Suppression of polarization modulation instability in high power fiber amplifier systems

Abstract

A fiber laser amplifier system that employs a technique for reducing polarization modulation instability (PMI) in a delivery fiber. The system includes a fiber amplifier that amplifies a seed beam and provides the amplified seed beam to a weakly polarization maintaining (PM) delivery fiber that delivers the amplified beam to a certain location. The polarization of the seed beam is controlled so that it aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber such that nonlinear birefringence that occurs in the delivery fiber is added to the natural birefringence of the delivery fiber so as to suppress the PMI in the delivery fiber.

Claims

1. A fiber laser amplifier system comprising: a master oscillator generating a seed beam; at least one polarization modulator responsive to the seed beam and controlling the polarization of the seed beam; at least one fiber amplifier responsive to the polarization controlled seed beam and amplifying the seed beam; a weakly polarization maintaining (PM) delivery fiber coupled to the at least one fiber amplifier and delivering the amplified beam to a delivery location, said delivery fiber having a fast axis and a slow axis; a beam sampler responsive to the amplified beam at or near the delivery location and generating a sample beam; a polarization analyzer responsive to the sample beam and being oriented to transmit light polarized along the slow axis of the delivery fiber; a detector responsive to the sample beam after it has passed through the polarization analyzer, said detector converting the sample beam to an electrical signal that provides an indication of the power of the sample beam; and a polarization controller responsive to the electrical signal from the detector, said polarization controller controlling the polarization modulator so as to cause the polarization modulator to orient the polarization of the seed beam so that it aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber so that nonlinear birefringence that occurs in the delivery fiber as a result of propagation of the seed beam is combined with a natural birefringence of the delivery fiber that acts to increase the index of refraction of the delivery fiber along the slow axis so as to suppress polarization modulation instability in the delivery fiber.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the delivery fiber includes an outer cladding layer, an inner core through which the amplified beam propagates, and structures provided in the cladding layer that cause birefringence in the core to define the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one fiber amplifier is a fiber amplifier coil having a defined coil axis, said fiber coil being coupled to the delivery fiber so that stress-induced birefringence caused by coiling the fiber amplifier aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the delivery fiber is an adiabatically tapered delivery fiber including a small diameter coupled to the laser amplifier, a large diameter of the delivery fiber is provided proximate to the delivery location, and a tapered portion therebetween.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one polarization modulator is a plurality of polarization modulators and the at least one fiber amplifier is a plurality of fiber amplifiers, said system further comprising a beam splitter that splits the seed beam from the master oscillator into split beams where a separate split beam is provided to each polarization modulator, and a fiber coupler that couples the fiber amplifiers at an output end into the delivery fiber.

6. The system according to claim 5 further comprising a plurality of phase modulators each receiving one of the split beams and a phase controller that controls each of the phase modulators so that the phase of each of the amplified beams is in phase with each other in the fiber coupler.

7. The system according to claim 5 wherein the fiber coupler is a tapered fiber bundle.

8. The system according to claim 5 wherein the plurality of fiber amplifiers provide coherent beam combining.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the delivery fiber is at least 1 meter long.

10. A fiber laser amplifier system comprising: a master oscillator generating a seed beam; at least one polarization modulator responsive to the seed beam and controlling the polarization of the seed beam; at least one fiber amplifier responsive to the polarization controlled seed beam; a weakly polarization maintaining (PM) delivery fiber coupled to the at least one fiber amplifier and delivering the amplified beam to a delivery location, said PM delivery fiber having a fast axis and a slow axis, said PM delivery fiber including an outer cladding layer, an inner core through which the amplified beam propagates, and structures provided in the cladding layer that cause birefringence in the core to define the slow axis of the delivery fiber, said delivery fiber further being adiabatically tapered to have a small diameter coupled to the laser amplifier, a large diameter proximate to the delivery location, and a tapered portion therebetween; a beam sampler responsive to the amplified beam at or near the delivery location and generating a sample beam; a polarization analyzer responsive to the sample beam and being oriented to transmit light polarized along the slow axis of the delivery fiber; a detector responsive to the sample beam after it has passed through the polarization analyzer, said detector converting the sample beam to an electrical signal that provides an indication of the power of the sample beam; and a polarization controller responsive to the electrical signal from the detector, said polarization controller controlling the polarization modulator so as to cause the polarization modulator to orient the polarization of the seed beam so that it aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber so that nonlinear birefringence that occurs in the delivery fiber as a result of propagation of the seed beam is combined with a natural birefringence of the delivery fiber that acts to increase the index of refraction of the delivery fiber along the slow axis so as to suppress polarization modulation instability in the delivery fiber.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one fiber amplifier is a fiber amplifier coil having a defined coil axis, said fiber coil being coupled to the delivery fiber so that stress-induced birefringence caused by coiling of the fiber amplifier aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

12. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one polarization modulator is a plurality of polarization modulators and the at least one fiber amplifier is a plurality of fiber amplifiers, said system further comprising a beam splitter that splits the seed beam from the master oscillator into split beams where a separate split beam is provided to each polarization modulator, and a fiber coupler that couples the fiber amplifiers at an output end into the delivery fiber.

13. The system according to claim 12 further comprising a plurality of phase modulators each receiving one of the split beams and a phase controller that controls each of the phase modulators so that the phase of each of the amplified beams is in phase with each other in the fiber coupler.

14. The system according to claim 12 wherein the plurality of fiber amplifiers provide coherent beam combining.

15. The system according to claim 10 wherein the geometrically or optically asymmetric structures are opposing stress rods positioned within a cladding layer on opposite sides of a fiber core that causes birefringence induced stress in the core to define the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

16. A fiber laser amplifier system comprising: a fiber amplifier responsive to a seed beam and amplifying the seed beam; a weakly polarization maintaining (PM) delivery fiber coupled to the fiber amplifier and delivering the amplified beam to a delivery location, said delivery fiber having a fast axis and a slow axis; and a polarization analyzer that receives the amplified beam from the delivery fiber being oriented to transmit light polarized along the slow axis of the delivery fiber, wherein the polarization of the seed beam is controlled so that it aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber so that nonlinear birefringence that occurs in the delivery fiber as a result of propagation of the seed beam is combined with a natural birefringence of the delivery fiber that acts to increase the index of refraction of the delivery fiber along the slow axis so as to suppress polarization modulation instability in the delivery fiber.

17. The system according to claim 16 wherein the delivery fiber includes an outer cladding layer, an inner core through which the amplified beam propagates, and structures provided in the cladding layer that cause birefringence in the core to define the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

18. The system according to claim 16 wherein the fiber amplifier is a fiber amplifier coil having a defined coil axis, said fiber coil being coupled to the delivery fiber so that stress-induced birefringence caused by coiling the fiber amplifier aligns with the slow axis of the delivery fiber.

19. The system according to claim 16 wherein the delivery fiber is an adiabatically tapered delivery fiber including a small diameter coupled to the laser amplifier, a large diameter of the delivery fiber is provided proximate the delivery location, and a tapered portion therebetween.

20. The system according to claim 16 wherein the delivery fiber is at least 1 meter long.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a high power fiber laser amplifier system;

(2) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a delivery fiber employed in the fiber laser amplifier system shown in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a fiber amplifier coil that can be employed in the fiber laser amplifier system shown in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 4 is a side view of a tapered weakly PM delivery fiber that can be employed in the fiber amplifier system shown in FIG. 1; and

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a high power fiber laser amplifier system that employs a CBC architecture and a weakly PM delivery fiber.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(6) The following discussion of the embodiments of the invention directed to a high power fiber laser amplifier system employing a weakly PM delivery fiber is merely exemplary in nature, and is in no way intended to limit the invention or its applications or uses.

(7) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fiber laser amplifier system 10 including a master oscillator (MO) 12 that generates a seed beam on a fiber 14. The seed beam is sent to a polarization modulator 16 on the fiber 14 that controls the polarization of the seed beam that is then sent to a fiber amplifier 18 on a fiber 20, where the fiber amplifier 18 is typically a doped amplifying portion of the fiber 20 that receives an optical pump beam (not shown). The fiber amplifier 18 is either a non-PM or a weakly PM fiber amplifier in order to generate the kW output power in predominantly a single mode. The fiber amplifier 18 is intended to represent one or more fiber amplifiers in a chain of amplifiers for amplifying the seed beam to the desired power level. Although only a single fiber amplifier stage is shown in this design, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the seed beam from the MO 12 can be split into multiple seed beams each being sent to a separate polarization controller and a separate fiber amplifier, where the amplified beams are then coherently combined before being delivered to certain beam directors. Fiber laser amplifier systems of this type are generally discussed in the '714 patent.

