High Power Pulsed Fiber Lasers

SA Photonics develops fiber laser systems with an emphasis on LIDAR/LADAR, communication and sensing systems.  These applications can require pulses that range from as short as a nanosecond up to modulated continuous wave output.  A master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) architecture facilitates precise control of the signal at low levels, in a variety of pulsed or modulation formats, which can then be amplified to tens of Watts average power, with the individual pulses having peak powers of tens of kW and having energies greater than a mJ.  Fiber lasers can operate at a variety of wavelengths in the NIR to the SWIR, and their excellent beam quality facilitates efficient conversion into the visible.  Our lasers using photonic crystal fibers have enabled efficient generation of broad spectrum output from a small package with multi-Watt power output.

Fiber laser systems are efficient, compact and robust, making them an excellent choice for a wide variety of applications. The fiber geometry enables monolithic system construction, efficient heat extraction and long interaction length of the active rare earth ions with the pump.  Elimination of free space coupling (i.e. monolithic construction) allows fiber lasers to be deployed in a wide range of environments not previously available to high power laser systems, since there is no need to realign the laser or provide for a very stable mount. SA Photonics’ fiber lasers are very efficient, with electrical to optical efficiencies of greater than 25%.