High Power, Tunable, L-Band (1.

6micron Wavelength
Region) Fiber Lasers
S. Arun, Vishal Choudhury, Roopa Prakash, V. R. Supradeepa*
Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India
*Corresponding author: supradeepa@cense.iisc.ernet.in

Abstract: We demonstrate a novel, high power, tunable laser that generates >25W of output
power in the hard to access wavelength range of 1565nm-1620nm using sixth-order cascaded
Raman amplification of a low power, tunable, Erbium-Ytterbium seed.
OCIS codes: (140.3600) Lasers, tunable; (140.3550) Lasers, Raman; (140.3510) Lasers, fiber; (060.2320) Fiber
optics amplifiers and oscillators

1. Introduction

Most of the high power laser sources and amplifiers in the 1.5 um band employs an Erbium-Ytterbium Codoped
fiber (EYDF) as the gain medium for their operation. More importance has been given for the C-band laser sources
and amplifiers which mainly finds its application in the telecom field. But less efforts have been made in developing
laser sources in the L-band or other higher wavelength region in the near-IR spectrum, as these bands are not much
used for the telecom or DWDM applications. But the wavelength band spreading around the 1.6 um wavelength
region has many potential applications because of its unique properties. Since the atmospheric transparency window
lies in this region of the spectrum [1], lasers operating at this wavelength can be used for free space optical
communication. For the same reason, they can also be used in LIDAR, remote sensing satellites, range finding
applications etc. In addition to this, the wavelength region around 1.6 um, falls is the ‘eye-safe wavelength’ region,
which also makes these lasers attractive. All of these applications demand highly bright, directed beam of light
sources at high powers. However, tunable, high power lasers in this wavelength band are lacking due to unfavorable
power scaling properties of EYDFs. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, using high order cascaded Raman
amplification, an efficient architecture for a high power tunable laser source in the 1565-1620 nm wavelength region
(L-Band) that is capable of providing >25 W output power at all wavelengths.
2. System

Conventional lasers sources that work in the 1565-1620 nm wavelength region are mainly based on pumping EYDF
lasers with 9XX nm laser diodes. Such lasers have very low efficiency and are severely limited in terms of the
maximum output power (few watts of output power).
We utilize the concept of cascaded Raman amplification of an L-band seed laser to build a high power, tunable
laser source in the 1565-1620 nm wavelength region. In our experiment, we use a high power Ytterbium (Yb) laser
source to initiate the cascaded Raman conversion inside the Raman fiber. The seed wavelength in the L-band which
is to be amplified is also fed into the Raman fiber and the fifth order stoke at 1480 nm generated then acts as the
pump to amplify the seed wavelength to high powers using stimulated Raman scattering.

Fig 1: Simplified block diagram for the tunable laser source

 Single pass cascaded Raman amplifier scheme with appropriate seeding proves to be more efficient when
compared with the conventional cascaded Raman resonator [2]. The seed powers at all the intermediate Stokes
wavelengths are essential since they improve the conversion efficiency and provide preferential forward simulated
Raman scattering. We have adopted a much simpler architecture for the cascaded Raman conversion [3], which uses
only single laser source for Raman conversion, rather than using two different sources for pumping and seeding the
Stokes. This simplified architecture operates at ~43 % efficiency for 976 nm-1480 nm conversions, which therefore
ensures an efficiency of ~40 % for 976 nm-1580 nm conversions.

Fig 2: Schematic of the tunable laser source

In our experiment (as shown in fig 2), we have used a high power Ytterbium laser as the pump source, operating at
1117 nm wavelength with 90 W output power. To generate the seed signal for amplification, a low power EYDF
ring laser which works at ~500mW power was built. The output spectrum of the seed laser source is tunable from
1540-1590 nm with around 1 nm resolution by using a tunable filter that is placed in the feedback path of the ring
laser. Pump light along with seed signal is fed into the Raman fiber through the 1117/1480 WDM. Intermediate
stokes wavelengths are created in the WDM loop using the Raman filter fiber + grating assembly and is fed back
into the 240 m of a high nonlinearity (Raman) fiber. Cascaded Raman amplification happens inside the Raman fiber.
The cascaded Raman conversions generates the 1480 nm Stokes and this Stokes wavelength then amplifies the seed
signal through Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS).
We have obtained 28% efficiency for the seed signal amplification which can be further enhanced above 30 %
(calculating the losses). This is substantially higher than what is achieved with cladding pumped EY fiber lasers.
3. Mechanism

The seed signal to be amplified is coupled into the high power Yb laser source through the signal port of the TFB
along with other laser diode inputs. The seed wavelength doesn’t interact with the Yb gain medium as it propagates
in the core. The seed signal and the 1117 nm laser light generated from Yb laser propagate together into the input
port of the WDM as shown in fig 3. Using WDM, 120m of Raman filter fiber and grating fibers we have developed
a simple cascaded Raman resonator that taps out a small fractions of the 1117 nm pump power using the 1117/1480
WDM and uses this pump power for generating the Raman Stokes in the feedback path.

Figure 3: Illustration on intermediate stokes generation in the feedback loop

 The grating fibers and the Raman filter fiber (with cut-off at 1480 nm) used in the feedback loop is chosen such
that it generate Stokes wavelengths only till 1480 nm. These generated Stokes wavelengths are then fed into the 240
m Raman fiber in the forward-single pass scheme by the same WDM along with the high power 1117 nm pump and
the seed signal.
These seeded-Stokes wavelengths get amplified and undergoes Raman conversion as the threshold for SRS is
achieved. When the 1480 nm grows and achieves sufficient power, it acts as the pump for the amplification of the
L-band seed signal through SRS. Since the power in the seed signal is several orders of magnitude higher than the
quantum noise and the frequency shift of the seed signal from the 1480 nm stokes wavelength falls within 10 THz –
15 THz, which is within the Raman gain spectrum of the silica fiber, the seed signals are amplified along the length
of the fiber [3].

4. Results and Conclusions

We have demonstrated a tunable, high power laser source in the 1.6micron wavelength region with a potential
tunability bandwidth of >60 nm at an output power greater than 25W (fig 5). Here in our experiment, the
wavelength tunability is limited to 1590nm by the tuning capability of the optical filter used in the seed laser.
However, from our models, we are certain that by enhancing this, wider wavelength coverage until 1620nm and
beyond can be achieved. This is because of the wide bandwidth of the Raman process. There is a slight variation in
the output power for different wavelengths which arises due to the difference in the Raman gain coefficient of silica
fibers for different frequency shifts of the seed signal from that of the pump. Overall, the output power of the laser
source remains constant over the entire range of operation exhibiting a gain of 17 dB for the signal.

Fig 5 : (a) Output power and (b) spectrum of tunable laser source at different wavelengths

4. References
[1] V. Zuev, “Atmospheric Transparency in the Visible and the Infrared”, Israel Program for Scientific Translations;[available from the US
Department of Commerce, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Springfield, Va.], 1970.
[2] V. R. Supradeepa, Jeffrey W. Nichsolson, Clifford E. Headley, Man F. Yan, Bera Palsdottir, and Dan Jakobsen, "A high efficiency
architecture for cascaded Raman fiber lasers," Opt. Express 21, 7148-7155 (2013)
[3] V. R. Supradeepa, V. Balaswamy, S. Arun, and G. Chayran, "A Simplified Architecture for High Efficiency Cascaded Raman Fiber Lasers,"
in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, OSA Technical Digest (2016) (Optical Society of America, 2016), paper SM2Q.5.
[4] Nonlinear Fiber Optics,G P Agrawal,Academic Press