(8) The fiber amplifier 18 is coupled to a weakly PM delivery fiber 24 by a coupler 26, such as a fusion splice or a tapered fiber bundle (TFB), where the delivery fiber 24 has a desired length, for example, at least 1 m, to provide the amplified beam to a certain location, such as a particular beam director (not shown). As defined herein, a weakly PM fiber has a birefringence that is larger than what the natural nonlinear birefringence of the fiber is without suffering from the issues discussed above for a full PM delivery fiber, i.e., perturb the waveguide modes that leads to a loss of beam quality. As is understood by those skilled in the art, birefringent elements have slightly different indices of refraction for light polarized in different orientations. The birefringent element can be defined as having a fast axis and a slow axis, where light polarized along the fast axis encounters a lower index of refraction in the element and travels faster through the element than light polarized along the slow axis. The delivery fiber 24 is coupled to an end cap 28, or other optical element, that directs the amplified laser beam into free space towards a beam sampler 30. The beam sampler 30 splits the free space beam into a main output beam 32 having most of the beam power that is directed towards the target (not shown) and a sample beam 34 having low power that is sent to a polarization analyzer 36 that is oriented to transmit light polarized parallel to the slow axis of the delivery fiber 24. The sample beam 34 that propagates through the analyzer 36 is then sent to a detector 38, such as a photodiode, that converts the sample beam 34 to an electrical signal that is provided to a polarization controller 40.

(9) The polarization controller 40 controls the polarization modulator 16 so that the SOP of the amplified beam is locked to the slow axis of the delivery fiber 24. For example, the controller 40 causes the modulator 16 to dither the polarization of the seed beam and uses a hill-climbing or other algorithm to maximize the power of the electrical signal. Aligning the polarization of the seed beam to the slow axis of the delivery fiber 24 provides optimal suppression of PMI because the nonlinear birefringence adds to the natural PM fiber birefringence. In other words, by aligning the SOP of the amplified beam with the slow axis of the delivery fiber 24, the nonlinear birefringence that could cause PMI adds to the PM fiber birefringence. Since in the slow axis orientation the nonlinear birefringence adds to the PM fiber birefringence, a smaller fiber birefringence is needed to suppress the PMI than would be required for other SOP orientations. The calculated magnitude of the fiber birefringence needed to suppress the PMI is much less than that needed to suppress FWM or SBS, where approximately 10.sup.6 to 10.sup.7 appears sufficient for most configurations.

(10) Typically, PM fiber structures employ geometrically or optically asymmetric structural elements, such as doped stress rods, arranged around the fiber core that either impose stress across the core or otherwise act to break the azimuthal waveguide symmetry and induce core birefringence. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the delivery fiber 24 showing one technique of how the delivery fiber 24 can be made weakly PM. The delivery fiber 24 includes an outer cladding layer 42 surrounding an inner core 44, where the beam propagates down the core 44 and is confined therein as a result of the outer cladding layer 42 having a lower index of refraction than the core 44. The delivery fiber 24 also includes a pair of opposing doped stress rods 46 and 48 provided on opposite sides of the core 44, as shown, that extend the length of the fiber 24 in the cladding layer 42 that impose the stress across the core 44. In other words, the stress induced by the stress rods 46 and 48 interacts with the core 44 to create a higher index of refraction for light polarized in the direction aligned with the rods 46 and 48. Thus, for the delivery fiber 24, the stress rods 46 and 48 create the slow axis orientation through the stress rods 46 and 48 as depicted by the arrow. The stress rods 46 and 48 are typically glass rods made of a slightly different material then the outer cladding 42. However, in alternate embodiments, other structural elements can be arranged around the fiber core 44 to provide this induced birefringence across the core 44.

