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Management of the high-order mode content in large (40 m) core photonic bandgap Bragg fiber laser
D. A. Gaponov,1 S. Fvrier,1,* M. Devautour,1 P. Roy,1 M. E. Likhachev,2 S. S. Aleshkina,2 M. Y. Salganskii,3 M. V. Yashkov,3 and A. N. Guryanov3
1 2

Xlim, UMR 6172 CNRS, University of Limoges 123 Avenue A. Thomas, 87060 Limoges, France

Fiber Optics Research Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, 38 Vavilov Street, Moscow, 119333, Russia 3 Institute of Chemistry of High Purity Substances, 49 Tropinin Street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia *Corresponding author: sebastien.fevrier@xlim.fr Received April 19, 2010; revised June 5, 2010; accepted June 6, 2010; posted June 11, 2010 (Doc. ID 127236); published June 25, 2010

Very large-mode-area Yb3 -doped single-mode photonic bandgap (PBG) Bragg fiber oscillators are considered. The transverse hole-burning effect is numerically modeled, which helps properly design the PBG cladding and the Yb3 doped region for the high-order mode content to be carefully controlled. A ratio of the Yb3 -doped region diameter to the overall core diameter of 40% allows for single-mode emission, even for small spool diameters of 15 cm. Such a fiber was manufactured and subsequently used as the core element of a cw oscillator. Very good beam quality parameter M 2 1:12 and slope efficiency of 80% were measured. Insensitivity to bending, exemplified by the absence of temporal drift of the beam, was demonstrated for curvature diameter as small as 15 cm. 2010 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.2280, 060.2270.

In todays oscillators or amplifiers, large-mode-area (LMA) fibers able to withstand very high light intensities, either in continuous or pulsed regimes, are indispensable. Recently, the highest performances in the femtosecond regime have been obtained using 80 m core diameter rod-type photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) from which 100 J, 370 MW, 270 fs pulses can be extracted [1]. This outstanding result was obtained with a rigid 2-mm-thick rod fiber. Very recently, 830 W average power 640 fs pulses were extracted from a three-stage chirped-pulse amplifier system incorporating 27 m mode field diameter fibers [2]. According to Eidam et al., using such fibers was dictated by the requirement of single-mode operation, which is not met at very high average powers in in large core diameter PCFs [2]. This detrimental behavior of LMA fibers has been attributed to the transverse hole-burning effect. In standing-wave laser cavities, spatial (longitudinal) hole burning is responsible for shaping the population inversion. The spatial distribution of the population inversion determines the gain of the different cavity modes and, therefore, which modes will oscillate. In LMA fiber amplifiers, Jiang and Marciante [3] showed that, even at moderate powers, the fundamental mode can dramatically deplete the inversion population near the fiber axis. This effect is referred to as transverse hole burning. Hence, the high-order transverse modes (HOM), taking benefit of their good overlap with peripheral ions, can be amplified. Therefore, in accurate modeling tools, the transverse variations of light intensities and population densities are taken into account [3,4]. The photonic bandgap (PBG) fiber was recently proposed as an alternative architecture for LMA fibers [5]. Shortly afterward, it was demonstrated to be a convenient candidate for cw [6] and femtosecond [7] oscillation regimes, as well as for the femtosecond amplification regime [8]. The fiber is composed of a low-index core surrounded by a periodic cladding composed of alternating high-n and low-n layers, which act as a cylindrical Bragg
0146-9592/10/132233-03$15.00/0

