Cw-operation of an Ytterbium doped 19-core fiber laser

The multi-core fiber laser is a promising fiber laser concept since it combines good beam quality and a high mode field diameter to reduce nonlinear effects especially for pulsed laser operation. Therefore this concept is a good candidate for high power fiber laser operation with a good beam quality. In the present paper we report on the characterization and the laser operation of a fiber laser with a hexagonal array of 19-cores. The near and the far field intensity distribution of the emitted beam as well as the bending-induced transversal mode selection have been investigated. The obtained experimental and simulation results and show a good agreement.