(11) As discussed above, PMI can originate in either the delivery fiber 24 or internally within the fiber amplifier 18. The configuration of the laser system 10 can suppress the PMI that may originate in both locations. For the embodiment of suppressing PMI that originates in the fiber amplifier 18 that is not a PM fiber, the delivery fiber 24 should optimally be coupled to the fiber amplifier 18 so that the effective slow axis of both fibers are aligned.

(12) FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a fiber amplifier 50 that can be employed as the fiber amplifier 18, where the fiber amplifier 50 includes a fiber coil 52 wrapped around a cylindrical mandrel 54. The fiber amplifier 50 may be configured as a coil for packaging purposes, where it requires reduced space. As mentioned above, wrapping a fiber in a coil configuration causes a stress-induced coiling birefringence whose slow axis is typically parallel to the fiber coiling axis as represented by arrow 56. By understanding that the direction of the coil axis defines the slow axis of the induced birefringence, the end of the coil 52 coupled to the delivery fiber 24 by the coupler 26 can be properly aligned to the slow axis of the delivery fiber 24 to suppress the PMI induced in the fiber amplifier 18 as discussed above.

(13) It is often desirable to provide an adiabatic taper to the delivery fiber in these types of fiber laser amplifier systems so as to increase the size of the fiber core from a smaller end to a larger end to spread out the power in the core, which reduces the effects of the nonlinear issues discussed above. However, as the size of the core increases, the ability to maintain the wave guiding properties of the core is reduced, where the light propagating in the lower single propagation mode often couples into higher order modes that have a more degraded beam quality. By tapering the delivery fiber, the size of the core can be gradually increased, which reduces coupling into the higher order modes, and allows a reduction in the nonlinear effects.

(14) However, for PM fibers that have stress rods, it is often difficult to provide the taper without the stress rods interfering with the core. In other words, the amount of induced stress in the core at the small diameter end of a tapered fiber is significantly larger than the amount of stress induced in the core at the large diameter end of the fiber. Thus, this change in the index of refraction has the effect of increasing the coupling into the higher order modes. Because small levels of birefringence are required to suppress PMI, the necessary and isotropic stress-inducing elements, i.e., the rods 46 and 48, in the delivery fiber 24 may be located spatially remote from the fiber core 44, such as at a distance of many 10 s to about 100 m away from the core 44. Because of the small necessary birefringence and the resulting large tolerance to the core/stress rod separation and profile, the ability to manufacture weakly adiabatic fiber tapers that do not induce spatial mode coupling that would otherwise cause beam propagation in higher order modes, and thus preserve the beam quality of the transmitted light is feasible. Hence, because the level of induced birefringence is low as discussed above, and the delivery fiber 24 can be a weakly PM delivery fiber, it is possible to replace the delivery fiber 24 with an adiabatically tapered fiber to further reduce the PMI.

(15) FIG. 4 is a side view of an adiabatically tapered PM delivery fiber 60 that could replace the delivery fiber 24 that includes an input end 62 that would be coupled to the coupler 26 and an output end 64 that would be coupled to the end cap 28. The delivery fiber 60 includes a small diameter straight input section 66, a tapered section 68 that gradually increases the diameter of the delivery fiber 60, and a large diameter straight output section 70 that has a continuous diameter.

(16) As mentioned above, eliminating the effects of PMI for long delivery fibers allows for a better ability to employ CBC. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a fiber laser amplifier system 80 having a CBC architecture and benefiting from the embodiments discussed above to suppress PMI, where like elements to the system 10 are identified by the same reference number. In this embodiment, the output of the MO 12 is split by a beam splitter 82 and provided on a plurality of separate channels 84, where each channel 84 includes a polarization modulator 16 and a fiber amplifier 18. Each channel 84 also includes a phase modulator 88 that controls the phase of each of the split beams so that they are in phase with each other, and a fiber coupler 86, such as a TFB, that couples each of the fiber amplifiers 18. The polarization controller 40 is replaced with a multichannel polarization controller 90 to control the polarization modulators 16 in each of the channels 84. The system 80 also includes a multichannel phase controller 92 that controls the phase modulator 88 in each of the channels 84 based on the intensity of the signal from the detector 38 to provide the proper phase control of the split beams.

(17) The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion and from the accompanying drawings and claims that various changes, modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.