A Raman fiber laser includes a pump light source, a reflective end mirror, a wavelength division multiplexer, a Raman gain fiber, and an output end mirror. The output end mirror is an ultra-low reflectance fiber Bragg grating. The reflective end mirror is connected to a reflective end of the wavelength division multiplexer. The pump light source is connected to an input end of the wavelength division multiplexer. One end of the Raman gain fiber is connected to a common end of the wavelength division multiplexer, and the other end of the Raman gain fiber is connected to the ultra-low reflectance fiber Bragg grating. The laser of the present invention can reduce loss of laser light at the reflective end mirror, thereby increasing laser light optical conversion efficiency and output power, and simultaneously achieving high time domain stability and extremely low coherence.

An optical amplifier assembly and a detection method capable of dynamically performing optical time-domain reflection detection. The detection method comprises obtaining signal light intensity detection signals from a first and second photodetectors and sending a control signal to an L-band Raman pump when the signal light intensity in the second photodetector is lower than a first preset threshold, so that the L-band Raman pump enters into an optical time-domain reflection detection mode; sending a control signal to the L-band Raman pump when the signal light intensity in the second photodetector is greater than or equal the first preset threshold, so that the L-band Raman pump enters into an L-Band Raman optical fiber amplifier operation mode.

A fixed input current is provided to a pump laser of an optical pumping block. Further, a first tuning temperature is provided to the pump laser while providing the fixed input current. The first tuning temperature is based on a target band of a pumping beam and causes the pump laser to generate a light beam having a first frequency band that is dictated by the first tuning temperature and the fixed input current. Further, a second tuning temperature is provided to a temperature dependent optical reflector configured to receive the light beam. The second tuning temperature is based on the target band of the pumping beam and causes the optical reflector to reflect light of the light beam that is within a second frequency band that corresponds to the target frequency band. The reflected light beam is emitted into a transmission optical medium configured to carry an optical signal.

An optical arrangement for adjusting the wavelength of light, comprising: a first light source arranged to generate a first beam of light at a first wavelength; a second light source arranged to generate seed light at a second wavelength; a first Raman shifting medium arranged to receive the light from the first light source in combination with the seed light from the second light source, and to produce, by stimulated Raman scattering, output light at the second wavelength and having temporal properties determined by those of the first beam of light; a third light source arranged to generate seed light at a third wavelength; and a second Raman shifting medium arranged to receive the output light from the first Raman shifting medium in combination with the seed light from the third light source, and to produce, by stimulated Raman scattering, output light at the third wavelength and having temporal properties determined by those of the output light from the first Raman shifting medium; wherein the third wavelength is greater than the second wavelength, and the second wavelength is greater than the first wavelength; wherein the frequency difference between the first beam of light and the seed light from the second light source is a frequency difference where the first Raman shifting medium exhibits Raman gain; and wherein the frequency difference between the output light from the first Raman shifting medium and the seed light from the third light source is a frequency difference where the second Raman shifting medium exhibits Raman gain. Also provided is a corresponding method of adjusting the wavelength of light.

A Raman amplifier includes a first light source that outputs a primary pumping light, which propagates in a same direction as a propagation direction of a signal light, to an optical transmission line for Raman amplification, a second light source that outputs a secondary pumping light, which pumps and amplifies the primary pumping light and propagates in the same direction as the propagation direction, to the optical transmission line, and a control unit that controls a gain for the signal light by adjusting power of the secondary pumping light.

The invention may be embodied in other forms than those specifically disclosed herein without departing from itMulti-kW-class blue (400-495 nm) fiber-delivered lasers and module configurations. In embodiments, the lasers propagate laser beams having beam parameter products of <5 mm*mrad, which are used in materials processing, welding and pumping a Raman laser. In an embodiment the laser system is an integration of fiber-coupled modules, which are in turn made up of submodules. An embodiment has sub-modules having a plurality of lensed blue semiconductor gain chips with low reflectivity front facets. These are locked in wavelength with a wavelength spread of <1 nm by using volume Bragg gratings in an external cavity configuration. An embodiment has modules having of a plurality of submodules, which are combined through wavelength multiplexing with a bandwidth of <10 nm, followed by polarization beam combining. The output of each module is fiber-coupled into a low NA fiber. In an embodiment a kW-level blue laser system is realized by fiber bundling and combining multiple modules into a single output fiber.

A light source for Raman amplification to Raman-amplify signal light includes: plural incoherent light sources that output incoherent light; plural pumping light sources that output second-order pumping light; an optical fiber for Raman amplification to Raman-amplify the incoherent light with the second-order pumping light, and outputs the amplified incoherent light; and an output unit connected to the optical transmission fiber, receiving the amplified incoherent light, and outputting the amplified incoherent light as first-order pumping light having a wavelength that Raman-amplifies the signal light to the optical transmission fiber.

Raman amplifier systems and methods with an integrated Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) for integrated testing functionality include an amplifier system, an OTDR and telemetry subsystem, and a method of operation. The OTDR and telemetry subsystem is configured to operate in an OTDR mode when coupled to a line in port and to operate in a telemetry mode when coupled to a line out port. The OTDR and telemetry subsystem enables on-demand fiber testing while also operating as a telemetry channel that is both a redundant optical service channel (OSC) and provides a mechanism to monitor Raman gain over time. The OTDR and telemetry subsystem minimizes cost and space by sharing major optical and electrical components between the integrated OTDR and other functions on the Raman amplifier.

A broad line red light generator is configured with a single mode (SM) pulsed ytterbium (“Yb”) fiber laser pump source outputting pump light in a fundamental mode (“FM”) at a pump wavelength which is selected from a 1030-1120 nm wavelength range. The disclosed generator further includes a SM fiber Raman converter spliced to an output of the Yb fiber laser pump source. The Raman converter induces an “n” order frequency Stokes shift of the pump light to output the pump light at a Raman-shifted wavelength within 1220 and 1300 nm wavelength range with a broad spectral line of at least 10 nm. The disclosed light generator further has a single pass second harmonic generator (“SHG”) with a lithium triborate (“LBO”) nonlinear optical crystal having a spectral acceptance linewidth which is sufficient to cover the broad spectral line of the pump light. The SHG generates a SM pulsed broad-line red light with a broad spectral line of at least 4 nm.

Low wavelength infrared Super Continuum (SC) signals from a master oscillator seeds an amplifier that supports the Raman effect. Counter-propagating, high-power, continuous wave, and quasi-continuous wave quantum cascade lasers pumps (amplify) the optical seeds forming multiple coherent wavelength optical pump sources.