Fraunhofer IOF

5th international workshop on fiber lasers in Dresden 2009

High repetition rate short pulse fiber lasers and
amplifiers: Fundamentals and perspectives
Andreas Tnnermann
Fraunhofer-Institut fr Angewandte Optik
und Feinmechanik IOF
Albert-Einstein-Strae 7
07745 Jena
Fraunhofer IOF
Laser Focus World 2009, Author: Gail Overton, Stephen G. Anderson
percentage of overall laser revenues
Laser by application
Fraunhofer IOF
solid state laser market (2008):
1,500 Mio. US$
Laser Focus World 2009, Author: Gail Overton, Stephen G. Anderson
Laser by technology
Fraunhofer IOF
Fiber laser market
others;
27%
medicine;
7%
material
processing;
67%
others;
23%
medicine;
7%
material
processing;
70%
2005
105 Mio. US$
2008
300 Mio. US$
fiber laser market:
annual growth + 40%
source: Optech Consulting
Fraunhofer IOF
Fiber lasers basic principles
High power, high energy nanosecond fiber amplifiers
High power femtosecond fiber amplifiers
Laser micromachining
Conclusion
Outline
Fraunhofer IOF
power combiner
active fiber
power supply
pump diodes
OC (LR FBG) HR FBG
Fiber laser: basic principle
Fraunhofer IOF
inner cladding
outer cladding
active core
pump
light
laser radiation
refractive index profile
n
E. Snitzer, H. Po, F. Hakimi, R. Tumminelli, and B.C. McCollum, Double-clad, offset core Nd fiber laser,
in Optical Fiber Sensors, Vol.2 of 1988 OSA Technical Digest Series (1988), postdeadline paper PD5.
highly efficient brightness conversion
using the laser process
2 2 2

=
y x
M M
P
Brightness
example: IC 400 m/NA = 0.4 (M
2
~ 260)
brightness improvement by factor ~70000
Double-clad fiber laser
Fraunhofer IOF
inelastic scattering process of photons on optical phonons
1050 1075 1100 1125 1150 1175 1200
1. Stokes Laser
Laserlesitung
100 W
110 W
120 W


i
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y

[
a
.

E
.
]
wavelength [nm]
p P
E h =
s S
E h =
f i
E E
Raman-spectrum
R eff
eff
SRS
g L
A
P 16
g
B
= Raman-gain coefficient,
A
eff
= eff. area
L
eff
= effective interaction length
G.P. Agrawal Nonlinear fiber optics,
Academic Press, 1995
THz
p S
13
in silica
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42
0,0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1,0


R
a
m
a
n
-
g
a
i
n

[
*
1
0
-
1
3

m
/
W
]
frequency shift [THz]
Raman-gain coefficient
R. H. Stolen, Proc. IEEE, 68, 1232, 1980
Power scaling limitation nonlinearity (SRS)
Fraunhofer IOF
core <10 m
core NA = 0.1 0.2
absorption length > 20 m
n
n
active core
pump core
coating
double-clad single-mode fiber
double-clad large-mode-area fiber
active core
pump core
coating
core = 30 .. 40 m
core NA = 0.06 .. 0.08
absorption length < 10 m
increased mode-field diameter
reduced fiber length
reduced nonlinearity
D. Taverner, D.J. Richardson, L. Dong, J.E. Caplen, K. Williams, and R.V. Penty,
158-J pulses from a single-transverse-mode, large-mode-area erbium-doped fiber amplifier, Opt. Lett. 22, 378 (1997).
Low-NA large-mode-area fiber design
Fraunhofer IOF
microstructured fiber
air
glass
d

step-index fiber
2a
n
core
n
cladding
n ~ 110
-4
NA ~ 0.02
n ~ 110
-3
NA ~ 0.06
significantly larger single-mode core possible
N.A. Mortensen, J.R. Folkenberg, M.D. Nielsen, and K.P. Hansen, "Modal cut-off and the V-parameter in photonic crystal
fibers", Opt. Lett. 28, 1879 (2003).
Microstructured fibers
Fraunhofer IOF
taken from: Kim P. Hansen et.al.
Photonic Crystal Fibers, Photonics West 2005
Air cladding region high NA inner cladding
Fraunhofer IOF
inner cladding: = 170 .. 210 m (NA > 0.6) AC
core: = 40 .. 50 m, NA = 0.03, MFD ~ 45 m
pump light absorption: >10 dB/m @ 976 nm
strictly single-mode operation with a MFA ~1000 .. 1600 m
2
!!!
outer cladding
air-clad
inner cladding
active core
M
2
< 1.2
J. Limpert, Low-nonlinearity single-transverse-mode ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier, Opt. Express 12,
1313-1319 (2004).
Extended large-mode-area single-mode RE-doped PCF
Fraunhofer IOF
ORC-Southampton,
Great Britan
Tokyo University,
Japan
FSU-IAP, FhG-IOF &
IPHT, Jena, Germany
University of Michigan,
USA
IPG
SPI
JDSU / SDL
Jenoptik
Nufern
Crystal Fibre
1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
step index fiber
photonic crystal fiber
370 W
1530 W
2000 W
1360 W
260 W
80 W
4 W
1300 W
800 W
600 W
135 W
200 W
400 W
150 W
170 W
485 W
110 W
9,2 W
5 W
30 W
270 W
C
W

