Solar-pumped fiber laser with transverse-excitation geometry

Taizo Masuda; Mitsuhiro Iyoda; Yuta Yasumatu; Tomohiro Yamashita; Kiyoto Sasaki; Masamori Endo

doi:10.1117/12.2288940

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26 February 2018 Solar-pumped fiber laser with transverse-excitation geometry

Taizo Masuda, Mitsuhiro Iyoda, Yuta Yasumatu, Tomohiro Yamashita, Kiyoto Sasaki, Masamori Endo

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Proceedings Volume 10512, Fiber Lasers XV: Technology and Systems; 105121J (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2288940
Event: SPIE LASE, 2018, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate an extremely low-concentrated solar-pumped laser (SPL) that uses a transversely excited fiber laser geometry. To eliminate the need for precise solar tracking with an aggressive cooling system and to considerably increase the number of laser applications, low-concentration factors in SPLs are highly desired. We investigate the intrinsic low-loss property of SiO₂ optical fibers; this property can be used to compensate for the extremely low gain coefficient of the weakly-pumped active medium by sunlight. As part of the experimental setup, a 40-m long Nd³⁺-doped SiO2 fiber coil was packed in a ring-shaped chamber filled with a sensitizer solution; this solution functioned as a down-shifter. The dichroic top window of the chamber transmitted a wide range of sunlight and reflected the down-shifted photons, confining them to the highly-reflective chamber until they were absorbed by the Nd³⁺ ions in the active fiber. We demonstrated a lasing threshold that is 10 times the concentration of natural sunlight and two orders of magnitude smaller than that of conventional SPLs.

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Taizo Masuda, Mitsuhiro Iyoda, Yuta Yasumatu, Tomohiro Yamashita, Kiyoto Sasaki, and Masamori Endo "Solar-pumped fiber laser with transverse-excitation geometry", Proc. SPIE 10512, Fiber Lasers XV: Technology and Systems, 105121J (26 February 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2288940

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