Pulsed Thulium Doped Fiber Laser at 1.

94 m based on a seed
diode


Enkeleda Balliu, Massimo Olivero
*
, Andrea Braglia, Alessio Califano, Guido Perrone

Dip. di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, Politecnico di Torino, c.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129
Torino, Italy
ABSTRACT
A fiber laser operating at 1.94m in pulsed regime has been developed in a MOPA configuration.
The seed consists of a custom-developed board hosting a laser diode, whose current is modulated to
achieve the desired pulse shape, duration and repetition rate. The pulses are amplified through a
thulium-doped fiber amplifier pumped at 793 nm. The design of the amplifier stage has been
performed by dynamic simulation of a rate-equations model and compared to the experimental
measurements. Simulations and experimental measurements have exhibited comparable results,
devising the realization of an effective pulsed laser system whose parameters can be easily tuned
through the seed.
Keywords: Fiber Lasers, Thulium, Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA), Rare Earths, Pulsed Lasers.

1. INTRODUCTION
Thulium (Tm) fiber lasers have driven great attention because of their eye-safety emission and the increasing number
of applications they are finding in industry, medicine, remote sensing and spectroscopy [1]. Thulium radiation at ~ 2m
is strongly absorbed by water molecule (the absorption is about 5 times higher at 1.94 m, delivered by Tm fiber lasers,
than 2.12m emitted by solid state Ho:YAG lasers [2]). Because of such a high absorption, the 2m radiation can be
exploited in dermatology as a new resurfacing tool, being in between the non-ablative wavelengths around 1.5um and the
ablative emission around 2.7 um [3]. Another important forthcoming application of Thulium lasers in medicine includes
lithotripsy and prostatic diseases treatment [4]. On the other hand, thulium doped fibers drive attention as high power
laser sources since they can be pumped by commercial, highly efficient and high power diodes at 790 nm, exploiting the
cross relaxation process that can produce a 200% theoretical quantum efficiency [5] . The development of fiber-based
sources at the thulium-emission wavelength of 2 m have included continuous-wave and pulsed lasers, in a single cavity
(in which the power record of 137 W for single linewidth continuous wave laser has been achieved [6]) as well as in
Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) configurations [7][8][9][10]. The latter have often been based on a fiber
laser seed, which might set limits on the capability of performing a flexible and dynamic pulse shaping of the output
beam . The problem has been tackled by directly modulating the seed through an acusto-optic modulator [11]. However,
such a solution might turn to be costly and bulky, in addition to the loss of a true all-fiber arrangement. This work
addresses the challenge of designing an all-fiber MOPA system at 2 m that exploits, as the master oscillator, a
semiconductor diode directly modulated by a computer-controlled OEM laser driver. The system is conceived to produce
pulses in the range 20-200 ns with repetition rates 20-100 kHz. We present preliminary results on the realization of the
first stage, consisting of a seed laser at 1.94m followed by a Tm doped pre-amplifier pumped at 793 nm, which boosts
the pulses prior to further amplification stages. The design of the fiber amplifier has been conducted by performing
dynamic simulations on a rate-equations model and optimizing its parameters by a test&error procedure. The output
parameters of the laser (average power, gain, pulse shape) have been used as a benchmark of the agreement between
simulations and measurements.
*massimo.olivero@polito.it; phone +39 0112276311; fax +39 0112276299




2. ACTIVE FIBER CHARACTERIZATION
The design of the amplifier stage was carried out by performing preliminary simulations of the behavior of the
commercial Thulium doped double-cladding fiber that would be later used in the experimental realization, whose
parameters are reported in Table 1. The fiber is single mode at 1.94 m, has a typical octagonal inner cladding shape and
exhibit an absorption of 9.4 dB/m at 793 nm, which is among the highest values for available Tm-doped fibers.
Table 1 Thulium doped fiber parameters.
Fiber Structure
Double-cladding Fiber structure with octagonal inner cladding
Parameter Description Value
NA
c
Core numerical aperture 0.14
D
c
Core diameter 12 m
NA
cl
Inner cladding numerical aperture 0.46
D
cl
Inner cladding diameter 125 m
A
cl
Cladding-pumping absorption @ 793 nm 9.4 dB/m
N Tm concentration 2.910
26
ions/m
3