o
u
t
p
u
t
p
o
w
e
r

[
W
]
Year
1900 W
evolution of cw fiber laser
Diode-pumped double clad fiber laser (cw output)
Fraunhofer IOF
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
100
1000
10000
IAP
IAP+IOF
IPG
IPHT+IAP
SPI
J O+IAP
Michigan

O
u
t
p
u
t

P
o
w
e
r

/

W

Year
Diode-pumped double clad fiber laser (cw output)
evolution of cw fiber laser
Fraunhofer IOF
laser core
(generated heat)
pump core
coating
one-dimensional heat conduction equation
0
r K
r Q
dr
r dT
r
1
dr
T d
2
2
= +

+
) (
) ( ) (
Q: generated heat per unit volume
K: thermal conductivity
0 1 2 3 4 50 100150200250300350
region of the
pump core
region of the
laser core

T

[
a
.
u
.
]
radius [m]
heat conduction
radiative heat dissipation
and convective heat flow
T dA dQ
k convection
=
( )
4
2
4
1 radiation
T T dA dQ =

k
: heat transition coefficient
: Stefan-Boltzmann-constant
: emission factor
Temperature profile
Thermo-optical effects
Fraunhofer IOF
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1200 W/m extracted
damage threshold
SRS threshold


P
o
w
e
r

[
k
W
]
Fiber length [m]
@ 40 m core diameter
cw 10 kW-class single-mode fiber laser
Power scaling limitations
Fraunhofer IOF
ILT, IOF, IWS, IFSW
r
F

F
r
0

0
= r
F

F
BPP = r
r
0
beam power [W]
b
e
a
m
p
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
p
r
o
d
u
c
t
B
P
P

[
m
m

m
r
a
d
]
0,1
1
10
100
10 100 1000 10000
diode laser
fibre laser
disc laser
Nd:YAG-laser
CO
2
-laser
High power lasers: beam quality and output power
Fraunhofer IOF
Outline
Fiber lasers basic principles
High power, high energy nanosecond fiber amplifiers
High power femtosecond fiber amplifiers
Laser micromachining
Conclusion
Fraunhofer IOF
seed source
isolator
pre-amp
booster
ASE filter
isolator
end-cap
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA
Fraunhofer IOF
Input Output
Output Input
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

Pulsed fiber laser MOPA - 3-stage amplifier

Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

5W
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA diode laser seed source
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

Pulsed fiber laser MOPA - electronics

Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

Pulsed fiber laser MOPA - electronics

Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

~1mW
5W
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA 1st preamplifier
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

0.1W
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA 2nd preamplifier
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

1031 1032 1033 1034 1035

-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10


S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

p
o
w
e
r

[
d
B
]
Wavelength [nm]
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA ASE-filter
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator (50kHz)
Analog pulse
generator + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30cm, PM-6m
WDM
SM-pump
(976nm)
2m, PM-10/125
electronics
pump
(976nm)
grating
(ASE-filter)
pinhole
pump
(976nm)
to combining
stage
1.2m, rod-type PCF, 80/200
2

~50 W
1 mJ
Pump core
(200 m)
Active core
(80 m)
Air clad
MFD ~ 70 m
MFA ~ 4000 m
2
Low nonlinearites!
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA power amplifier
Fraunhofer IOF
system parameters:
o) number of channels = 4
o) pulse repetition rate = 50 kHz
o) pulse duration = 2.2 ns
Reflection grating
Output
3-stage amplifier
Combining stage
1
2
3
4
Sources
:
:
:
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA spectral combining
Fraunhofer IOF
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
P
h
o
t
o

d
i
o
d
e

s
i
g
n
a
l

[

a
.
u
.

