Transverse mode instability induced by stimulated Brillouin scattering in a pulsed single-frequency large-core fiber amplifier.

We report the observation of transverse mode instability (TMI) in a pulsed single-frequency ytterbium-doped large-core fiber amplifier in which stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is generated easily owing to the high peak power and narrow linewidth of the laser pulses. It was shown experimentally that the threshold of TMI is almost the same as that of SBS and that the suppression of SBS also increases the threshold of TMI, which indicates that the TMI originates from SBS in the fiber.

[1]  Cesar Jauregui,et al.  Temperature-induced index gratings and their impact on mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems. , 2012, Optics express.

[2]  Jörg Neumann,et al.  Beam quality degradation of a single-frequency Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with low mode instability threshold power. , 2012, Optics letters.

[3]  David J. Richardson,et al.  High power fiber lasers: current status and future perspectives [Invited] , 2010 .

[4]  A.B. Ruffin Stimulated brillouin scattering: an overview of measurements, system impairments, and applications , 2004, Technical Digest: Symposium on Optical Fiber Measurements, 2004..

[5]  Zhiwei Lu,et al.  Slow light in multi-line Brillouin gain spectrum. , 2007 .

[6]  Zhaoguo Jiang,et al.  Impact of transverse spatial-hole burning on beam quality in large-mode-area Yb-doped fibers , 2008 .

[7]  T. Eidam,et al.  Experimental observations of the threshold-like onset of mode instabilities in high power fiber amplifiers. , 2011, Optics express.

[8]  H. Fragnito,et al.  Experimental and numerical investigation of the SBS-threshold increase in an optical fiber by applying strain distributions , 2005, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[9]  Cesar Jauregui,et al.  Temporal dynamics of mode instabilities in high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. , 2012, Optics express.

[10]  Cesar Jauregui,et al.  Physical origin of mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems. , 2012, Optics express.

[11]  Anping Liu,et al.  Limit of Effective Area for Single-Mode Operation in Step-Index Large Mode Area Laser Fibers , 2009, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[12]  B. Ward,et al.  Origin of thermal modal instabilities in large mode area fiber amplifiers. , 2012, Optics express.

[13]  Clint Zeringue,et al.  A theoretical study of transient stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers seeded with phase-modulated light. , 2012, Optics express.