Efficient Diode Pumping Of Rare Earth Doped Fiber Lasers And Amplifiers PDF Download

"Rare-earth doped fiber lasers find wide applications in a variety of fields. Their high-efficiency operation is of interest to almost all of the applications. This Thesis explores the ultra-high efficiency rare-earth-doped fiber lasers in the infrared and visible wavelengths. Specifically, an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for deep-space communications was optimized and the world's first diode-pumped direct-oscillating silicate terbium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) was explored. For the deep-space EDFA, a numerical model for the amplifier was developed with which the raw amplifier efficiency was boosted all the way to the quantum defect limit by properly optimizing the amplifier design. Nonlinear optical (NLO) effects were calculated and the constraints they place on the operational data format were revealed. Within the NLO-free data format space, the dynamic gain effects were quantified and presented on the data format map. Their impact on the efficiency of the whole communication system was discussed. For the visible TDFL, a model for the laser was developed incorporating excited-state absorption (ESA), which is the major obstacle to lasing. A full spectroscopic characterization of the Tb3+ in silicate glass hosts was carried out. Two techniques for mitigating ESA were proposed and verified numerically with the model and the obtained parameters. A comprehensive design of the fiber laser was also performed yielding the optimum fiber design to achieve lasing. Finally, the experiments that laid down the foundation for realizing the visible TDFL were presented."--Page vii.