]
Time [ ns ]
2.2 ns
~ 2.1 ns
Combined Beam = 2.2 ns
(Almost perfect overlap possible!)
Scaling of pulse parameters
by factor ~4!
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA spectral combining
Fraunhofer IOF
Dielectric reflection
grating
(1030 nm)
(1032nm)
(1034 nm)
(1036 nm)
Combined
output
(1740 lines/mm)
Folding mirrors
combining efficiency 97%
P
avg
= 187 W
E
pulse
= 3.7 mJ
P
peak
= 1.7 MW
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA spectral combining
Fraunhofer IOF
Digital function
generator:
f
Rep
= 5 MHz
Analog pulse
generator:
5 ns pulses + delay
Ch1
Ch2 Ch3 Ch4
ECDL
30 cm PM-6m
WDM
SM-LD
2 m PM-10/125
electronics
LD
1.6 m PZ-40/200
LD
LD
15 m 42/500
Single output
HWP
IF
water-cooled
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA high repetition rate
Fraunhofer IOF
f
rep
= 5 MHz, T
pulse
= 5 ns, 4 laser systems
1032 1034 1036 1038 1040 1042 1044 1046
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
4nm
Channel 4 Channel 3 Channel 2 Channel 1


S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

p
o
w
e
r

[
d
B
]
Wavelength [nm]
Main amplifier fiber
Length ~ 15 m

pump core
~ 500 m

active core
~ 42 m
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA high repetition rate
Fraunhofer IOF
Slope efficiency = 49%
1.1 kW
Combining efficiency = 99%
E
pulse
= 220 J
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
A
v
e
r
a
g
e
o
u
t
p
u
t
p
o
w
e
r

[
W
]
Launched pump power [W]
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
M
2
x

(
h
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l
)
combined beam
Pulsed fiber laser MOPA high repetition rate
Fraunhofer IOF
f
rep
= 50 kHz, T
pulse
= 2.2 ns
P
avg
= 187 W
E
pulse
= 3.7 mJ
P
peak
= 1.7 MW
f
rep
= 5 MHz, T
pulse
= 5 ns
P
avg
= 1100 W
E
pulse
= 220 J
P
peak
= 44 kW
high pulse energy high average power
O. Schmidt, C. Wirth, I. Tsybin, T. Schreiber, R. Eberhardt,
J. Limpert, and A. Tnnermann, "Average power of 1.1 kW
from spectrally combined, fiber-amplified, nanosecond-pulsed
sources," Opt. Lett. 34, 1567-1569 (2009).
O. Schmidt, T. V. Andersen, J. Limpert, and A.
Tnnermann, "187 W, 3.7 mJ from spectrally combined
pulsed 2 ns fiber amplifiers," Opt. Lett. 34, 226-228
(2009).
Nanosecond pulsed fiber laser MOPA
Fraunhofer IOF
Outline
Fiber lasers basic principles
High power, high energy nanosecond fiber amplifiers
High power femtosecond fiber amplifiers
Laser micromachining
Conclusion
Fraunhofer IOF
amplifier
stretched pulse
amplified pulse
stretcher compressor
short
pulse
amplified
short pulse
D. Strickland and G. Mourou, Compression of amplified optical pulses, Opt. Comm. 56, 3, 219 (1985).
Chirped-pulse-amplification
Fraunhofer IOF
isolator
Isolator
diode laser
dielectric grating
compressor
fs-oscillator
preamplifier
diode laser
Yb-doped
power amplifier
2 W, 10 MHz
350 fs, 1030 nm
temporal scaling
larger stretching
factor
spacial scaling
increased mode-field-area
dielectric grating
stretcher
AOM
80 MHz...10 kHz
output
CPA-fiber amplifier
Fraunhofer IOF
820 W average power @ 650 fs
15 MW peak power (78 MHz rep.-rate)
CPA-fiber amplifier high average power system
Fraunhofer IOF
autocorrelation trace
0 50 100 150 200 250
0
20
40
60
80
100
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
e
d

o
u
t
p
u
t

p
o
w
e
r

[
W
]
Launched pump power [W]
slope efficiency =46%
100 W compressed @ 100 kHz
1 mJ pulse energy
compressed output
CPA-fiber amplifier high energy system
-10 -5 0 5 10
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0

AC
= 1.23 ps

AC
= 1.2 ps

AC
= 0.93 ps
S
H

I
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y

[
a
.
u
.
]
Time delay [ps]
200/80 Rod-type PCF
Fraunhofer IOF

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
1k
10k
100k
1M
10M
100M
1G
10G


