摘要:
An apparatus (10) for optically pumping an optical fiber (16) from the side comprising a laser (12) for supplying a beam of pump light (14), and an optical fiber (16) having a longitudinal surface disposed to the beam (14), a grating (34) formed in the flat surface (26) for diffracting the beam (14) at a predetermined angle, and an outer clad layer (22) proximate the grating (34) and so as to establish at least one propagating mode characterized by an angle, the predetermined angle being matched to such angle.
摘要:
A technique for operating a diode pumped solid state laser in a continuous-wave (cw) mode using diodes blocks (12) that are individually operated in a pulsed mode. For some high power laser applications, it is desirable to provide for operation in pulsed and cw modes, but pump diodes are typically designed for efficient operation in only one of these modes. The invention includes a controller (20) that pulses the individual diode blocks (12) on and off, but not necessarily in unison. For a pulsed mode of operation, the diodes (12) in an array are pulsed either at the same time, or sub-arrays are pulsed in a temporally interleaved manner for a higher effective pulse repetition rate. For the cw mode of operation, the diodes (12) are pulsed sequentially in sub-arrays (A-E), such that at least one sub-array is always energized and the complete array appears to be providing continuous pumping energy. In one embodiment, the sub-arrays (A-E) are columns of the array. In another embodiment, the sub-arrays (12') are each associated with a different solid-state gain medium (10'), the gain media being optically coupled in a single laser.
摘要:
An apparatus (10) for optically pumping an optical fiber (16) from the side comprising a laser (12) for supplying a beam of pump light (14), and an optical fiber (16) having a longitudinal surface disposed to the beam (14), a grating (34) formed in the flat surface (26) for diffracting the beam (14) at a predetermined angle, and an outer clad layer (22) proximate the grating (34) and so as to establish at least one propagating mode characterized by an angle, the predetermined angle being matched to such angle.