Ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source based on dual-band fiber laser

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016190764-A1
Application number	US-201615060626-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 4, 2016
Priority date	Aug 6, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention is applicable to the field of fiber laser technologies. In the present invention, two fiber lasers of different bands are used as seed sources to form a dual-band fiber laser that outputs beams of two bands simultaneously, and the dual-band fiber laser is used to pump the cascaded evolving assemblies. Specifically, when the laser beams of the two bands go through a first-stage evolving assembly, the laser of one band is evolved into a visible-to-near-infrared supercontinuum, while the laser of the other band is evolved into an ultra-short pulse; the visible-to-near-infrared supercontinuum and the ultra-short pulse are coupled and enter a second-stage evolving assembly; the ultra-short pulse is further evolved into a near-infrared-to-mid-infrared supercontinuum, in which the visible-to-near-infrared supercontinuum generated at the previous stage is transmitted in a low loss manner; and an ultra-wideband supercontinuum covering visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared bands is finally output from cascaded fibers.

First claim

1 . An ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source based on a dual-band fiber laser, wherein the ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source comprises:
a first fiber laser, configured to generate a first-band laser beam, wherein the first-band laser beam is used to be evolved into a visible-to-near-infrared supercontinuum; a second fiber laser, configured to generate a second-band laser beam, wherein the second-band laser beam is used to be evolved into a near-infrared-to-mid-infrared supercontinuum; a wavelength division multiplexer, configured to combine the first-band laser beam and the second-band laser beam; a silica PCF, one end of which is connected to an output end of the wavelength division multiplexer by using a fiber, and which is configured to output a laser beam after a first-stage non-linear effect is imposed on the combined laser beam, so that the first-band laser beam is evolved into a visible-to-near-infrared supercontinuum and that the second-band laser beam is evolved into an ultra-short pulse through modulation instability; and a non-silica glass fiber, one end of which is connected to an output end of the silica PCF by using a fiber, and which is configured to impose a second-stage non-linear effect on the laser beam after the first-stage non-linear effect is imposed, so that the ultra-short pulse with modulation instability is evolved into a near-infrared-to-mid-infrared supercontinuum, so that an ultra-wideband supercontinuum covering visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared bands is output.

2 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 1 , wherein the band of the first-band laser is 1 μm and the band of the second-band laser is 1.5 μm or 2 μm.

3 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 1 , wherein two input ends of the wavelength division multiplexer are connected to the first fiber laser and the second fiber laser respectively, and the output end of the wavelength division multiplexer is connected to one end of the silica PCF by using a fiber.

4 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 1 , wherein the ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source further comprises a dual-band fiber amplifier configured to amplify the first-band laser beam and the second-band laser beam simultaneously, wherein:
the wavelength division multiplexer is connected to the silica PCF by using the dual-band fiber amplifier.

5 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 4 , wherein the dual-band fiber amplifier comprises:
a pump beam combiner, configured to combine multiple pump laser beams; an Er—Yb co-doped double-clad fiber, connected between an output end of the pump beam combiner and the silica PCF; and a pump source, configured to pump the Er—Yb co-doped double-clad fiber by using the pump beam combiner.

6 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 5 , wherein the pump source is a 915 nm or 976 nm semiconductor laser.

7 . The ultra-wideband supercontinuum light source according to claim 1 , wherein the first fiber laser and the second fiber laser are connected to the wavelength division multiplexer respectively by using a fiber isolator.

Assignees

• Univ Shenzhen

Inventors

• Guo Chunyu
• Ruan Shuangchen
• Lin Huaiqin
• Wen Liang
• Ouyang Deqin
• Yu Jun

Classifications

• H01S3/06754

  Fibre amplifiers (H01S3/06708 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01S3/23

  Arrangements of two or more lasers not provided for in groups H01S3/02 - H01S3/22, e.g. tandem arrangements of separate active media · CPC title

• H01S3/06733

  Fibre having more than one cladding · CPC title

• H01S3/1608

  erbium · CPC title

• H01S3/1618

  ytterbium · CPC title