Uni J ena
IMRA
Uni Bordeaux
Cornell Uni
P
u
l
s
e

p
e
a
k

p
o
w
e
r

[
W
]
year
evolution of peak pulse of high repetition rate ultrafast fiber laser
Fiber lasers and amplifiers: peak power
Fraunhofer IOF
Outline
Fiber lasers basic principles
High power, high energy nanosecond fiber amplifiers
High power femtosecond fiber amplifiers
Laser micromachining
Conclusion
Fraunhofer IOF
long pulses ( > 10 ps) ultrashort pulses ( < 1 ps)
Skin-depth ~ 10 nm
v
expansion
~ v
sound
~ 10
5
- 10
7
cm/s
x
plasma
(100 fs) ~ 1 - 10 nm x
plasma
(10 ns) ~ 100 - 1000 m
Plasma Shielding!
Interaction of intense laser radiation with solids
Fraunhofer IOF
Streak camera image of an expanding laser produced tungsten plasma
laser pulse
plasma
front
v
expans
= 510
6
cm/s
expanding plasma
Plasma expansion
Fraunhofer IOF
fs ps
ns
s
energy
deposition
electronic
thermalization
electron lattice
energy exchange
ablation
max. rep.-rate: 100 kHz 1 MHz
Time scales in ultra short pulse machining
Fraunhofer IOF
entrance
exit
material: steel
thickness: 200 m
pulse duration: 170 fs
fluence: 2.5 J/cm
high aspect ratio!
Precision drillings in steel
Fraunhofer IOF
Fresnel formulas:
( )
2
2
2
2 2
2
1
cos sin
n
n
E
E
R
is
rs
s

= =
2
2 2 2
2 2 2
2
sin cos
sin cos
+

= =
n n
n n
E
E
R
ip
rp
p
Influence of the polarization
Fraunhofer IOF
linearly polarized
material: steel
thickness: s = 1.0 mm
diffractive optics
environment: air
rear surface
Polarization trepanning
Fraunhofer IOF
entrance
hole diameter: 50 m
material: 1.4301
thickness: 0.2 mm
combination of DOE and
lens:
DOE : ring-profile
lens: f = 40 mm
pulse duration: 120 fs
pulse energy: 600 J
rep. rate: 1 kHz
process gas: Helium
exit
array
detail detail
array
drillings parameters
Micro-drilling of stainless steel
Fraunhofer IOF
material: steel
laser: Ti:Sapphire
wavelength: 780 nm
pulse energy: 40 J
160 fs, 1000 Pulses
22.8 ps, 1000 Pulses
Influence of pulse duration - efficiency
Fraunhofer IOF
fuel injection nozzles details of fs-drilled hole
exit
replica
entry
material: steel
pulse duration: 120 fs
focal length: 80 mm
Precision drillings in steel
Fraunhofer IOF
( )
2 1
2
0
4
/
Dt t
w I
T
l a


=
I
a
: absorbed laser-light intensity
W
0
: beam waist

l
: pulse duration
: thermal conductivity
D : heat diffusivity
: repetition rate
E
p
:Pulse energy
N.P.
MELT
= T
M
/ T
Minimum number of pulses to reach the melting temperature:
Analytical solution of the cooling cycle after a single pulse for t
l
t = 1/
2 5
2 3
4
/
/

P l
M
MELT
E A
T D
NP
D. Buerle, Laser Processing and Chemistry (1996)
Heat accumulation
Fraunhofer IOF
Material: Stainless steel
Pulse duration: 800 fs
Repetition Rate = 100 kHz
Pulse Energy E
p
= 30 J
= 400 kHz
E
p
= 30 J
A. Ancona et al., Opt. Exp. 16(12), 8958 (2008)
Effect of heat accumulation - SEM images
Fraunhofer IOF
Material:
Stainless steel
higher ablation efficiency for shorter pulses
for longer pulses both particle shielding and heat accumulation occur at lower rep. rates
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
50
100
150
200
250
300
N
u
m
b
e
r
o
f

p
u
l
s
e
s
t
o

d
r
i
l
l

t
h
r
o
u
g
h
(
x

1
0
0
0
)
Repetition rate (kHz)
800 fs
19 ps
Variable pulse duration (pulse energy: 30 J)
Fraunhofer IOF
: 1030 nm
pulse width: 800 fs
pulse energy: 70 J
focal length: 25 mm
fluence: 33 J /cm
2
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
0.01
0.1
1



Repetition Rate (kHz)
B
r
e
a
k
t
h
r
o
u
g
h

T
i
m
e

(
s
)
Fe/Cr18Ni10
thickness
0.5 mm
1 mm
Percussion drilling of stainless steel
Fraunhofer IOF
laser fluence: ~ 1 J/cm
2
trepanning radius: 75 m
rotating speed: > 100 rounds/s
breakthrough time: 800 ms
stainless steel (Fe/Cr18Ni10),
thickness: 0.5 mm
Laser trepanning @ 510 kHz
Fraunhofer IOF
Outline
Fiber lasers basic principles
High power, high energy nanosecond fiber amplifiers
High power femtosecond fiber amplifiers
Laser micromachining
Conclusion
Fraunhofer IOF
Conclusion
short pulse fiber lasers and amplifiers
Pulse-energy: mJ-range
Peak power: GW-range
Average power: kW-range
novel applications in science and industry
Fraunhofer IOF
FhG IOF FhG IOF
FSU FSU- -Jena Jena IAP IAP