The purpose of the simulations was an initial guess of the optimum length of the pre-amplifier stage and the study of the
best set of values for signal and pump power, pulse duration, frequency and repetition rate.
In order to simplify the analysis, a degenerated three level model was chosen. That is, the energy bands scheme of Tm
3+

ions includes the pumping to the
3
H
4
level, the cross-relaxation transfer to the
3
F
4
level and the stimulated emission to the
ground state
3
H
6
level. The model is further simplified, so that the rate equations take into account the evolution of the
populations in the excited state
3
F
4

(N
1
) and ground state
3
H
6
(N
0
) only.
The simplified rate equations are hereby reported:
[ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] { }
0
1
1
0
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
1
N z S z S z P z P
N z S z S z P z P
dt
dN
b f s a b f p a
b f s e b f p e
+ + +
+

+ + + + =



[ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] { }
0
1
1
1
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
1
N z S z S z P z P
N z S z S z P z P
dt
dN
b f s a b f p a
b f s e b f p e
+ + + +
+

+ + + + =




Where:
a,e
(
p.s
) represent the absorption/emission cross-sections at the pump/signal wavelength, P
f,b
and S
f,b
are the
pump and signal power in the forward/backward direction and
1
the lifetime of thulium in the excited state
3
F
4
. The two
equations essentially consist of an increasing and a decreasing term, whose coefficients depend on the cross sections, the
lifetime and the pump/signal distribution along the fiber.
Compared to [11], this simplified analysis does not consider the amplified spontaneous emission buildup, as well as the
cross-relaxation process. However, since all parameters are either extracted from literature or measured with a large
degree of uncertainty, this approach was initially believed to be satisfactory for an approximate analysis, whereas the
actual optimization of the amplifying section would later be performed by a test&error procedure (i.e. a cut back of the
Tm doped fiber until the highest power was achieved).




The key parameters in the model are the absorption and emission cross sections at the pump and signal wavelengths as
well as the lifetime at the excited state
3
F
4
. There are a number of publications where one can find values for these
parameters [12][13], but the literature is somehow confusing in the way these parameters are measured and it is
questionable whether these numbers can be applied to different glasses, especially in cases (like that presented here) in
which the exact composition of the fiber is not even known. In a parallel work, some of the authors are developing a
technique to extract a model of the active fiber from pump-probe measurements that just require few data about the
output power [14]. Here, an experimental approach to the estimation of the spectroscopic properties of the active fiber is
presented. The basic idea is to excite the fiber at the pump wavelength to measure the emission spectrum and the lifetime
of the excited state, or to use a broadband source to measure the absorption spectrum. The experimental setup to perform
such measurements is depicted in Fig. 1. The Tm doped fiber is either spliced to a pump laser at 793 nm (max output
power ~2.5W) or coupled to a broadband supercontinuum source. The output of the fiber is coupled into a computer-
controlled monochromator that, together with a photodetector, performs the spectral analysis of the beam. The spectrum
is displayed on an oscilloscope whose horizontal axis is turned into wavelength by synchronizing the spectral sweep to
the oscilloscopes trigger. The sensitivity of the system is enhanced by the use of a lock-in detection (mechanical
chopper + lock-in amplifier).



In the case of lifetime measurement, the lock-in is removed, the monochromator is set to the emission wavelength of Tm
and the oscilloscope is synchronized with the chopper frequency (alternatively, the chopper is removed and the 793 nm
pump laser is directly modulated by a waveform generator). The lifetime is then evaluated from the recorded waveform.
Fig. 2 depicts the normalized emission and absorption spectra as recorded on a ~2m long Tm doped fiber. The graph
highlights the large gap between the emission and absorption peaks.
The decay of fluorescence at 1.94 m, reported in Fig. 3, was obtained by pulse-driving a pump diode connected to the
active fiber. The normalized curve was fitted by an exponential decay, yielding a correspondent lifetime of 417 s. The
rise-fall time associated with the diode response was neglected since it had previously been measured to be below 2 s.
The emission and absorption cross-sections, obtained from an approximated McCumber relation [15][16], are
summarized in Table 2 . It is very arguable whether this method can be applied to the design of rare-earth doped
amplifiers and lasers, since different analyses have yielded considerable diverging conclusions on the subject, as [17]
and [18] demonstrate. However, this analysis was performed in order to assess a rough estimation of the optimum length
of the active fiber for a given pump power. Such a result could be used to limit the waste of fiber during the test&error
optimization.
Figure 1 Setup for determination of spectroscopic properties of the active fiber




