SBIR Phase II: Phase Locking of High Power Fiber Laser Arrays

SBIR 第二阶段：高功率光纤激光器阵列的锁相

• 批准号: 0091378
• 负责人: Peter Cheo
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: P C PHOTONICS CORPORATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-01-15 至 2003-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0091378&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Locking; Power

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is aimed at achieving the first ever 350W (cw) output power in a high brightness and diffraction-limited laser beam from a multicore phase-locked fiber laser array. Under Phase I, the feasibility of the unique power combining concept has been demonstrated by phase-locking a group of 7 Yb-doped single mode fiber lasers, embedded in a common cladding. In addition, a theoretical model has been developed, providing a deeper understanding of physical mechanisms responsible for phase-locking of a multicore fiber laser array. These results clearly indicate that this extremely challenging goal for Phase II can be accomplished. Nevertheless, there remain several obstacles that need to be removed before embarking on commercialization. First, a significant improvement of the laserperformance must be made. This can be accomplished by exploring various parameters, which include fiber length, cavity finesse, gain saturation, temperature and stress distributions, as well as fiber structural parameters, such as core separation and the V-value. In addition, an order of magnitude improvement for efficient coupling of pump power into the clad must be made. To advance this technology, various pumping techniques will be explored, in particular the side-pumping of the fiber laser from the cladding walls, instead of the fiber end facets. If successfully developed, this could be the most viable way to obtain the maximum output power without causing catastrophic damage. Finally, the reliability of the device when operating at very high power level must be established by raising the power damaging threshold. High power diode-pumped multicore fiber lasers can be very competitive in the market place as compared to high power diode-pumped solid-state lasers and C02 lasers presently employed by automotive, aerospace and ship-building industries for precision drilling, high-speed cutting and welding of metals and composition materials.

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在实现有史以来第一个350 W（cw）输出功率的高亮度和衍射限制激光束从多芯锁相光纤激光器阵列。在第一阶段，独特的功率合成概念的可行性已被证明锁相一组7掺镱单模光纤激光器，嵌入在一个共同的包层。此外，理论模型已经开发，提供了一个更深入的理解的物理机制负责的相位锁定的多芯光纤激光器阵列。 这些结果清楚地表明，第二阶段这一极具挑战性的目标是可以实现的。然而，在开始商业化之前，仍有一些障碍需要消除。 首先，必须对激光器的性能进行重大改进。 这可以通过探索各种参数来实现，这些参数包括光纤长度、腔精细度、增益饱和度、温度和应力分布，以及光纤结构参数，例如纤芯间隔和V值。此外，必须对泵浦功率到包层中的有效耦合进行数量级的改进。 为了推进这项技术，将探索各种泵浦技术，特别是从包层壁而不是光纤端面对光纤激光器进行侧面泵浦。 如果成功开发，这可能是获得最大输出功率而不造成灾难性损害的最可行方法。 最后，当在非常高的功率水平下操作时，必须通过提高功率损坏阈值来建立器件的可靠性。与目前由汽车、航空航天和造船工业用于金属和复合材料的精密钻孔、高速切割和焊接的高功率二极管泵浦固态激光器和CO2激光器相比，高功率二极管泵浦多芯光纤激光器在市场上可能非常有竞争力。