mirror. Thanks to its cylindrical symmetry, the fiber preform can be fabricated by the widespread modified chemical vapor deposition technique, which allows the extension of the doped area to be accurately controlled. In this Letter, a very accurate modeling of modal competition in LMA PBG Bragg fiber cw oscillators gives guidelines to properly design single-mode oscillators. The performances of a 40 m diameter core Yb3 -doped fiber are then experimentally assessed. In the model developed [4], the rate equations [9] are solved, taking into account the transverse dependence of the light intensity I k x; y; z, where the subscript k refers to any combination of wavelength (pump or signal), mode number, and parity (e.g., x-polarized LP01 , ypolarized LP11 , and so on). The population densities and, therefore, the population inversion are also space dependent. This allows for the possible multiple oscillating modes to be clearly identified. The pump and the signal wavelengths are fixed at P 0:977 m and S 1:04 m, respectively. The design is very similar to that proposed in [10], that is, a 40 m diameter down-doped core surrounded by three pairs of layers with index contrast n 15 103 relative to the silica background. Down-doping of the core, relative to the low n layers, has two major advantages. First, the HOMs are made leakier. Second, other things being equal, and particularly the wavelength, the period of the optimized cladding, enabling the PBG guidance, is made smaller, which implies a thinner overall cladding. As a consequence, this thin and bendable fiber is more likely to be single mode. The eight lowest-order guided modes (LP01 and LP02 ; odd and even LP11 , LP21 , LP12 ) are then searched for by the finite-element method. For each k, the rate equations are integrated over the fiber length and the I k x; y; z are evaluated over the Yb3 -doped area, which is supposed to be a disk of diameter Dd . The Yb3 ion concentration is equal to N 0 3:35 1025 m3 , corresponding to 10,000 parts per million (ppm) by weight. In Fig. 1(a), the modal lasing efficiency
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Fig. 1. (Color online) Modal lasing efficiency above threshold k computed versus (a) the ratio Dd =D and (b) the curvature radius Rb . Inset, refractive index profile of the PBG Bragg fiber. In (b), the labels refer to Dd =D. (c) LP01 and LP11 intensity distributions for Dd =D 40% and two curvature radii.

above threshold k is computed versus the ratio Dd =D. When the whole fiber core is doped with Yb3 ions, the population inversion is depleted near the fiber axis where the fundamental mode peaks. Yb3 ions located at the core edge are still inverted and opportunist HOMs with rather good overlap with these peripheral ions can oscillate. On the contrary, when the ratio Dd =D is decreased to 70%, the fundamental mode depletes the whole transverse population inversion, leaving the HOMs unamplified. They are, therefore, prohibited from oscillating. The HOM content can be managed by properly tailoring the doped diameter. The bent fiber should also be operated single mode. The modal lasing efficiency was then computed versus the curvature radius Rb and plotted in Fig. 1(b) for Dd =D 40% and 70%. It is worth

noting that too large a ratio Dd =D hinders the fiber from being operated single mode, even with moderate Rb 15 cm. On the other hand, decreasing Dd =D to 40% ensures a single-mode behavior as well as high slope efficiency for curvature radii larger than 5 cm. Figure 1(c) shows the modal intensity distributions for Rb 10 and 4:5 cm when Dd =D 40%. The boundary of the Yb-doped area is shown with a dashed white circle. For Rb 10 cm, the overlap of the LP11 mode with the doped area is much smaller than that of the LP01 , thereby implying a single-mode emission. For Rb 4:5 cm, the LP01 field intensity localizes at the core edge and overlaps less with the inverted ions, whereas one intensity lobe of the LP11 mode enters the doped area due to the bend-induced field shift. As a consequence, the LP11 mode starts to be amplified, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Moreover, the LP01 lasing efficiency decreases. A fiber preform was fabricated in several stages. First a Yb3 -doped preform was fabricated. Highly Yb3 (about 10,000 ppm by weight) core doping was obtained by utilization of metalorganics substances as precursors. The core was doped with Al2 O3 (to increase solubility of Yb3 ) and codoped with F (to provide the negative index difference). The diameter of the Yb3 -doped section was 3:5 mm, and the preform outer diameter was 8:5 mm (ratio Dd =D approximately equal to 40%). The preform refractive index profile (RIP) was measured and showed index variations along the radius that were attributed to the evaporation of core dopants during the preform collapse. In particular, a large index dip was measured at the fiber axis. Numerical optimization of the cladding was carried out, taking into account the actual core RIP. After the cladding preform has been fabricated, the core preform was inserted in the cladding preform. The overall preform was consolidated, given an octagonal shape, and drawn down into a double-clad low-index polymercoated active fiber with D 40 m. The fiber RIP was measured and plotted in Fig. 2. The outer cladding diameter is equal to 125 m. The cladding small signal absorption is then approximately equal to 6 dB=m at the pump wavelength (977 nm). Taking into account the actual RIP, the mode field diameter was estimated from computations to be 26 m. A 2-m-long fiber sample was then used as the core element of a continuous wave oscillator. The cavity was closed by a 100% mirror at S on one end, and the 4% Fresnel reflection was provided by a 90 cleave on the distal end. The signal output power, at the wavelength of 1:04 m, was measured versus the launched pump power

Fig. 2. Refractive index profile of the manufactured fiber.