1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
N
o
r
m
a
l
i
z
e
d

S
p
e
c
t
r
u
m
wavelength (nm)
Emission
Absorption

Figure 2 Normalized Emission and Absorption spectra.
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
N
o
r
m
a
l
i
z
e
d

O
u
t
p
u
t
Time (ms)

Figure 3 Decay of fluorescence at 1.94 m






Table 2 Spectroscopic parameters retrieved from the measurements
Parameter Description Value

a
(
p
) Absorption cross section at the pump wavelength 2.8210
-25
m
2

a
(
s
) Absorption cross section at the signal wavelength 3.3910
-27
m
2

e
(
s
) Emission cross section at the signal wavelength 2.7810
-25
m
2

1
Lifetime at the excited state
3
F
4
287 s

Fig. 4 Figure 4 Simulation of the optimum length of the Tm fiber for a given pump.shows the results of simulations
based on the parameters of Table 2. The graph refers to both static and dynamic simulations that were performed to
evaluate the achievable gain of the active fiber in continuous wave and pulsed regime, for a given input signal of 6mW
and a pumping power of 3.6W in a forward propagating scheme.
0 1 2 3 4 5
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
M
O
P
A

o
u
t
p
u
t

p
o
w
e
r

(
W
)
Fiber Length (m)
Continuous Wave
Pulsed 200 ns, 100kHz

Figure 4 Simulation of the optimum length of the Tm fiber for a given pump.

The graph yields two information that is, the optimum fiber length for the given pump lies around a value of 2 to 2.5m
for both CW and pulsed regime and the amplification process appears to be linear in pulsed regime, meaning the pulses
do not considerably change the inversion profile within the amplifier. This is further confirmed by the simulated output
pulses (not reported here) that do not exhibit a remarkable distortion. In the following section, the correspondent results
from the experimentally implemented system are presented and discussed.
3. MOPA SYSTEM
The implemented MOPA system is depicted in Fig. 5.
The seed laser, acting as the master oscillator, is a Fabry-Perot Indium Phosphide (InP) diode operating at 1.94 m. The
diode is driven by a OEM custom-assembled laser driver, able to deliver current pulses in the range 0-2.5 A with pulse
duration from 20 ns to continuous wave.







Figure 5 Schematic of the MOPA system. LD=pump Laser Diode at 793 nm. ISO=optical Isolator. OC= 2+11 Optical Combiner
An isolator is inserted prior to the optical combiner as a safety device against any possible feedback from the active
fiber. The optical combiner has two pump ports on 105/125 m fibers whereas the feed-through port, connected to the
isolator, consists of a 12/125 m fiber. The pump power is provided by two pigtailed diodes delivering a maximum of
2.5W at the nominal wavelength of 793 nm (the actual emission was measured to be at 787 nm). A 1.9 m Thulium-doped
silica fiber is employed as the active medium. The length of the active fiber was initially chosen ~3m, as suggested by
the simplified simulation, and it was then reduced through test&error experiments (by cutting the fiber in steps of 10 cm)
until the highest output power was achieved. The amplifier section is terminated with a 2m of passive optical fiber for
delivery. The fiber is angled-cleaved at 8 to limit back reflections. A 10 cm section of the passive fiber is un-jacketed
and recoated with a high refractive index (n=1.56) polymer to strip off the residual cladding-guided pump.
Measurements have shown that the amount of residual pump in the cladding is somehow negligible (0.5 mW for a pump
power of ~3.5W), but the mode stripper might be useful in a future double-side pumping scheme.
The system was characterized by operating the pump power continuously in the range 0-3.7 W, whereas the signal
power was set up to 11 mW (this value drops to 6 mW at the active fiber input, because of propagation losses
throughout the chain), both in CW and pulsed regime. In pulsed regime, the current into the diode was further pushed to
its absolute maximum rating, correspondent to a peak power of 20 mW. Fig. 6 depicts the measured output power as a
function of the pump, for a fixed input signal of 11 mW in CW and 20mW peak in the case of pulsed seed. The graph
highlights that the output, reaching 400mW in CW, is higher than that predicted by the simulations, by a factor 1.9. This
results points out that the model is inaccurate for a precise prediction of the performance of the system, but it can be used
as tool for setting a starting point in the design process.



















