The influence of axial offset of fusion splicing on a large mode area fiber based oscillator

Fiber oscillators have the potential for achieving high power, high beam quality lasers with simple and compact structure, of which the fusion splicing point is an important aspect to the laser output characteristics. A model taking into account the axial offset of the splicing point and spatial mode competition has been proposed to analyze the mode interaction of a large mode area fiber based oscillator. The calculated results show that the axial offset of the output side fusion point has the main influence on the laser output beam quality, but the axial offset would not obviously reduce the optical efficiency, especially when the value is smaller than 2 μm. The influence of cavity parameters on the laser output characteristics under the existence of splicing point with axial offset has also been discussed. This model can provide a method for analyzing the mode dynamic that may be helpful for understanding the mode interactions in fiber oscillators.

Characteristics of Collimators Based on the Large-Mode-Area CMCF for Coupling Laser Beam

A new collimator based on a homemade concentric multilayer-core fiber (CMCF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. This collimator was fabricated using a tail fiber with large mode area and single-mode operation. By exploiting the optical transmission matrix, the propagation characteristic and coupling mechanism of this CMCF-based collimator was introduced meticulously. The coupling losses of the laser beam using this collimator in the off-axis, angular, and axial deviations were analyzed separately. In order to determine the relationship between the geometric redundancy of this collimator and the effective mode field area of the tail fiber, the corresponding mathematical model was established. Through model calculation and experiment measurement, the coupling properties of the collimator were improved effectively. Compared with the common SMF-based collimator, the declination redundancy of the CMCF-based one improved by 20%, which could make the coupling of the optical fiber collimator easier. Therefore, this collimator has potential application value in the laser diode coupling unit and high-speed optical communication system.