Sonstige Publikationen

Accessing the molecular fingerprint region between 2 and 20 mu m is a key aspect in modern metrology and spectroscopy. While the wavelength range from 2-5 mu m can easily be addressed through nonlinear frequency conversion starting from well-matured 1 mu m driving lasers, access to the deep mid-IR wavelength regime is difficult. This is, because of the limited transmission of non-oxide crystals (that offer high nonlinearity and good transmission for the aspired mid-IR idler) at the pump wavelength and/or multi-photon absorption. Shifting to a longer pump wavelength relieves these limitations. In this work we present an experiment based on intra pulse difference frequency generation (IPDFG) in GaSe driven by an ultrafast Tm-doped chirped pulse amplifier. This experiment led to an octave spanning mid-IR spectrum, covering the wavelength range between 7.2-16.5 mu m (-10 dB width) with 450 mW of average power at 1.25 MHz repetition rate. This result outperforms comparable sources driven at 1 mu m wavelength in average power and conversion efficiency, while providing much broader spectral coverage. To further facilitate the use of these promising sources in real-world spectroscopic applications, we have built a nonlinear amplifier, which, based on its compact and robust design is an ideal candidate in this respect. Optimizing the output ultimately led to high pulse quality 50 fs pulses with 250 nJ of pulse energy at 80 MHz of repetition rate and 20 W average output power, exceeding current designs in the anomalous dispersion regime by 1 order of magnitude. It is our ongoing effort to utilize this laser for parametric downconversion. Covering the wavelength regime beyond 5 mu m wavelength would make it an enabling technology for next generation spectroscopy, fundamental and life sciences.

In this work, we study the generation and evolution of phase-shifts between the modal interference pattern and the thermally-induced index grating due to pump-power changes. This study is not only important to understand new mitigation strategies based on controlling such phase-shifts, but also to comprehend how pump/signal noise can trigger TMI. Understanding how such a phase-shift can develop from a pump/signal change is not trivial, since the movement of both the MIP and the RIG are thermally driven and, therefore, should have similar time constants. Our simulations show unequivocally that a change of the pump power will lead to the generation of a phase-shift and the physical reason for this behavior is unveiled. The main reason is an increased sensitivity of the MIP to temperature variations because the local beat-length changes of the MIP are accumulated along the whole fiber length. Therefore, the further downstream the fiber a MIP maximum is (i.e. closer to the pump end in a counter-pumped configuration), the stronger and faster its position shift will be. This insight shows a way to obtain more TMI-resilient fiber designs and may help understanding the core area dependence of TMI.

We present theoretical and experimental investigations on effective single-transverse mode propagation in very large mode area (VLMA) fibers. Upscaling the mode area of fibers is the most effective approach to reduce the nonlinear interaction and, therefore, to allow for the confinement of high-power radiation without detrimental nonlinear effects. Even though the investigations are carried out in a passive large pitch fiber (LPF), they reveal an intrinsic scaling potential of this design which, if unlocked, will be beneficial for active VLMA fibers in the future. A commercial mode solver based on a full-vectorial finite-difference approach has been used to simulate the confinement losses of the fundamental and higher-order transverse modes. These simulations have revealed that the differential loss in one-missing-hole photonic crystal fibers can be tailored to be larger than 10 dB/m for fiber core sizes larger than 200 mu m at 1 mu m wavelength. In order to test the theoretical predictions experimental investigations have been performed. Therefore, a rod-type fiber has been fabricated and effective single-mode operation with unprecedented large mode-field diameters has been demonstrated. We were able to achieve single-mode propagation in a passive 1.3 m long LPF with a pitch of 140 mu m possessing a mode-field diameter of 205 mu m. Even a strong misalignment of the coupling condition did not lead to any significant appearance of higher order modes at the fiber exit, which proves the robustness of the single-mode operation. To the best of our knowledge these results represent the largest dimension of a fundamental transverse mode reported in a waveguide structure at 1 mu m wavelength to date. Compared to previous results the mode area is scaled by a factor of about 4 (with respect to active fibers) and a factor of similar to 8 (with respect to passive fibers).

In this work we have investigated the impact of pump-power noise on transverse mode instabilities (TMI) in high-power fiber laser systems. This is a crucial study since former works have shown that pump-power variations can induce a phase shift between the modal interference pattern and the thermally-induced refractive index grating and, thus, they are the most likely trigger for TMI. To experimentally investigate this behavior, we have generated white noise for different frequency bands with an arbitrary waveform generator and applied it to the pump diode. In a first experiment we have evaluated the frequency range of interest. It was found that only frequency components of the pump noise close to the main frequency of the TMI fluctuations influence the TMI threshold of the fiber laser system. In a second experiment we have measured the TMI threshold of the free-running system and compared it to the ones obtained when applying different pump-noise amplitudes. It was found that the TMI threshold can be decreased by almost a factor of three by increasing the noise of the pump source. This result is in good agreement with former theoretical and experimental studies and suggests that pump-power noise indeed acts as a main trigger for TMI. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the development of pump sources and drivers with a low noise level in a frequency range close to the main frequency of the TMI fluctuations could help to increase the TMI threshold of fiber laser systems.