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checked that no temporal drift can be observed for a curvature radius as small as 7:5 cm. In another experiment to be described elsewhere, an average pump power as high as 150 W was launched into an air-clad version of the fiber without excitation of high-order modes, confirming the fact that the management of high-order modes operates at higher power. The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche through grant ANR06BLAN-0091-01. We thank M. Hanna from the Laboratoire Charles Fabry de lInstitut dOptique, France, and Y. Zaouter from Amplitude Systmes, France, for the M 2 measurement. This work was partially supported by the Russian Fund for Basic Research, grant 10-08-01226-a.
References 1. Y. Zaouter, J. Boullet, E. Mottay, and E. Cormier, Opt. Lett. 33, 1527 (2008). 2. T. Eidam, S. Hanf, E. Seise, T. V. Andersen, T. Gabler, C. Wirth, T. Schreiber, J. Limpert, and A. Tnnermann, Opt. Lett. 35, 94 (2010). 3. Z. Jiang and J. R. Marciante, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25, 247 (2008). 4. M. Devautour, P. Roy, and S. Fvrier, in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/International Quantum Electronics Conference, OSA Technical Digest (CD) (Optical Society of America, 2009), paper JWA54. 5. S. Fvrier, R. Jamier, J.-M. Blondy, S. L. Semjonov, M. E. Likhachev, M. M. Bubnov, E. M. Dianov, V. F. Khopin, M. Y. Salganskii, and A. N. Guryanov, Opt. Express 14, 562 (2006). 6. S. Fvrier, D. D. Gaponov, P. Roy, M. E. Likhachev, S. L. Semjonov, M. M. Bubnov, E. M. Dianov, M. Yu. Yashkov, V. F. Khopin, M. Yu. Salganskii, and A. N. Guryanov, Opt. Lett. 33, 989 (2008). 7. C. Lecaplain, A. Hideur, S. Fvrier, and P. Roy, Opt. Lett. 34, 2879 (2009). 8. D. A. Gaponov, S. Fvrier, P. Roy, M. Hanna, D. N. Papadopoulos, L. Daniault, F. Druon, and P. Georges, in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/International Quantum Electronics Conference, OSA Technical Digest (CD) (Optical Society of America, 2010), paper CWC1. 9. B. B. Pedersen, A. Bjarklev, J. Hedegaard, K. Dybdal, and C. C. Larsen, J. Lightwave Technol. 9, 1105 (1991). 10. Y. A. Uspenskii, E. E. Uzorin, A. V. Vinogradov, M. E. Likhachev, S. L. Semjonov, M. M. Bubnov, E. M. Dianov, R. Jamier, and S. Fvrier, Opt. Lett. 32, 1202 (2007).

Fig. 3. (Color online) Slope efficiency measured versus the launched pump power for various bend radii. Inset, corresponding near-field intensity profiles.

for several bend configurations. The slope efficiency, plotted as a function of the inverse curvature radius in Fig. 3, was measured to be approximately 80%, versus the launched pump power. Also shown in the inset of Fig. 3 are the near-field intensity distributions of the beam emitted for various bend radii. When Rb 7:5 cm, the near-field intensity distribution is Gaussian-like. The beam quality parameter was measured to be M 2 1:12 in both orthogonal directions. The M 2 parameter can be, however, very good in slightly multimode fibers. As a second check, we have observed the temporal drift of the beam, which is detrimental in any beam pointing applications. For Rb 7:5 cm, the beam does not drift in time. These two measurements confirm the successful management of the high-order mode content in LMA PBG Bragg fibers. For a tight bend (Rb 5 cm), the field intensity is noticeably shifted toward the exterior of the curvature, as expected from computations. For Rb 4 cm, HOMs become excited, as shown in the bottom inset of Fig. 3. In such a case, a nonnegligible temporal drift of the beam was observed. This threshold value is in excellent agreement with the numerical predictions of Fig. 1(b). In conclusion, we have designed and fabricated a single-mode PBG Bragg fiber featuring a 40 m Yb-doped core. A very high slope efficiency, of approximately 80% (versus the launched pump power), as well as a very good beam quality parameter of 1.12 in both orthogonal directions were measured in the cw oscillation regime. To ensure that the fiber is indeed single mode, we have