Raman Fiber Lasers

This book serves as a comprehensive, up-to-date reference about this cutting-edge laser technology and its many new and interesting developments. Various aspects and trends of Raman fiber lasers are described in detail by experts in their fields. Raman fiber lasers have progressed quickly in the past decade, and have emerged as a versatile laser technology for generating high power light sources covering a spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. The technology is already being applied in the fields of telecommunication, astronomy, cold atom physics, laser spectroscopy, environmental sensing, and laser medicine. This book covers various topics relating to Raman fiber laser research, including power scaling, cladding and diode pumping, cascade Raman shifting, single frequency operation and power amplification, mid-infrared laser generation, specialty optical fibers, and random distributed feedback Raman fiber lasers. The book will appeal to scientists, students, and technicians seeking to understand the recent developments and future trends of this promising and multifaceted technology.

This book covers the fundamental aspects of fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers, and includes a wide range of material from laser physics fundamentals to state-of-the-art topics in this rapidly growing field of quantum electronics. This expanded and updated new edition includes substantial new material on nonlinear frequency conversion and Raman fiber lasers and amplifiers, as well as an expanded list of references inclusive of the recent literature in the field. Emphasis is placed on the nonlinear processes taking place in fiber lasers and amplifiers, their similarities, differences to, and their advantages over other solid-state lasers. The reader will learn the basic principles of solid-state physics and optical spectroscopy of laser active centers in fibers, the main operational laser regimes, and will receive practical recommendations and suggestions on fiber laser research, laser applications, and laser product development. The book will be useful for students, researchers, and professional physicists and engineers who work with lasers in the optical and telecommunications field, as well as those in the chemical and biological industries.

The fiber laser, with its humble beginning in the late 1980s, has undergone tremendous development in the past decade or so, transforming itself from a research curiosity to a major force in modern manufacturing. Today, it is revolutionizing our economy by fundamentally changing the way we mark, machine, and process materials on an industrial scale. The recent development of high-power fiber lasers is also fundamentally shaping a wide range of other areas from physical sciences and medicine to geology and space exploration. In the past few years, the tactical deployment of direct energy weapons based on fiber lasers has become a reality. The development of fiber lasers is rooted in a number of technical areas including optical materials, optical waveguide design, nonlinear optics, optical fiber fabrication, and optical characterization, in addition to optical fiber components, and fiber laser design and architecture. No comprehensive in-depth coverage of such diverse topical areas has appeared in a single book. Many important developments have taken place in the past decade in both academia and industry. This book comprehensively covers the basics, technology and applications of fiber lasers including up-to-date developments in both academia and industry and is aimed to serve as both an introduction and research aid for graduate students, engineers, and scientists who are new to this field and also for veterans in the field

The Advanced Study Institute on Fiber and Integrated Optics was held at Cargese from June 23 to July 7, 1978, at a time when both fields were undergoing a very rapid evolution. Fiber optics communications systems, in a multimode form, are moving out of laboratories and into practical use, and integrated optics is beginning to produce high performance, single-mode devices. In addition, the spin-off from the technological developments in both fields is beginning to have a growing impact on the general field of experimental physics. The lectures given at Cargese and assembled here illustrate these points and will be of considerable interest to both newcomers and people already in these fields. The lectures in the first eight chapters of the book deal with fiber and optical communications. The second section, chapters 9-13, is devoted essentially to integrated optics. The third section, chapters 14-17, is devoted to technical seminars and the remaining chapters, 18-22, to national reviews and economic aspects of fiber systems. On behalf of the organizing committee, which included Drs. Unger, Arnaud, Scheggi, and Daino, I would like to thank the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO, and in particular its director, Dr. T. Kester, for enabling this Advanced Study Institute to be held. In addition, we would like to offer a very heartfelt thanks to Marie-France Hanseler, who, aided by Aline Medernach and G. Sala, created the memorable atmosphere that pervaded the Institute.

The fiber laser, with its humble beginning in the late 1980s, has undergone tremendous development in the past decade or so, transforming itself from a research curiosity to a major force in modern manufacturing. Today, it is revolutionizing our economy by fundamentally changing the way we mark, machine, and process materials on an industrial scale. The recent development of high-power fiber lasers is also fundamentally shaping a wide range of other areas from physical sciences and medicine to geology and space exploration. In the past few years, the tactical deployment of direct energy weapons based on fiber lasers has become a reality. The development of fiber lasers is rooted in a number of technical areas including optical materials, optical waveguide design, nonlinear optics, optical fiber fabrication, and optical characterization, in addition to optical fiber components, and fiber laser design and architecture. No comprehensive in-depth coverage of such diverse topical areas has appeared in a single book. Many important developments have taken place in the past decade in both academia and industry. This book comprehensively covers the basics, technology and applications of fiber lasers including up-to-date developments in both academia and industry and is aimed to serve as both an introduction and research aid for graduate students, engineers, and scientists who are new to this field and also for veterans in the field

Optical fiber telecommunications depend upon light traveling great distances through optical fibers. As light travels it tends to disperse and this results in some degree of signal loss. Raman amplification is a technique that is effective in any fiber to amplify the signal light as it travels through transmission fibers, compensating for inevitable signal loss. First comprehensive guide to Raman amplification, a technique whose use has exploded since 1997 in order to upgrade fiber capacity Accessible to professionals just entering the field of optical fiber telecommunications Detailed enough for experts to use as a reference

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Solid State Lasers Materials, Technologies and Applications" that was published in Applied Sciences

In this thesis, several new concepts for Raman amplifiers and lasers both in optical fibers and silicon waveguides have been developed, modeled and optimized that have the potential of increasing the performance of fiber-optic communication systems. Designs for Raman fiber lasers with improved efficiency, tunability, and output noise are analyzed. On the other hand, fundamental properties and limitations of silicon-based Raman amplifiers and lasers are investigated. Based on a newly developed comprehensive mathematical model of nonlinearly coupled wave propagation in silicon waveguides, new designs with increased efficiency are proposed.