Figure 6 Measured output power of the MOPA in Continuous Wave and pulsed regime.

-0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Continuous Wave
Pulsed, 200ns, 100kHz
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

O
u
t
p
u
t

P
o
w
e
r

(
W
)
Pump Power (W)





The amplification starts at ~1.5 W and reaches a net gain of 15 dB in CW. The slope of the curve indicates that no
saturation occurs and further amplification might be achieved by increasing the pump level. The output power in pulsed
regime follows the same trend and reaches an average value of ~100 mW, corresponding to a peak power of ~5W. Even
in this case the measurements do not match exactly the simulations (cfr Fig. 4), yet confirming that the simplified model
is useful as a designing tool to predict the optimum fiber length, but it yields inaccurate results in terms of absolute
output power. Since the average input power from the seed is here 0.4 mW, a net gain of 24 dB is obtained for 200 ns
pulses and repetition rate 100 kHz.
Fig. 7 depicts the shape of the output pulse, as detected by a fast-response photodiode.














Figure 7 MOPA output in pulsed regime and comparison with the seed driving signal. The two curves are horizontally shifted for
convenient visualization, whereas the vertical scale depends on the fiber - photodetector alignment.

By comparison with the seed output, it can be observed that there is no remarkable distortion of the pulse shape and
likely the inversion level does not significantly change. For the values of pump and signal that have been tested, the
amplifier is working in a linear regime. This is an indication that the amplifier performance can be further pushed to
achieve a higher gain while preserving the output characteristics.

4. OUTLOOK
The presented results are preliminary in that the final system is devised to deliver a watt-level average power. Compared
to similar works on the subject (e.g. [8]-[10]) the arrangement here described yields remarkably lower performances,
however it exhibits two features:
- it is a true all-fiber MOPA system, since all elements are fiberized and can be assembled by conventional splicing and
- the seed is a diode and its output can be dynamically controlled.
Further improvements of the setup shall include an increment of the available pump, in order to push the active fiber to
the limit in which either the amplified spontaneous emission or non-linear effects will arise. A counter-propagating
scheme and a second PA stage are also being considered as viable solutions to increase the output power while limiting
the power density through the optical combiner and the active fiber, in order to avoid damages of such components.
Furthermore, the control of the pulse shape, as well as the pulsing of the pump, shall be explored as extra means for
increasing the available output power while avoiding any gain saturation and preserving the characteristics of the output
pulses.
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
-0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
P
h
o
t
o
d
e
t
e
c
t
o
r

O
u
t
p
u
t

(
V
)
time (s)
MOPA Output
Seed Output




5. CONCLUSION
An all-fiber MOPA system, based on a low power semiconductor master oscillator operating at 1.94mm followed by a
thulium-doped fiber amplifier, has been designed and realized. The spectroscopic properties of the commercial active
fiber of the PA were measured and put into a simplified model to predict the amplifying properties. The system was
implemented in an all-fiber configuration and characterized in terms of output power. A test&error experimental
procedure was used to optimize the length of the Tm-doped fiber and the final system was characterized in CW and
pulsed regime. The measurements highlight that the MOPA system, now delivering up to 400 mW in CW and 100 mW
average power for 200ns/100 kHz rectangular pulses, is working in linear regime and might be further pushed to higher
output powers.
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