp power to the preamp optical amplifier, the preamp power is effective to induce a gain in optical power to provide a target optical power of the second optical signal from the preamp optical amplifier, and the booster power is dependent on the preamp power.

An all-fiber configuration system and method for generating temporally coherent supercontinuum pulsed emission are provided. The system includes a sequential structure of all-fiber sections including: a fiber laser seed source to produce a seed pulse with given optical properties; a stretching section including an optical fiber to temporally stretch the seed pulse; an amplification section including an active optical fiber, doped with a rare earth element, to amplify the stretched pulse by progressively stimulating radiation of active ions of the doped active optical fiber; a compressing section to temporally compress the amplified pulse; and a spectrum broadening section including an ANDi microstructured fiber that spectrally broadens the compressed pulse by a nonlinear effect of Self Phase Modulation (SPM) while maintaining the temporal coherence of the pulse.

In various embodiments, one or more optical elements are utilized to alter the numerical aperture of a radiation beam received from an optical fiber in order to accommodate the properties of a downstream collimator within a laser delivery head.

Incoherently combining light from different lasers while maintaining high brightness is challenging using conventional fiber bundling techniques, where fibers from different lasers are bundled adjacently in a tight-packed arrangement. The brightness can be increased by tapering the tips of the bundled fibers to match a single, multi-mode output fiber, e.g., one whose core that is just wide enough to fit the input cores. This increases the brightness of the beam combining. In addition, reducing the outer diameters of the signal fiber claddings allows the signal fibers to be bundled closer together, making it possible to couple more signal fiber cores to the core of a multi-mode output fiber. Similarly, reducing the outer diameter of the pump fiber cladding and/or etching away corresponding portions of the signal fiber cladding in a pump/signal combiner makes it possible to couple more pump light into the signal fiber cladding, again increasing brightness.

A broadband optical amplifier for operation in the 2 μm visible wavelength band is based upon a single-clad Tm-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA). A compact pump source uses a combination of low-power laser diode with a fiber laser to provide a multi-watt pump beam without needing to include thermal management and/or pump wavelength stability components. The broadband optical amplifier is therefore able to be relatively compact device with fiber coupled output powers of >0.5 W CW, high small signal gain, low noise figure, and large OSNR, important for use as a versatile wideband preamplifier or power booster amplifier.

A broadband optical amplifier for operation in the 2 μm visible wavelength band is based upon a single-clad Ho-doped fiber amplifier (HDFA). A compact pump source uses a combination of discrete laser diode with a fiber laser (which may be a dual-stage fiber laser) to create a pump output beam at a wavelength associated with creating gain in the presence of Ho ions (an exemplary pump wavelength being 1940 nm). The broadband optical amplifier may take the form of a single stage amplifier or a multi-stage amplifier, and may utilize a co-propagating pump and/or a counter-propagating pump arrangement.

A multi-stage thulium-doped (Tm-doped) fiber amplifiers (TDFA) is based on the use of single-clad Tm-doped optical fiber and includes a wavelength conditioning element to compensate for the nonuniform spectral response of the initial stage(s) prior to providing power boosting in the output stage. The wavelength conditioning element, which may comprise a gain shaping filter, exhibits a wavelength-dependent response that flattens the gain profile and output power distribution of the amplified signal prior to reaching the output stage of the multi-stage TDFA. The inclusion of the wavelength conditioning element allows the operating bandwidth of the amplifier to be extended so as to encompass a large portion of the eye-safe 2 μm wavelength region.

Method and system for a laser welding process employing the use of a single pulsed fiber laser source configured to generate a radiative output with a wavelength spectrum extending from about 1.8 microns to about 2.6 microns. In a specific case, the laser output from the single pulsed fiber laser source is focused onto the interface of the two pieces of materials at least one of which includes any of glasses, inorganic crystals, and semiconductors.

A system includes multiple first thulium-doped fiber lasers each configured to generate pumplight. The system also includes a second thulium-doped fiber laser configured to receive the pumplight from the first thulium-doped fiber lasers and a seed signal. The second thulium-doped fiber laser is also configured to amplify the seed signal using the pumplight. The first thulium-doped fiber lasers are configured to forward-pump the second thulium-doped fiber laser. The second thulium-doped fiber laser includes a fiber gain medium, where the fiber gain medium includes a core doped with thulium and a cladding. The fiber gain medium is longitudinally up-tapered such that a diameter of the core and a diameter of the cladding increase along at least a portion of a length of the fiber gain medium.

The present disclosure generally relates optical amplifier modules. In one form for example, an optical amplifier module includes a booster optical amplifier configured to increase optical power of a first optical signal. The module also includes a preamp optical amplifier configured to increase optical power of a second optical signal and a pump laser optically coupled to the booster optical amplifier and the preamp optical amplifier. The pump laser is configured to provide a booster power to the booster optical amplifier and a preamp power to the preamp optical amplifier, the preamp power is effective to induce a gain in optical power to provide a target optical power of the second optical signal from the preamp optical amplifier, and the booster power is dependent on the preamp power.