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, as well as industrial applications in the rapidly growing field of quantum electronics. 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 basic principles of solid-state physics and optical spectroscopy of laser active centers in fibers, main operational laser regimes, and practical recommendations and suggestions on fiber laser research, laser applications, and laser product development. The book will be useful for students, researchers, and professionals who work with lasers, in the optical communications, 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

Over the past two decades, the use of fiber lasers in engineering applications has gradually become established as an engineering discipline on its own. The development of fiber lasers is mainly the result of studies from various domains like photonics, optical sensing, fiber optics, nonlinear optics, and telecommunication. Though many excellent books exist on each of these subjects, and several have been written specifically to address lasers and fiber lasers, it is still difficult to find one book where the diverse core of subjects that are central to the study of fiber laser systems are presented in simple and straight forward way. Fiber Lasers: Fundamentals with MATLAB Modelling, is an introduction to the fundamentals of fiber lasers. It provides clear explanations of physical concepts supporting the field of fiber lasers. Fiber lasers’ characteristics are analyzed theoretically through simulations derived from numerical models. The authors cover fundamental principles involved in the generation of laser light through both continuous-wave (CW) and pulsing. It also covers experimental configuration and characterization for both CW and Q-switching. The authors describe the simulation of fiber laser systems and propose numerical modelling of various fiber laser schemes. MATLAB® modelling and numerical computational methods are used throughout the book to simulate different fiber laser system configurations. This book will be highly desirable and beneficial for both academics and industry professionals to have ample examples of fiber laser approaches that are well thought out and fully integrated with the subjects covered in the text. This book is written to address these needs.

A discussion of the theories, operating characteristics, and current technology of main fiber laser and amplifier devices based on rare-earth-doped silica and fluorozirconate fibers. It describes the principles, designs, and properties of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier and its role as the cornerstone component in optical communication systems. This second edition contains new and revised material reflecting major developments in academia and industry.

A comprehensive account of the latest developments and applications in this rapidly developing field, covering a wide range of topics, such as power scaling and short pulse generation, dispersion management and modeling, broadband supercontinuum generation and wavelength tailoring. The book brings together contributions from the world's leading experts at major collaborative research centers throughout Europe, Australia, Russia and the USA. Each chapter presents a tutorial style introduction to the selected topic suitable for scientists, researchers and experts, as well as graduate and postgraduate students with a basic background in optics.

Ultrashort pulses in mode-locked lasers are receiving focused attention from researchers looking to apply them in a variety of fields, from optical clock technology to measurements of the fundamental constants of nature and ultrahigh-speed optical communications. Ultrashort pulses are especially important for the next generation of ultrahigh-speed optical systems and networks operating at 100 Gbps per carrier. Ultra Fast Fiber Lasers: Principles and Applications with MATLAB® Models is a self-contained reference for engineers and others in the fields of applied photonics and optical communications. Covering both fundamentals and advanced research, this book includes both theoretical and experimental results. MATLAB files are included to provide a basic grounding in the simulation of the generation of short pulses and the propagation or circulation around nonlinear fiber rings. With its unique and extensive content, this volume— Covers fundamental principles involved in the generation of ultrashort pulses employing fiber ring lasers, particularly those that incorporate active optical modulators of amplitude or phase types Presents experimental techniques for the generation, detection, and characterization of ultrashort pulse sequences derived from several current schemes Describes the multiplication of ultrashort pulse sequences using the Talbot diffraction effects in the time domain via the use of highly dispersive media Discusses developments of multiple short pulses in the form of solitons binding together by phase states Elucidates the generation of short pulse sequences and multiple wavelength channels from a single fiber laser The most practical short pulse sources are always found in the form of guided wave photonic structures. This minimizes problems with alignment and eases coupling into fiber transmission systems. In meeting these requirements, fiber ring lasers operating in active mode serve well as suitable ultrashort pulse sources. It is only a matter of time before scientists building on this research develop the practical and easy-to-use applications that will make ultrahigh-speed optical systems universally available.

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.