FIBRE-LASER PUMPED DIAMOND RAMAN LASERS FOR LIDAR AND CLEAR PLASTICS WELDING

钻石和纤维是天然的组合，为高功率激光提供了一个平台，使其进入迄今无法达到的参数状态，并服务于新的应用。尽管它的简单性很吸引人，但这一领域在很大程度上仍未被开发。在这里，我们建议建立一种合作伙伴关系，通过对支撑设备科学的仔细研究，实现高影响力的应用。这将导致光纤泵浦钻石拉曼激光器的性能量身定做的应用在激光雷达和透明塑料加工。我们的目标是为此奠定基础，使其成为许多重要激光应用的首选方法。光纤激光器因其可靠性、低拥有成本、成熟的性能和出色的功率可扩展性而成为从医学到材料加工的首选激光。虽然适中的激光参数和标准波长足以满足许多应用，但更多的应用需要更好的光束质量、更窄的线宽、特定的波长或控制良好的高能脉冲-但仍需要数百瓦的输出功率。光纤激光器很少能同时满足这些要求。在这个项目中，我们的目标是通过使用钻石，通过同时增强亮度的受激拉曼散射(SRS)将光纤激光器进一步转换到红外，并在脉冲的情况下，将光谱变窄，从而克服光纤光源的这些一般限制。英国在光纤激光器研究方面确立了世界领先地位，并在率先在拉曼激光器中使用钻石方面发挥了主导作用。光纤激光器和钻石都被公认为具有超强的功率可伸缩性，这要归功于出色的光学和热性能。我们的方法将利用光纤系统的优势--效率、紧凑性和可靠性--同时改进其输出，以更好地应对关键的工业挑战。虽然纤维和钻石的组合是一种平台解决方案，可以满足广泛的波长特定应用，特别是在近红外范围内，但在这个项目中，我们的目标是在两个对我们的工业合作伙伴很重要的领域证明这项技术。这项提议将提供一种新型激光器，它具有独特的功率、亮度、光谱纯度和波长的组合，在激光雷达和透明塑料加工中具有重要的工业应用。

Diamond and fibre are a natural match that provides a platform to take high-power lasers into hitherto unattainable parameter regimes and to serve new applications. Though attractive in its simplicity, this area remains largely unexplored. Here, we propose a partnership that will enable high-impact applications through careful investigation of the underpinning device science. This will lead to fibre-pumped diamond Raman lasers with properties tailored to applications in LIDAR and clear plastics processing. We aim to lay the foundations for this to become the preferred approach for a number of important laser applications.Fibre lasers are the laser of choice from medicine to materials processing thanks to their reliability, low cost of ownership, proven performance, and outstanding power scalability. While moderate laser parameters and standard wavelengths suffice for many applications, many more require better beam quality, narrower linewidths, specific wavelengths, or well-controlled high-energy pulses - but still at hundreds of watts of output power. Fibre lasers can only rarely simultaneously satisfy these requirements. In this project, we aim to overcome these generic limitations of fibre sources by employing diamond to shift fibre lasers further into infrared via stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) with simultaneous brightness enhancement and, in the case of pulses, spectral narrowing towards the transform-limit.The UK is established as a world leader in fibre laser research and has played a leading role in pioneering the use of diamond in Raman lasers. Both fibre lasers and diamond are recognized as being superbly power scalable thanks to superior optical and thermal properties. Our approach will harness the advantages of fibre systems - efficiency, compactness, and reliability - while modifying their output to better address key industrial challenges. While the combination of fibre and diamond is a platform solution that can address a wide range of wavelength-specific applications, especially in the near IR range, in this project we aim to prove the technology in two areas that are important for our industrial partners. This proposal will deliver a new type of laser that is uniquely capable of the combination of power, brightness, spectral purity and wavelength required for industrially important applications in LIDAR and clear plastic processing.